Textbook
Thomas A. Bailey and David M. Kennedy, The American Pageant: A History of the Republic: Tenth Edition (Lexington: D.C. Heath and Company, 1994).
Even more disagreeable to the South was the loss of runaway slaves many of whom were assisted north by the Underground Railroad. It consisted of an informal chain of ‘stations' (anti-slavery homes), through which scores of ‘passengers' (runaway slaves) were spirited by ‘conductors' (usually white and black abolitionists) from the slave states to the free-soil sanctuary of Canada.
The most amazing of these ‘conductors' was an illiterate runaway slave from Maryland, fearless Harriet Tubman. During nineteen forays into the South, she rescued more than three hundred slaves, including her aged parents, and deservedly earned the title ‘Moses.' Lively imaginations later exaggerated the role of the Underground Railroad and its ‘station masters,' but its existence was a fact.
“Estimates indicate that the South in 1850 was losing perhaps 1,000 runaways a year, out of its total of some 4 million slaves. In fact, more blacks probably gained their freedom by self-purchase or voluntary emancipation than ever escaped. But the principle weighed heavily with the slavemasters. They rested their argument on the Constitution, which protected slavery, and on the laws of Congress, which provided for slave-catching. ‘Although the loss of property is felt,' said a southern senator, ‘the loss of honor is felt still more.'
The most amazing of these ‘conductors' was an illiterate runaway slave from Maryland, fearless Harriet Tubman. During nineteen forays into the South, she rescued more than three hundred slaves, including her aged parents, and deservedly earned the title ‘Moses.' Lively imaginations later exaggerated the role of the Underground Railroad and its ‘station masters,' but its existence was a fact.
“Estimates indicate that the South in 1850 was losing perhaps 1,000 runaways a year, out of its total of some 4 million slaves. In fact, more blacks probably gained their freedom by self-purchase or voluntary emancipation than ever escaped. But the principle weighed heavily with the slavemasters. They rested their argument on the Constitution, which protected slavery, and on the laws of Congress, which provided for slave-catching. ‘Although the loss of property is felt,' said a southern senator, ‘the loss of honor is felt still more.'
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Depicted ContentUnderground Railroad