The Underground Railroad

The Transcontinental Railroad and the Interstate Highway System were not only the two biggest contributions in the history of transportation in the United States but are tremendously similar to each other in how they were built. Both systems were built in times of extremely desperate need of a way of transportation across the country which made them such big advantages to American society. The two systems have been majorly significant tools in the history the United States as well as modern day life.

After the Fugitive Slave act was passed in 1850, it became even more dangerous to help runaway slaves. If a conductor was caught helping a slave they could be, “fined, imprisoned, branded, or even hanged,” (eiu.edu.) The conductors were people of different race, religion, occupation, and status. Some were escaped slaves that returned to slave territory to help free others. Many conductors hid fugitive slaves in their homes and businesses. Safe houses on the underground railroad were called stations and a lantern would hang outside of every station. Conductors helped the slaves because, “believed in a cause greater than themselves, which was the freeing of thousands of enslaved human beings,” (eiu.edu.) Conductors were a big help on the Underground

Even though escaping the South to go the North for freedom was illegal, surprisingly thousands of slaves ran away by using the Underground Railroad. The Underground Railroad is not a train station but the name fits with how they have used it in that time. Just like a train station, the Underground Railroad had “stations” but they were houses or places that could keep the slaves safe for the time being when they were running away. The people who lived in those houses would take care of them for how ever many hours they stayed and then the slaves would start to take off to the North once again. These runners are very brave because if they get caught, they could have either been sent back or even killed. The Underground Railroad was a passage

Throughout the years, slaves have encountered seasons of agony as slave owners exhibit inhumane behavior resulting in the manslaughter of numerous slaves. On a treacherous flight towards freedom, slaves like Nat Turner and Harriet Tubman have retreated from brutality, in order to take a stand against

The appearance of the railroad in the early 19th century created a revolution in the transportation for the development of the economy and the society. This invention, eventually, also brought a lot of outcomes as well as disadvantages for the people living near the routes and the stations.

Escaping from slavery was difficult with all the slave hunters and when everyone tries to make it hard from a slave to escape. When Douglass was a little kid, he always tried to create a plan to escape: “After the Easter holidays, Frederick’s friends when released from jail by their owner and taken home” (41). Douglass risk his life and the lives of his friends to escape to a free slave state. When a slave gets caught, they get sent to jail and it depends on their owners on the punishment. Douglass know that creating a plan to escape will be difficult and not getting caught was harder because not many slave are able to escape slavery. Even when he was close to escaping, he feared getting caught: “But he still had two boats and two more trains to his destination, New York City” (51). Frederick Douglass was determined to become a free man. Frederick Douglass was able to face and achieved any hardships or struggles that came his way. Through his determination, he was able to escape slavery throughout the many years he tried to

Being enslaved was not an easy job for African Americans. African Americans survived slavery through their connection with their culture. They then went on to contribute to the economic and social development of the South and America. African Americans survived the institution of slavery and Africanized the American South. They helped free themselves by sticking together as a family, resisting, as well as wanting slavery to change. They freed themselves by 1865. They founded institutions, for example, black colleges, churches, banks, insurance companies, fraternities and sororities to uplift their race.

Abolitionists preached to the public people on how slavery was unjustified, cruel, immoral, and inhumane. A widely accepted thought was to degrade colored people to that of the thinking capacity of apes and to treat them as animals. Most of the states were slave-holding at this time in history with slaves being the ones under the direction of the owners. Buyers (whites) of slaves sought for cheap labor and gave no credibility to anything the slaves accomplished. Whites had slaves work their mines and farms, the two most important jobs at the time. Without the slaves, no one was there to take care of their families and maintaining submission was the rule of the land. However, it was arguable that colored people were the main reason that the country was striving. It was so unfair that slaves built this country off of their diligent and humbled work ethic, yet they were still viewed as being far inferior to whites.

The Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 was a reinforcement of a previous act of the same name passed by Congress in 1793 to provide for the return of slaves who had attempted to escape from their owners to freedom.

During the Age of Reform in New Jersey, the African Methodist Episcopal Church as well as black and white citizens established an unofficial Underground Railroad to facilitate fugitives with escape routes and safe houses (Thesis). During the time period before the Civil War, tensions were rising between abolitionists and slave owners. The free African-American community, whether it’s Quakers, or members of the AME Church, wanted to end slavery and help slaves escape from their cruel and abusive masters. Some members of the white community were also against slavery, including Quakers and other Christian religious groups.

The Underground Railroad was made around 1820 by multiple people that were not just abolitionists. The Underground Railroad has numerous routes that went from the South all the way to Canada. The routes would also branch off to Northern states where there were still some slavery but not as unsympathetic. “The Underground Railroad worked as a series of networks. The journey North was an extremely long route and the Underground Railroad provided depots or safe houses along the way” (Hudson 2). Even the people helping with the Underground Railroad were risking their lives by accommodating these slaves while they were on the run. The enslaved African Americans would do anything for freedom, even if they had to put their lives in jeopardy or even their families. Most slaves wanted to escape the South where they were bound to die because of how bad the slave owner’s were down there. Some slaves were scared of leaving slavery because that was all they knew. Slaves if they escaped would have troubles finding jobs and a safe place for their family. In like manner, all slaves wanted was to be able to have their own job that they could be paid for and their own house just like any other American citizen. “The Underground Railroad was established to aid enslaved people in their escape to freedom” (Hudson 1). Slaves had no other option than to try to run away from their plantation and hopefully run into someone working for the Underground Railroad to assist them in their escape. There were a lot of people who supported the Underground Railroad that did not want to be known publicly about due to how frowned upon it was especially in the South. A majority of some of the people in the North did not want to get immersed in helping with the Underground Railroad because they thought it was iniquitous to help an escaped slave run from the law. The

Created in the early 1800s and assisted by people associated with in the Abolitionist Movement, the underground railroad assisted thousands of slaves departure from enslavement. By one guess of 100,000 slaves make a run from enslavement in the South between 1810 and 1850.The Underground Railroad was a system of classified passages and secure homes used by 19th-century slaves of African ancestors in the United States to make a run to free states and Canada with the help of abolitionists and colleagues who were thoughtful to their purpose.

Just like the Jews escaping from Hitler, African Americans escaped and ended slavery. They did it using various methods. Some of which were passing information to the Union Army, escaping to northern territories, and serving in the Union Army(Doc. 1)(Doc. 2)(Doc. 4)(Doc. 5). These actions affected the African Americans and the United States by helping the African Americans earn citizenship and abolishing slavery in America(Doc. 6)Doc. 7)(Doc. 7).

The journey to the New World for both indentured servants and slaves was miserable as the torrid conditions on the ship proved to be deadly for many and devastating for the rest. On the ship carrying the indentured servants to the colonies in America, people were stuffed in cramped confines. An account from Gottlieb Mittelberger, a German schoolmaster who traveled on a ship to Philadelphia with poor immigrants who would become servants, wrote, “One person receives a place of scarcely 2 feet width and 6 feet length in the bedstead, while many a ship carries four to six hundred souls; not to mention the innumerable implements, tools…” (Mittelberger). In a crowded ship with several hundred others and many other items, each indentured servant barely

Masters knew that “running away was common. People ran because they had been mistreated or they were afraid they were going to be sold, or they just wanted to be free” (Lester 21). Slaves were tired of working all the time and they just wanted to have their freedom like the Americans; but the attempt at this freedom came with consequences. If a slave was caught running away, they were harshly tortured and in some cases even murdered. This occurred so that the other slaves could watch and see what would happen to them if they tried to escape. Some slaves were branded with their master’s name or a symbol so that everyone would know who they belonged to and that they did something wrong. Working for the Americans was as harsh and dehumanizing as the voyage that was taken to get there.