The term Underground Railroad symbolized an idea and a network of teamwork and desire. It began in the early 1700s, but all the while railroads were not popular in the United States until the Antebellum years before the Civil War. Therefore, the term did not originate until after 1830. This makes it difficult to understand where the term Underground Railroad originates from. It did not run underground and very few refugees found their way north by actual railroad. The Underground Railroad was not even secret. It created such a propaganda war that by the 1850s it became old news for newspapers to talk about. Yet, the story of the Underground Railroad is signifies American history.
The story of the Underground Railroad is one of the greatest of America's time. Many compare it to the Israeli exodus out of bondage and into Canaan. The story of Harriet Tubman only magnifies the comparison between the two stories by making nineteen journeys into the South to help her family and over three hundred enslaved African Americans escape north. Activity along the Underground Railroad intensified during antebellum. During which period approximately 50,000 enslaved blacks escape along the Underground Railroad.
When slaves reached a free state, many stopped and found a place to live in States like Pennsylvania, New York, Massachusetts, and Ohio, but the majority of the refugees continued to follow the North Star into Canada because the United States law saw a slave as their property, therefore he must be returned. But why Canada? It is so cold, and agricultural conditions their were scarce. The reason "why" was the government in Canada would not return refugees back to the United States government to be re-enslaved. In Canada blacks were considered citizens. They could vote and were able to own land. A refugee would face the problem of finding a home and making a living, but at least they faced them in freedom.
1) The
Underground Railroad in Southern Lancaster County
-- Quakers
-- Pilgrims
Pathway (17 Stations)
-- The
Lancaster Journal 1794-1810
-- Census
2) The
Underground Railroad throughout Pennsylvania
-- Map
-- Six
Stops while traveling through PA, according to National Park Service
4) Bibliography