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Compare and contrast viewpoints about the fugitive slave act
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Michigan was important to the Underground Railroad because it was close to Michigan, had many important people there, and was a safe place for the slaves to rest. One reason why Michigan was an important stop is because the location of it. Michigan’s location was important for the slaves escape because it was close to Canada, and Canada was only one mile across the Detroit River. Fugitive slaves needed to escape to Canada because of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 basically declared no African American safe, for any African American, free or not, could be captured and sent to slavery. Because of the Fugitive Slave act of 1850 conductors of the Underground Railroad had to send escaped slaves to Canada to live
The Underground Railroad was a vast, loosely organized network of people who helped aid fugitive slaves in their escape to the North and Canada. It operated mostly at night and consisted of many whites, but predominately blacks. While the Underground Railroad had unofficially existed before it, a cause for its expansion was the passage of the 1850 Fugitive Slave Act. The 1850 Fugitive Slave Act allowed for runaway slaves to be captured and returned within the territory of the United States and added further provisions regarding the runaways and imposed even harsher chastisements for interfering in their capture (A&E). The 1850 Fugitive Slave Act was a major cause of the development of the Underground Railroad because it caused people to realize just how cruel slavery was, which invoked an increase in the support and aid of the strong, free, black population, who were a crucial component to the Underground Railroad, as well as abolitionist and anti-slavery white, resulting in the expansion of the Underground Railroad.
Gregory Wigmore’s article Before the Railroad: From Slavery to Freedom in the Canadian-American Borderland covers the main theme of local history during the 19th century in Detroit and Windsor. In particular, Wigmore looks at how the Detroit River served as an escape route between the transnational borders for slaves living on both sides of the river. Wigmore explores how the border was the godsend for the slaves because a simple cross across the river would allow them their freedom. Wigmore’s main focus is the many factors and laws that happened between the 1810’s and the 1820’s that played an important role in this freedom.
The Underground Railroad was a path to safety and freedom for thousands of slaves before the Civil War. Escaping from the chains, confinement and abuse of slavery was no easy task and it took the cooperation of many people to make escape possible. The anti-slavery movement created this path to guide and protect escaped slaves on their way to Canada, the freedom land. Many slaves traveled through Ohio on their journey and were assisted by Ohio residents. My research paper will answer the question: What role did Washington County, Ohio, play in the success of the Underground Railroad?
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.
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
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).
It helped shape our society to what it is today, even if it took over a hundred years. In a hundred years we, as a country went from having slaves, to having segregation, and now everyone gets along and is equal. Sure we still have racism, but we changed a lot. If we never had the Underground Railroad, we might have never got the ball rolling.
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
The Underground Railroad was a pathway that allowed many slaves to escape bondage. Traditionally, the Underground Railroad is taught as being a pathway that only led towards the northern part of the United States. For slaves in the Deep South, including states such as South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas, the Underground Railroad running North was almost unreachable. With fewer obstacles to tackle, a slave of the Deep South could escape to Mexico. Due to its distance from free states in the North and British Canada, the Deep South is not usually a part of discussions of the Underground Railroad. However, evidence shows that the Underground Railroad brought hope for some slaves in Texas by providing a route to Mexico.
The Underground Railroad was what many slaves used to escape slavery. It was not an actual railroad, although it could easily be compared to one. It was a route, with safe houses and many other hiding spots for the slaves to use. The paths had conductors telling you where to go and people who would drive you to the next safe house. You had to be quick, you had to be strong, and you had to be very courageous. The Underground Railroad led all the way to Canada. There were many people helping the slaves, and even more people that were opposing them. It was no easy task. Many slaves died of sickness or natural causes, gave up and returned back to the plantation, or were caught and either killed or brought back. It was a rough journey but a good number of slaves prevailed and escaped to liberty, which in this time was not America.
“Those who deny freedom to others, deserve it not for themselves” Abraham Lincoln, 16th President of the United States and credited for ending slavery for African Americans. On Friday, September 23rd, we set off for Cincinnati, Ohio. The goal of this trip was to view the Underground Railroad and Freedom Center and apply it to what we have studied in class so far. The mission of the Underground Railroad and Freedom Center is to “reveal stories of freedom’s heroes, from the era of the Underground Railroad to contemporary times, challenging and inspiring everyone to take courageous steps of freedom today.” The Center had many exhibits to view and all were impactful in different ways, however I will discuss the three that had the most effect on
The Underground Railroad, a term that have been used dating back as early as the1830s.
The Baltimore and Ohio railroad has a very interesting background on why it started. Many years after the American Revolution a large number of people began to migrate west over the Cumberland Narrows, which is two mountains with a narrow gap in-between located in western Maryland. The Cumberland Narrows was also an early traveling path to the boat building centers located in Pennsylvania and Pittsburgh. It was also the same route George Washington took for Braddock’s Expedition, an attempt to capture the French Fort Duquesne which failed. The route had become famous as the Cumberland Road which was one of the five passes through the rough Appalachians. Now that multitudes of people were moving to the West, it was a chance to make profit. While water transport and travel was the hottest technology of the day, some of Baltimore’s business community wanted something new and different that would also generate wealth. The intelligent comm...
The Underground Railroad was a network of ways that slaves used to escape to the free-states in the North. The Underground Railroad did not gain that name until around 1830 (Donald - ). There were many conductors, people who helped and housed the escaping slaves, but there are a few that have made records. The Underground Railroad was a big network, but it was not run by one certain organization; instead it was run by several individuals (PBS - )
In the nineteenth century, before the American Civil War, slavery was a normal occurrence in most of America. The Underground Railroad was a series of routes in which in enslaved people could escape through. The “railroad” actually began operating in the 1780s but only later became known as the underground railroad when it gained notability and popularity. It was not an actual railroad but a series of routes and safe houses that helped people escape entrapment and find freedom in free states, Canada, Mexico as well as overseas.