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The Underground Railroad
Anthony Dunn
Coach Holmes
11/26/2020
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The Underground Railroad was a secret organization in the United States, which has been
organizing escapes and transfer of slaves from the slave states of the South to the free North. The
organization had been working in the 19th century until the beginning of the Civil War in 1861.
The abolitionist activists, Quakers, and free black people constituted the core of the organization.
The organization has received its name not because of using underground tunnels or trains
neither was used, but due to the railway terminology used among participants. The network had
certain routes, or “lines,” which were used to transport fugitive slaves.
These routes took their beginning from the borders of Tennessee, Virginia, Kentucky,
Maryland, Georgia, and led to the northern states and Canada. The Underground Railroad and
the events surrounding it were truly revolutionary because, for the first time, whites put
themselves in danger by doing what was morally right, helping slaves to freedom. This was
confronted with a legal reaction, prohibiting this behavior,
that the Northern abolitionists settled by instituting reform laws that
protected slaves.1
How whites contributed under the radar during the underground railroad. This is often not
talked about in stories. You might just read and hear how Harriet Tubman freed the slaves
through the underground railroad but what you don’t often hear about is who those important
conductors were. There were these brave white men that wanted to fight against slavery, and
they were called the conductors. Conductors helped runaway slaves by providing them with safe
passage to and from stations. They did this under the cover of darkness with slave catchers hot
on their heels. There were over 3,200 known to have worked on the railroad between 1830 and
the end of the Civil War.
1
Gilbert H. Barnes, The Antislavery Impulse, 1830-1844 (Gloucester, Mass., 1933).
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Many of those conductors will remain forever anonymous. There was a risk factor for
these white men. Injury and illness were a danger on the Underground Railroad, as well as wild
animals. Despite such risks and dangers, the journeys were braved by fugitives to escape from a
life of Slavery. Had it not been for the many conductors of the Underground Railroad, many
slaves never would have made it to freedom.
With the help of these conductors, A significant percentage of enslaved African
Americans escaped on the Underground Railroad. As many as 100,000 slaves escaped on the
Underground Railroad between 1800 and 1865. This is a very high number and bringing them to
freedom was not easy because this railroad took 800 miles and six weeks, on a route winding
through Maryland, Pennsylvania, and New York.
How whites were helping Africans Americans become free from there owner. There were over
3,200 railroad conductors and some were white but there was one that shined out during this. In
1849, John Brown moved from Springfield, Massachusetts, where he owned a wool brokerage
business and was an active conductor on the Underground Railroad, to Lake Placid, New York.
He heard of wealthy businessman Gerrit Smith's plan to give parcels of land in upstate
New York to free African Americans. He was well known as a radical abolitionist who had
hatred over slavery and led him to seize the United States arsenal at Harpers Ferry in October
1859. He was hanged for treason against the Commonwealth of Virginia, Brown quickly became
a martyr among those seeking to end slavery in America. Brown failed at several business
ventures before declaring bankruptcy in 1842. Still, he was able to support the abolitionist cause
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by becoming a conductor on the Underground Railroad, and by establishing the League of
Gileadites, an organization established to help runaway slaves escape to Canada.2
Lastly, the New laws coming out to help slaves become free. These new laws weren’t just
implicated off rip no there was a problem before Emancipation Proclamation. There was the
Fugitive Slave Act, in U.S. history, statutes passed by Congress in 1793 and 1850. It was
repealed in 1864 and provided for the seizure and return of runaway slaves who escaped from
one state into another or federal territory. The 1793 law enforced Article IV, Section 2, of the
U.S. Constitution in authorizing any federal district judge or circuit court judge, or any state
magistrate, to decide finally and without a jury trial the status of an alleged fugitive slave. This
made it harder for runaway slaves that were using the underground railroad.
This meant if you arrived in a different area you could be shipped back to your owner.
You would be back into slavery because of the new law of 1850. Until 1863, the United States
government responded. Invoking presidential wartime powers, Abraham Lincoln decreed that all
persons held in bondage within the Confederacy were free. The Emancipation Proclamation
cracked open the institution of slavery, changing the course of the Civil War and the nation. It
took a little time to reach the south because they didn’t want to let go of their slaves that that
marked the day they were free and that the underground railroad was a success.3
In conclusion, The Underground Railroad and the events surrounding it were truly
revolutionary because, for the first time, whites put themselves in danger by doing what was
morally right, helping slaves to freedom. This came with legal reactions, prohibiting certain

Benét, Stephen Vincent. 1968. John Brown's body. New York: Holt, Rinehart and
Winston.
2
“The Fugitive Slave Act, 1850.” The Avalon Project at the Yale Law School. 26 January 2002.
(15 February 2004).
3
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behavior, which also led to Northern abolitionists instituting reform laws that protected slaves.
This was a huge changing point in America. With the underground railroad it allowed African
Americans to be free from bondage. Allowed them to not be trapped anymore and gave them a
better way of life.