A hard worker in 1850 did n’t have many selection in life . He could stay on his maestro ’s plantation , resigning himself to a animation of hard labor , often brutish physical penalisation and possibly a unkept family as he look on his loved ones be sell off . Not all hard worker had the same life , but this was what he might bear if he remain in bondage .
Or he could run out .
Escaping was a very uncertain expectation . The master would either hunt the slave himself or institutionalise brutish slave huntsman to track him down . If caught , not only did the runaway face almost sure last , but the rest of the slave on his plantation were often witness to his slaying and were punished themselves .
And life on the test was difficult , to say the least . The fugitive had to be mistrustful of everyone – strangers could tell apart him as a slave and twist him in , and other hard worker could shop him out to groom favor with their masters . He would have to go at night , follow the North Star when the weather was clear and sleeping in hay loft and caves during the day . He might get some help from the great unwashed along the direction , but anyone who was genial to him was also shady .
If the runaway did make it to a northerly commonwealth , there were still endangerment . Plenty of people , white and black , wanted the advantage money they could have for turn him in , and the Fugitive Slave Act of 1793 ( which was made even harsher in 1850 ) meant that if his master could find him , he could bring his " property " back South as a slave again – if the master did n’t kill him , that is . So a runaway ’s best hope was to get to Canada .
With all the danger , there was niggling chance of success . But if he did make it … exemption .
The parole was too much for many slave even to contemplate , much less attempt . But fit in to at least one estimation , during the 1800s , more than 100,000 slave would take their chances to start a new life . The Underground Railroad was their slate to freedom [ rootage : Freedom Center ] .
A Ride on the Underground Railroad
Because of the closemouthed nature of the Underground Railroad , its exact origins are hard to trace . There are many theories about how it start , but no toilsome resolution . Its organizers could n’t exactly put " open for business " advertising in their localnewspapers . The fact that the actual railway line system was n’t invented until the 1820s gives us some clues about timing – if there was an escape organization before then , it probably was n’t called the Underground Railroad . In the other 1800s , runaways mostly relied on spontaneous help from strangers . By the 1820s , anti - slavery groups were beginning to form , and by the 1840s , there was an organised web that aided fugitive slaves .
Let ’s take a flavour at what a misstep on the Underground Railroad might have been like . Each journey was different , but we ’ll focus on the mid-1800s , which was the height of the Underground Railroad . ( There is evidence of scat slaves throughout American account , even in letter from George Washington , but these were mostly isolated incidents . )
Free Black would sometimes send afield agent– often a traveling curate ordoctorposing as salesperson orcensus - taker – to make contact with a slave who want to escape . This took some time because the agentive role had to remove the potential blowout ’s trustfulness . The factor arrange for the striver ’s initial escape from the woodlet and would then hand him off to aconductorfor the first pegleg of the journeying .
The conductor guide the fugitive to the firststation , usually a house along the path ( slave quarters were also often used ) . station were typically spaced a day ’s journey aside . The head of the household , have sex as thestationmaster , ordinarily had the province of keep the striver safe . These homes often had secret passages and secret compartments for hiding multiple fugitives .
At the station , the runaway would be fed , sheltered and peradventure given a camouflage . A disguise could be as simple as a slant ( so the escaped could pose as a travel worker ) – but it was n’t uncommon to dress a runaway as a member of the opposite sex . In Wilbur H. Siebert ’s classic body of work , " The Underground Railroad , " he tells of a fugitive , disguise as an upper - class whitewoman , being add a white baby as part of her camouflage [ germ : Siebert ] . All of these activeness were funded by citizenry sleep with asstockholders , who often give way the money for bribe and any other expenses .
Runaways ordinarily did n’t move around alone – conductor typically maneuver them to the stations . Sometimes , though , because of want of personnel or slip length , the escaped hard worker would n’t have party . So he would have to move at night , following the North Star , and hide during the day . According to Siebert , " When clouds blot out the wiz they had recourse , perhaps , to such bits of homely noesis as , that in forests the trunks of trees are commonly moss - grow on their Second Earl of Guilford side " [ source : Siebert ] .
The branches or " line " of the Underground Railroad were purposely convoluted and zigzagged to fox slave hunters , but this also sometimes obstruct the fugitives . There are numerous stories of shoo-in getting lost and get weeks out of their way or heading further in the south by chance event . And while clear nighttime were best for traveling , showery solar day were also helpful because fewer people were out .
So what happen when an loose slave in the end made it to the North ? interpret on to find out .
The Fugitive Slave Act
In theFugitive Slave Actof 1793 , the federal government give local authorities in both slave and free states the power to issue indorsement to " bump off " any black they thought to be an escaped slave . It also made it a federal criminal offense to help oneself a runaway hard worker . The deed was rarely enforced in non - slave United States Department of State , but in 1850 it was strengthened with higher fines and harsher punishments . On top of that , slave hunters could legally take that any black person they saw was an escaped slave , which not only terrorize free blacks but outraged many white people . Northerners were horrify by rumour of slave hunters luring preschool - age free black children onto gravy holder and shipping them to the Deep South .
Before 1850 , if runaway striver were caught , they were typically bolt down , and sometimes tortured in a public presentation to affright other slaves . penalization in the North for white citizenry and gratis blacks who assisted in escapes was originally not as harsh – typically a fine for the loss of " property " and a short gaol sentence that might not be enforced . But in 1850 , penalties became much steeper and include more jail time . Whites who arm slave , which was often necessary along the grievous path , could be executed . In the South , anyone – white or black – who assisted a fugitive could face death .
The commonwealth of Pennsylvania actually considered nullifying the Fugitive Slave Act ( much like South Carolina would nullify part of the Constitution when seceding from the Union ) . But rather of addressing the issue through legal route , anti - slavery groups decided to campaign the human activity subversively , endure the Underground Railroad , defend slaves and assist them evade slave hunter and police force enforcement .
Southern striver master were none too vibrate by this and necessitate that the act be enforced . TheSupreme Court , which was hard with Southerners , was dismay that the North was so defiant of the enactment . It predominate in the 1857Dred Scottcase that blacks – free or slave – were not citizen and so did n’t have any right to the freedom state in the Constitution . They could be return to slavery no matter how long they had lived gratis [ source : McPherson ] .
The Underground Railroad is often addressed on an individual basis from the Civil War , but there ’s a slew of evidence that its activities did much to precipitate the war . The Northwest Territory – Ohio , Michigan , Illinois , Indiana , Wisconsin and part of Minnesota – had never allowed bondage , so after the Dred Scott decision its residents often join up with Northeasternabolitionists(as we learned earlier , closely half of Underground Railroad workers were from Ohio ) . These anti - slavery groups form political parties like the Free Soil company and the Republican Party , which would stick in Abraham Lincoln to the country . And the rest , as they say , is history .
Life After Escape
Depending on where the fleer was coming from , the journey to freedom could take as small as 24 hours ( on a train from Richmond , Va. , to Philadelphia , for illustration ) . It could also take years ( elude on pes from the Deep South ) . But where did the fleer end up ?
Most people suppose of the Underground Railroad as run North to costless states . That is true , but the majority of fugitives head to Canada , where they would be dependable from the Fugitive Slave Act . Extreme northerly arena of the U.S. were also known for protect runaways . In the Deep South , from which the journey Second Earl of Guilford was that much more unreliable , slave also escaped to Spanish - owned Mexico and Florida .
After days , weeks or even months of travel , the runaway might finally get to a safe colonisation , typically of free blacks , well-disposed American Indians or a religious group ( unremarkably Quakers ) . There , he would often have to wait until someone secure good transit for him on a northbound sauceboat or train – this is often where payoff come into sport . Sometimes fugitives would settle in these first - closure residential area , especially in free - black settlements . But more often they would continue to Canada .
More and more laugher wanted to leave the country after the passage of the Fugitive Slave Act in 1850 . But the human action also hearten northerly emancipationist , who could now make the display case that the South was visit thrall on the North . This boost more whites to sympathise with loose slaves , and some northerly cities – Boston , Buffalo , N.Y. , and Philadelphia , for instance – became dependable havens for fleer .
Once runaways made it to their destination , mixed groups get laid asvigilance committeeswould assist them in establishing a Modern life . They supply some level of tribute and sometimes helped them find work and a home . Successful runaways would sometimes render to buy back enslave family members , which was unsafe because it could potentially expose their whereabouts .
The operation of the Underground Railroad evidently required the work of many people . Who were they , and how did they solve together in such a secretive meshing ?
How did people get involved with the Underground Railroad?
Most who escape slavery , specially early in the Underground Railroad ’s story , were men who go alone – it was a difficult trek , and groups attracted more aid . But as the number of refugee increase , so did the creativeness of conductors , who happen mode for mathematical group to travel . railway volunteers added hidden passages and rooms to their house ( one house inGettysburg , Pa. , now converted into a eatery , still has a movable bookcase that reveals a concealing place for fugitives ) . They added curtain to stage and designed wagons with hidden compartment .
The people who serve slaves escape were mostly free and enslaved blacks , but some whites did participate . spiritual mathematical group , especially Quakers , were often involved – as were others who were moved by narration of cruel master or the sight of another human in suffering . Before the 1830s , very few people knew anyone else along the route , except perhaps by report .
Fugitives typically trusted only other blacks , and sometimes the Quakers , who were fairly well-to-do to recognize in their broad - brimmed hats and tenacious coats . But as rank in anti - slavery societies increased , this changed . There was more organization , and people became more familiar with each other .
Underground Railroad Workers
According to some estimates , there were about 3,200 " hole-and-corner workers , " near half of them in Ohio [ source : Siebert ] . But because concealment was all - crucial , there was no formal or written brass . Leadership was determined by case-by-case carrying into action and general reputation . Most of the people require in the Underground Railroad have been misplace to history , their stories untold out offear . And because so few written records were kept , the chronicle that did survive are mostly sidebars in account textbooks . There is still some social stigma today against white Southerners whose ancestors helped runaway .
The most famous Underground Railroad director was Harriet Tubman , who was called " the Moses of her hoi polloi . " Tubman was herself an escaped striver from Maryland . When she returned South for the first time to help family escape , she discovered that her free hubby had contain a new married woman and was unwilling to come along . This event give her hardened , according to author Fergus M. Bordewich – and it might explain why Tubman did not tolerate scared or upset walkaway . She even endanger to kill them on social occasion ; it was a downhearted necessity when a fugitive ’s terrified cries could shit their positioning to slave hunter . This deficiency of sentimentality help oneself keep Tubman alive as she made the grievous journeying 13 more times and in person guided at least 70 striver to freedom in New York and Canada [ reference : Bordewich ] .
How many slaves escaped using the Underground Railroad?
historian do agree that , especially early on , most fugitives escaped from the border commonwealth – Maryland , Kentucky and Virginia . Very few made it out of the Deep South , where conditions were often the most harsh , for multiple reasons . First , the journeying North was much longer – those who provide normally went to Spanish - check Mexico or Florida . Second , when the political science ban the African slave trade in 1808 , slave became much more valuable ( due to a deficiency of supplying ) . So in the Deep South , where the larger cotton orchard required more labour , sea captain were that much more fain to control their " property . " And finally , because slaves in the Deep South were farther away from the detached state , they did n’t have as much admittance to information about escape and what lifespan was like in freedom .
