The Underground Railroad

The Underground Railroad was neither underground nor a railroad. It was “underground” because its activities had to be carried out in secret, using darkness or disguises. It was known as a “railroad” because railway terms were used by those involved with system. Various routes were “lines”, stopping places were called “stations” and where held by “station masters”, “stockholders” gave money or supplies for assistance, those who aided along the way were “conductors”, and the slaves were known as “packages” or “cargo”. The network of routes extended through 14 Northern states and “the promised land” of Canada, beyond the reach of slave hunters. The Ohio River, called the “River Jordan”, marked the boundary between slave states and free states.

The practice involved more spontaneity than the railroad analogy suggests. By the time escapees reached areas where sympathetic persons might assist them, they had already completed the most difficult part of their journey. A successful escape was usually less the product of assistance and more a matter of resourcefulness and a great deal of luck.

The most active of the Railroad workers were northern free blacks, who had little or no support from white abolitionists. The most famous conductor, an escaped slave named Harriet Tubman, made multiple return trips to the South. She helped hundreds of slaves escape. A number of individual white abolitionists, philanthropists, and church leaders aided runaways, as did “vigilance committees,” often biracial.

To reduce the risk of infiltration, many people associated with the Underground Railroad knew only their part of the operation and not of the whole scheme and information about routes and safe havens was passed along by word of mouth. Conductors led or transported the cargo from station to station. A conductor sometimes pretended to be a slave in order to enter a plantation. Once a part of a plantation, the conductor would direct the runaways to the North. Slaves traveled at night to each station. The stations were often located in barns, under church floors, or in hiding places in caves and hollowed-out riverbanks. While the cargo rested at one station, a message was sent to the next station to let the station master know the cargo was on the way.

The routes were often purposely indirect to confuse slave catchers. The journey was considered particularly difficult and dangerous for women or children. Children were sometimes hard to keep quiet or were unable to keep up with a group. Female slaves were rarely allowed to leave the plantation, making it harder for them to escape in the same ways that men could. Although the slaves sometimes traveled on boat or train, they usually traveled on foot or by wagon in groups of 1–3 slaves. Some groups were considerably larger. Abolitionist Charles Turner Torrey and his colleagues rented horses and wagons and often transported as many as 15 or 20 slaves at a time.

At its peak, nearly 1,000 slaves per year escaped from slave holding states using the Underground Railroad, but this was a small fraction of the number of slaves. The resulting economic impact was minuscule, but the psychological influence on slaveholders was massive. The idea of outsiders undermining the institution of slavery angered white southerners, leading to their demands that the Fugitive Slave Laws be strengthened. Under the original Fugitive Slave Act of 1793, officials from slave-holding states were responsible for the recovery of runaway slaves, but citizens and governments of many free states ignored the law.

With heavy lobbying by Southern politicians, the Compromise of 1850 was passed by Congress after the Mexican–American War. It stipulated a more stringent Fugitive Slave Law by convincing officials of free states to assist slave catchers and granting them immunity to operate in free states. Because the law didn’t require much documentation to claim a person was a fugitive, slave catchers also kidnapped free blacks, especially children, and sold them into slavery. “Certificates of freedom," signed, notarized statements attesting to the free status of individual blacks also known as free papers, could easily be destroyed or stolen. Southern politicians often exaggerated the number of escaped slaves and often blamed these escapes on Northerners interfering with Southern property rights. Under the terms of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, when suspected fugitives were seized and brought to a special magistrate known as a commissioner, they had no right to a jury trial and could not testify in their own behalf. Technically, they were guilty of no crime. Since the law deprived suspected slaves of the right to defend themselves in court, it made difficult to prove free status. To influence judges, they were paid a higher fee ($10) for a decision that confirmed a suspect as a slave than for one ruling that the suspect was free ($5).

In response to this Act, the Underground Railroad moved it focus to the promised land. The railroad delivered over 100,000 slaves to the promised land. Fort Malden in Amherstburg, Ontario was deemed the “chief place of entry” for slaves seeking to enter Canada. After 1850, approximately thirty fugitive slaves a day were crossing over to Fort Malden by steamboat. The largest group settled in Upper Canada (Ontario). Numerous Black Canadian communities developed in Southern Ontario. These were generally in the triangular region bounded by Toronto, Niagara Falls, and Windsor. Important black settlements also developed in Lower Canada (Quebec) and Vancouver Island, where Governor James Douglas encouraged black immigration because of his opposition to slavery. He also hoped a significant black community would form a barricade against those who wished to unite the island with the United States.

Upon arriving at their destinations, many of the ex-slaves were disappointed as life in Canada was difficult. While the British colonies had no slavery after 1834, discrimination was still common. Many of the new arrivals had to compete with mass European immigration for jobs, and explicit racism was common. For example, in reaction to Black Loyalists settling in the city, Saint John, New Brunswick amended its charter in 1785 specifically to exclude blacks from practicing a trade, selling goods, fishing in the harbor, or becoming freemen.

Back in the United States, Many Northerners who might have ignored slave issues in the South were confronted by local challenges that bound them to support slavery, this was a primary grievance cited by the Union. And the perception that Northern States ignored the fugitive slave law was a major justification for the South’s secession.

With the outbreak of the Civil War in the U.S., many black refugees left Canada to enlist in the Union Army. While some later returned to Canada, many remained in the United States. Thousands of others returned to the American South after the war ended. The desire to reconnect with friends and family was strong, and most were hopeful about the changes emancipation and Reconstruction would bring.