It seemed like too much money was being lost. This caused the South to pass the Fugitive Slave Act of 1793. This titled slaves as property of their owners and gave .
permission to the owners to retrieve runaways any where in the states, even those states that were free. The North was angry about the treatment of the slaves and was not happy about owners being allowed to come into their states to take the slaves back. Finally, the North decided to do something about it. To return the fire thrown at them by the South, they would take away something that the North thought was .
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. .
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. .
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.
