The history of the railroad is quite varied according to whom you are talking. Slavery in America thrived and continued to grow because there was a scarcity of labor. Cultivation of crops on plantations could be supervised while slaves used simple routines to harvest them, the low price at which slaves could be bought, and earning profits as a bonus for not having to pay hired work.

Slaves turned to freedom for more than one reason. Some were obsessed with being free and living a life where they were not tol

The railroad didn't have a certain location. Slaves had been running since the 1500's on their own. When the idea caught on amoung brave slaves, was when it started. Slave owners in the South certainly weren't happy about the loss of "property". It seemed like too much money was being lost.This caused the South to pass the Fugitive Slave Act of 1793. This titled slaves as property of their owners and gave permission to the owners to retrieve runaways any where in the states, even those states that were free. The North was angry about the treatment of the slaves and was not happy about owners being allowed to come into their states to take the slaves back. Finally, the North decided to do something about it. To return the fire thrown at them by the South, they would take away something that the North thought was morally wrong,and the South's riches. They would help the slaves escape to freedom. The slaves were now angry, scared, and confused. Hearing of this Underground Railroad, they slowly began to run, more and more.

The "Railroad" beggan to take shape. A shape that is to this day very hard to describe. Traks were laid to aide the slaves to freedom. People talked in secrecy to make safe paths for the slaves to run on. These were the tracks. Letters were sent that had terminology or code for the balcks. A lot of the terms come from things found along railroads. This is because real railroads at this time were the newest thing and happened to be the topic of choice for conversation. This made it all the easier for the helpers of the railroad to communicate going unoticed.Along the tracks, there were depots, safe houses to stay. These were houses of free whites or blacks where they could hide when they weren't running. The people who owned the houses were often called conductors. The conductors often left a number of signs for the slaves to follow so they didn't go to houses that belonged to allies of the slave owners. A quilt on the clothes line depicting a house with smoke coming out of the chimney was a sign of a safe station. A white ring of bricks around the the top of a house's chimney was another sign of a good hiding spot. Shoppes that were safe often had a silohette of

Some common words found in the essay are:
Abolition Societies, Slavery America, Peg-leg Joe, Union Army, Underground Railroad, Box Brown, Drinking Gourd, Slave Act, South North, Davids Kentucky, underground railroad, people north, paths slaves, slaves freedom, drinking gourd, slaves run, civil war, friends family, railroad slowly, slave owners,
Approximate Word count = 1479
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)