Slaves turned to freedom for more than one reason. Some were obsessed with being free and living a life where they were not told how to live. Others ran due to fear of being separated or sold from friends and family. There were also some who were treated so cruelly, that it forced them to run just to stay alive. Since coming to America

as slaves even back as far as when the first colonies began, slaves wanted to escape. They wanted to get away from the situation they were forced into. Those who were free were the "whites" who were somew

be, since almost all the slaves who were going to run already had. The final motion that brought the railroad to it's final stop was the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation by

The "Railroad" was then beginning to take shape. A shape that is to this day very hard to describe. Tracks were laid to aide the slaves to freedom. People talked in secrecy to make safe paths for the slaves to run on. These were called the tracks. Letters were sent that had terminology or code for the blacks. A lot of the terms came from things found along railroads. This is because real railroads at this time were the newest thing and happened to be the topic of choice for conversation. This made it all the easier for the helpers of the railroad to communicate going unnoticed. Along the tracks, there were depots, or safe houses to stay. These were houses of free whites or blacks where they could hide when they weren't running. The people who owned the houses were often called conductors. The conductors often left a number of signs for the slaves to follow so they didn't go to houses that belonged to allies of the slave owners. A quilt on the clothes line depicting a house !

morally wrong, the South's riches. They would help the slaves escape to freedom. The slaves were now angry, scared, and confused. Hearing of this Underground Railroad, they slowly began to run more and more.

hat separated in values. The North, was a more industrialized area where jobs were filled by newly imported immigrants, making them less dependent on slave labor. The South, however had rich fertile

By 1807 a law was passed to make it illegal to import anymore slaves. Agricultural improvements came along, and with the limited number of slaves left in the states, the value of the slaves went up very quickly. Abolition Societies began to form, and along with religious groups, they became active in helping slaves to freedom.

to guide the slaves. Some were knocks that slaves used when approaching a house, animal calls, and lights hung in windows. When a slave was moving to the next house along the railroad, this was called "catching the ne

Some topics in this essay:
Underground Railroad, Abolition Societies, Peg-leg Joe, Union Army, Box Brown, Drinking Gourd, Slave Act, South North, Davids Kentucky, Native Americans, underground railroad, slaves freedom, railroad slowly, friends family, dead trees, slaves run, civil war, drinking gourd, people north, paths slaves,