The Underground Railroad

The Underground Railroad is famous for the things it has done, but most people don't understand or fully know what it was really about. First of all, it has nothing to do with an underground train or railroad as it may seem. The term "Underground Railroad" actually has different stories for its inception. One of these stories was of Tice Davis, a runaway slave in 1831. While running away from his owner he dove into a creek and was out of the owner's sight. His owner said "he must have gone off on an underground railroad." (http://www.whispersofangels.com/opposing.html) Although highly unbelievable, it can be found quite amusing. The logical explanation, though, is that the word "underground" is a term for secretive, while "railroad" represents the working together of people like train cars to "ship" the slaves. The main reason for the Underground Railroad was the effort to abolish slavery. None of the other efforts were contributing as much, and it was definitely our country's first major anti-slavery movement.

America had hit its peak in the sense of slavery. We were thriving off of black laborers and our population continued to grow with contributions from the triangular trade. The triangular trade route was a trade route between the British West Indies, Europe, Africa and America. (http://members.tripod.com/lylesj/trade/tritrade.html) The profit slaves had brought in was tremendous contrasted to the profit of hired work. It became a major bonus to land and plantation owners. The black slaves were also great workers because of their ethnic backgrounds. They had great work ethics, dark skin to work in heat, and were much stronger than the hired men.

Slaves longed to be free for more than one reason. Some just would love to be able to go where they want and say what they want without persecution. Who wouldn't want to be able to have this? Other slaves ran from owners out of fear. They wanted to keep their families together and not be sold away from them. There were also slaves that were treated very poorly. In fact, they were treated so poorly that if the didn't run they might not live much longer. Slaves have wanted to escape their slavery as far back as the first colonies had begun. The only truly free people were the whites, and blacks wanted to end that situation for good.

The northern states/colonies had a more industrial area and immigrants easily took the jobs that were available. This made the North less dependent

on slavery because there wasn't much hard labor or work for them. In contrast, the southern states/colonies had wide open land and fertile fields used for farming. These large lands were used to plant crops and create plantations. (home.earthlink.net/~gfeldmeth/lec.col2.html) With all the work in the fields that needed to be done and the profit of black slaves, landowners almost had to use them. They would be stupid if they hadn't because of the large profit they collect by using them. This contrast between the North and the South and their views on slaverywas the beginning of a conflict which ultimately led to the civil war.

The Underground Railroad didn't have a specific location. Slaves have been fleeing their owners ever since the start of slavery. Slaves have run unorganized from their plantations right from the start. The slaves that escaped realized that others wanted out too, and the idea of a planned escape came into play. As schemes were being constructed the slave owners were getting impatient. They were not too happy about their loss of "property" or slaves. Too much profit was being lost for them to not do anything about it. The South then was forced to pass the Fugitive Slave Laws of 1793. These laws entitled slave owners the right to fetch runaways in any state and said that they were still their property even if they made it to a free state. (www.nationalcenter.org/FugitiveSlaveAct.html) The North despised the treatment of the slaves and the fact that owners were allowed into their states to retrieve runaway slaves.

This is when the North stepped in and was ready to do something for the slaves. To get back at the South, the North was ready to pierce their hearts. They were going to take their property and help slaves to escape, because they thought it was morally wrong to have human slaves. The North devised a secret plan called the Underground Railroad to help. Slowly, more and more slaves began to escape and became free in Canada and in northern states.

Another law was passed in 1807, making it illegal to import any slaves to this country. (www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/Lslavery07.htm) Machines and agricultural improvements lightened the blow for the farmers, but the value of slaves increased greatly. Abolition Societies joined religious groups to become active in setting slaves free. The Underground Railroad started to form. The "tracks" were secretly being set for the slaves. To keep this a secret, letters were sent using a code for the blacks. Most of the terms came from railroad terminology because of the new railroad system being implemented. This code helped the slaves and people of help to keep a secret conversation or write a letter without being caught. Along the path for slaves there were many safe houses called "stations" that they could stop in, rest, eat, and prepare for their journey. These house owners were referred to as "conductors" in the code.( http://pathways.thinkport.org/secrets/)

Signs played a major role in allowing slaves to find the right houses to go to. If they weren't directed to the right house they could end up being caught. There were different signs that depicted a safe house. These signs consisted of white bricks surrounding the top of a house's chimney and/or a quilt on a clothes line that had a picture of a house sewn into it.( http://pathways.thinkport.org/secrets/) Safe Shops had signs such as a fleeing man or woman on their shop sign. Other