Underground Railroad

A detailed Summary of Underground Railroad

I know you're wondering, what railroad? Well the simple fact is that everybody has heard of the Underground Railroad, but not everyone knows just what it was. Firstly, it wasn't underground, and it wasn't even a railroad. The term "Underground Railroad" actually comes from a runaway slave, who while being chased swam across a creek and was out of the owner's sight. The owner said "...must have gone off on an "underground railroad." That man was Tice Davids, a Kentucky slave who decided to live in freedom in 1831. The primary importance of the Underground Railroad was the on going fight to abolish slavery, the start of the civil war, and it was being one of our nation's first major anti-slavery movements.

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 an

One of the pioneers of the "Underground Railroad" was a woman by the name of Harriett Tubman who ran away from her plantation in 1849. She would go from plantation to plantation asking slaves if they want to escape with her to Canada. If they did not want to go, she would explain to them to follow the North Star to Canada (National Geographic).

foot, in a carriage, or in a wagon often containing a fake bottom making a tiny space where slaves could safely journey to freedom. Some traveled on "surface lines the actual railroads of this time. Lightly colored slaves were dressed as whites, and others were put in with the luggage and freight. And yet daring others traveled as baggage. Such a person was Henry "Box" Brown who received his nickname by making the

they were forced into. Those who were free were the "whites" that were somewhat separated in values. The North was a more industrialized area where newly imported immigrants, making them, filled jobs less dependent on slave labor. The South however, had rich fertile land mostly used for farming. Huge plantations were cleared and needed to be worked. The people of the area tended to be more genteel, and seemed not quite adjusted to hard work, but more of giving orders. The idea of telling people how to do their work just seemed to fit all too

d living a life where they were not told how to live. Others ran due to fear of being separated or sold from friends and family. Then there were some, who were treated so cruelly, that it forced them to run just to stay alive. Since coming to America as slaves even back as far back as when the first colonies began, slaves wanted to escape. They wanted to get away from the situation

The railroad didn't have a certain location. Slaves had been running since the 1500's on their own. When the idea caught on among 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 t

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Approximate Word count = 1607
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: History