Underground Railroad

1657 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Questions about 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.

Show More
Related

  • Lydia Maria Child's Propositions Defining Slavery and Emancipation

    1425 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the south, slavery was a oppression of the government. There were "southern defenders of slavery taunted abolitionists by arguing that wage workers in the North and England were equally slaves" and that "women were equally" treated unjustly, which means slavery was a way for the government to take advantage of their power (Balkin and Levison 1463). Slaves were constantly trying to find opportunities to escape. In Ads for Runaway Servants and Slaves (1733-72), many servants and slaves were runaways but many were caught or chose to returned to their masters because they had nowhere else to go. Many slave owners were uncertain as to why their slaves would run away because "he has been always too kindly used, if ...

    Read More

  • Signs, Symbols and Signals of the Underground Railroad

    3218 Words  | 7 Pages

    The Underground Railroad was an escape network of small, independent groups of individuals bound together by the common belief that enslaving a human being was immoral. A loosely structured, informal system of people who, without regard for their own personal safety. Conducting fugitives from slavery to free states, and eventually to Canada where they could not be returned to slavery was a dangerous undertaking.

    Read More

  • Social Differences Between North And South Colonies

    627 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Northern and Southern colonies both had an influx of immigration. The Northern colonies’ economic success and religious freedom attracted many immigrants. People like the Germans immigrated to the Northern colonies in hopes of gaining a better economic standing through trade and commerce. “Most were fleeing economic distress, but some, such as the Mennonites, came to Pennsylvania because of William Penn’s policy of religious freedom …”(81). The influx of immigration to the North made the New England and Middle colonies extremely

    Read More

  • Slavery in the Late 1700s and Early 1800s.

    820 Words  | 2 Pages

    Slavery had a big impact on the market, but most of it was centered on the main slave crop, cotton. Primarily, the south regulated the cotton distribution because it was the main source of income in the south and conditions were nearly perfect for growing it. Cheap slave labor made it that much more profitable and it grew quickly as well. Since the development in textile industry in the north and in Britain, cotton became high in demand all over the world. The south at one point, was responsible for producing “eighty percent of the world’s cotton”. Even though the South had a “labor force of eighty-four percent working, it only produced nine percent of the nations manufactured goods”, (Davidson 246). This statistic shows that the South had an complete advantage in manpower since slavery wasn’t prohibited. In the rural South, it was easy for plantation owners to hire slaves to gather cotton be...

    Read More

  • The Legend Of The Underground Railroad Analysis

    1099 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Underground Railroad was an extremely complex organization whose mission was to free slaves from southern states in the mid-19th century. It was a collaborative organization comprised of white homeowners, freed blacks, captive slaves, or anyone else who would help. This vast network was fragile because it was entirely dependent on the absolute discretion of everyone involved. A slave was the legal property of his owner, so attempting escape or aiding a fugitive slave was illegal and dangerous, for both the slave and the abolitionist. In The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, Frederick Douglass understands that he can only reveal so many details about his escape from servitude, saying, “I deeply regret the necessity that impels

    Read More

  • Taking a Look at the Underground Railroad

    1076 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Underground Railroad was large group of people who secretly worked together to help slaves escape slavery in the south. Despite the name, the Underground Railroad had nothing to do with actual railroads and was not located underground (www.freedomcenter.org). The Underground Railroad helped move hundreds of slaves to the north each year. It’s estimated that the south lost 100,000 slaves during 1810-1850 (www.pbs.org).

    Read More

  • How Slavery Affected Colonial America

    998 Words  | 2 Pages

    Slavery was a practice in many countries in the 17th and 18th centuries, but its effects in human history was unique to the United States. Many factors played a part in the existence of slavery in colonial America; the most noticeable was the effect that it had on the personal and financial growth of the people and the nation. Capitalism, individualism and racism were the utmost noticeable factors during this most controversial period in American history. Other factors, although less discussed throughout history, also contributed to the economic rise of early American economy, such as, plantationism and urbanization. Individually, these factors led to enormous economic growth for the early American colonies, but collectively, it left a social gap that we are still trying to bridge today.

    Read More

  • Harriet Tubman's Arguments About The Underground Railroad

    299 Words  | 1 Pages

    Another point that someone might argue about the Underground Railroad is Harriet Tubman. She was one of the conductors of the Underground Railroad. She would an African American born slave, spent most of her life on the plantation, who risked her life multiple to times to get her fellow slaves to safety. She escaped from Maryland but see continued to put her freedom on the line for fellow slaves who wanted to use the Underground Railroad. Her original intent was to go back to Maryland to get her husband, but to her surprise, he had taken a new wife. She was angered by this but this anger was only used for the good of getting her whole family out of slavery and to their freedom. She continued to travel back south help people about ten years

    Read More

  • Gender And Dismemberment In The Life Of Fredrick Douglass

    1316 Words  | 3 Pages

    ... with doing this would increase the owners number of slaves, and profits. As a result of this and many other reasons to prevent slaves from thinking of running away, Slaver Owners would tell lies to the slaves to prevent them from running away.28 They soon after relay on taking slaves to church, in hope to keep them from killing their masters like Nat Turner.29

    Read More

  • The American Revolution’s Effect on the Institution of Slavery

    800 Words  | 2 Pages

    Slavery allowed the American economy to flourish for over 300 years. It allowed many Southern states to grow at a furious pace without significantly diversifying their economy. The South relied on the harvesting of cash crops such as tobacco and cotton, which were very labor intensive. Without much cheap labor, slaves were relied on to harvest the crops; this provided enormous value to farmers and plantation owners in the region. However, the institution of slavery was challenged in the 18th century by decades of Enlightenment thought, newfound religious ideals, and larger abolitionist groups. After the American Revolution many states would ban the practice of slavery completely and only a few would maintain the “peculiar institution”.

    Read More

  • Slavery - Underground Rail Road

    642 Words  | 2 Pages

    The underground railroad was a network of northerners that helped slaves reached the north and Canada for safety from their plantation. It was secret and railway terms were used to describe system as a way to hide the real nature of the operation. The underground railroad extended from Maine to Nebraska but was most concentrated in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indian, New York, and The New England States. More of the more specific spots were Detroit, Michigan, Erie, Pennsylvania, Buffalo and New York.

    Read More

  • Slavery in Colonial America

    846 Words  | 2 Pages

    ... market, but demand in continental Europe and the United States grew even faster after 1840. The profitability of slavery ultimately rested on the enormous demand for cotton outside the South. This made slaves the most valuable commodity at the time and most of the profits from slave labor and sales went into purchasing more land and slaves.

    Read More

  • Economic Causes To The Civil War

    991 Words  | 2 Pages

    The North had confidently been recognized as a manufacturing society. Labor was needed, although not necessarily slave labor. Immigration was an encouragement. Immigrants that were from European regions worked in factories, built the railroads in the North, and developed the West. Very little stayed put in the South.

    Read More

  • The Real Heroes of Slavery in the United States

    1983 Words  | 4 Pages

    I want to start with the history of slavery in America. For most African Americans, the journey America began with African ancestors that were kidnapped and forced into slavery. In America, this event was first recorded in 1619. The first documented African slaves that were brought to America were through Jamestown, Virginia. This is historically considered as the Colonial America. In Colonial America, African slaves were held as indentured servants. At this time, the African slaves were released from slavery after a certain number of years of being held in captivity. This period lasted until 1776, when history records the beginning of the Middle Passage. The Middle Passage showed the increased of African slaves were bought into America. The increase demand for slaves was because of the increased production of cotton in the south. So, plantation owners demanded more African slaves for purchas...

    Read More

  • Analysis Of The Underground Railroad

    942 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Underground Railroad despite occurring centuries ago continues to be an “enduring and popular thread in the fabric of America’s national historical memory” as Bright puts it. Throughout history, thousands of slaves managed to escape the clutches of slavery by using a system meant to liberate. In Colson Whitehead’s novel, The Underground Railroad, he manages to blend slave narrative and history creating a book that goes beyond literary or historical fiction. Whitehead based his book off a question, “what if the Underground Railroad was a real railroad?” The story follows two runaway slaves, Cora and Caesar, who are pursued by the relentless slave catcher Ridgeway. Their journey on the railroad takes them to new and unfamiliar locations,

    Read More

More about Underground Railroad

Open Document