the underground railroad

Slavery has been around since before the new millennium and is still around today. Unfortunately, slavery was a key part of the colonization of America. From the early 1600’s to the end of the United States’ civil war, many people accepted slavery. Several of the founding fathers were the owners of slaves, including George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin and others. The earliest slaves in the colonies were guaranteed land and freedom in exchange for seven years of labor; however, not everyone was granted this freedom. Throughout time, the population grew and with it, the number of slaves increased. As the slave trade increased, so did opposition. With the invention of the cotton gin in the late 1700s, the demand for slaves in southern states was at an all-time high. During this dark and cruel time in American history, the enslaved knew their only chance at freedom was escape. With the passage of the strict Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, those held captive saw slave free Canada as one of their best chances at freedom. Those that were brave enough to escape took emancipation into their own hands, thus the Underground Railroad was born.
The Underground Railroad was neither underground nor a railroad; however, it worked much like a railroad. There was a particular path that had to be taken, multiple stops along the way, and a specific person lead the way much like a conductor. The name “underground railroad” originated from the use of railroad terms, which were used as codes, such as “baggage”, meaning the escaping slaves, “stations”, which were hiding places and “station masters”, who were the people running the “stations”. In order to keep the Underground Railroad a well-kept secret, each stationmaster knew only limit...

... middle of paper ...

...ake certain that slave-catchers did not catch on to their assistance with the Underground Railroad (http://www.ushistory.org/us/28c.asp ).
Every mass movement needs individuals willing to give their time in support of a cause. Without the extensive help from abolitionists and conductors of the Underground Railroad, slavery may have taken a great deal longer to abolish. Freedom has always been strived after all across the world, but freedom is not always easy to come by. The support of the many abolitionist helped set a moral precedent for the way people should be treated. The United States constitution states that all men are created with certain unalienable rights. Life, freedom, and the pursuit of happiness is the right of everyone and through the help of everyone involved in the Underground Railroad, this was realized and slavery was finally put to rest in 1865.