...to helping slaves find freedom. If you were a slave looking for freedom in the 1800's, the Underground Railroad would have been your best choice. You will be informed on how the railroad started even before the 1800's and how the railroad was successful. You will also be informed about some important figures in the history of the Underground Railroad. The Underground Railroad was not legitimately a railroad nor was it underground. It was called the Underground Railroad to avoid suspicion of the route to freedom....
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...shameful periods of time was Thomas Garrett from Wilmington, Delaware, a man who aided more than 2,700 slaves to freedom. Another very important person was William Still, an agent of the underground railroad, he was important because he kept secret records for 8 years of the underground railroad. The life of a runaway slave and the struggle to freedom was a very tortuous journey but they wanted freedom so they did what ever they had to do to reach their goals. Slavery was a dark time in America’s past. Not only did slavery separate millions of families, it damages the trust and reputation of white people to African American’s. Many slave owners treated their slaves well but others did not. They forced their slaves to live in rough conditions. Starvation and overworking often led to death. Slaves lived a very rough life. The underground railroad was a very secretive system, it helped african american slaves escape to freedom. In the railroad the fugitives...
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...Fugitive Slave Act also known as the Fugitive Slave Law is a federal law that was passed by the United States congress on September 18, 1850. This act allowed the capturing and returning of runaway slave within the United States. The Fugitive Slave Act was part of a group of laws referred to as the Compromise of 1850. This federal law was a controversial part of the Compromise of 1850, and raised Northern fears of a slave power conspiracy. The Fugitive Slave Act was signed and favored by the United States president Millard Filmore. The earlier Fugitive Slave Act was written to enforce Article 4 section 2 of the United States constitution. Article 4 section 2 of the United States constitution required to return the runaway slaves. Many Northern...
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...The Fugitive slave act was enacted by the United States congress on September 18, 1850 It made any federal marshal or other official who did not arrest an alleged runaway slave Subject to a fine of $1,000. The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 empowered federal commissioners to issue warrants, depose witnesses, and employ federal marshals to arrest and imprison suspected runaways within the jurisdictions of the individual states. Historians estimate that eighty percent of accused runaways brought before federal commissioners under the fugitive slave act of 1850 were sent into bondage. Many Northerners disapproved of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 because it circumvented state and local jurisdiction and expanded the power of the federal government. Moreover, federal marshals who refused to enforce the law and individuals who helped slaves to escape were heavily penalized and were fined $1,000Furthermore, special commissioners were given concurrent jurisdiction with U.S. courts enforcing this act. But although the Constitution recognized the institution of slavery and the rights of slave owners, it was still unclear just what the law required of the people and officials in free states in regard to the matter of fugitive slaves. In 1847 the Court reaffirmed the constitutionality of the 1793 act in Jones v. Van Zandt....
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...days pre-dating the War of 1812. It has never been a large city but it has always held a central role in the historical events of the nation. Not the least of these was as an important stop for slaves seeking freedom on the Underground Railroad. Sandusky’s Tradition Was Steeped in Anti-Slavery Sentiment Sandusky’s leaders' views against slavery took root early on one of its earliest scions, an opinionated and fearless Irishman named John Beatty who served as Sandusky's Mayor from 1833 to 1836. Beatty carried his unswerving stand against slavery as a public banner. A staunch member of the Sandusky Methodist church, Beatty...
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...The Jamaican Maroons were runaway slaves who fought the British during the 18th century. When the British invaded Jamaica in 1655 the Spanish colonists fled leaving a large number of Africans who they had enslaved. | | Rather than be re-enslaved by the British, they escaped into the hilly, mountainous regions of the island, joining those who had previously escaped from the Spanish to live with the Taínos. They were very organized and knew the country well. Because of this, additional runaway slaves joined them. The two main Maroon groups were the Leeward and the Windward tribes, the former led by Cudjoe in Trelawny Town and the latter led by his sister Queen Nanny (and later by Quao). Over time, the Maroons came to control large areas of the Jamaican interior and they often moved down from the hills to raid the plantations. This resulted in the First Maroon War. In 1739-40 the British government in Jamaica came to an agreement with the Maroons. They were to remain in their five main towns Accompong, Trelawny Town, Moore Town, Scots Hall and Nanny Town, living under their own chief with a British supervisor. In exchange, they agreed not to harbour new runaway slaves, but rather to help catch them. They were paid a bounty for each returned slave. This last clause in the treaty naturally caused tension between the Maroons and the enslaved black population, although from time to time runaways from the plantations still found their way into Maroon settlements. ...
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...of their lives, slaves lived under constant threat of whip administered by rough overseers and their masters, who punished them at the slightest offence. An attempt to disobey the whip sometimes could lead to death. These, combined with more than thirteen hours of intense labor every day under scorching sun are some of the reasons as to why the slaves, so badly needed to escape in search of freedom and a better life. Methods of escape were as many and as ingenious as the thousands of slaves who had already made up their minds and decided that it was time to move on and look for freedom. Before slaves escaped, they needed to ensure that they had enough supplies food, water, and clothes because the journey up north was long and tough (Borderwich 25). An escape needed thorough planning with outside contacts on how and when one would leave the compound and what their first destination would be. This would ensure that the slave would arrive in time at the next destination where he or she would meet the people who would help him or her to move on from there. Most runaway slaves escaped from plantations by foot, carefully choosing the ‘safest’ paths that would deliver them to the next point, from which they would now join their helpers (Borderwich 27). The plantations were vast and finding a way out to a safer place was no easy task. Escape from the plantations needed to be done at a time when the slave master or the overseers were not aware and most slaves opted to run away...
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...Brinson June 20th, 2015 Black American History Slave Resistance & Their Revolts When speaking about the rebellion of slaves or of their act of resistance, one must know the true definition of such. There were many forms from running away, theft, practicing religion, rebel, and even speaking an African language was a sign of resistance. But were these acts of resistance only to push the boundaries of freedom, in this case slowly eroding the institution? Or did the slave’s act of resistance give them the incentive to work, ultimately supporting the institution. British North America, as soon as the slaves arrived in Chesapeake is where slave resistance began. Most acts of resistance were an attempt to gain a sense of freedom in an...
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...They declared this the “Republic of Canada”. Sympathetic Americans, sent aid to the rebels on The Caroline. The Caroline was american steamer carrying supplies to the Niagara River. The ship was attacked and burned down by British forces in New York. American Illustrators depicted the sinking of the Caroline as a graphic scene where the ship “plummeted over the Niagara” even though the ship sank “short of the plunge” with only one fatality. The Caroline was significant because a strained relations with Britain and this depictions of the sinking was part of the “War of Words with Britain. The Creole was an american ship taken over by one hundred and thirty runaway slaves. Britain then gifted the runaway slaves an asylum that served as a “safe haven” in the bahamas. The creole was significant because it sparked fear in southern farmers because they believed that the Caribbean would be a haven for runaway slaves. This was as well significant because it trained the relationship of the US and Britain even...
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...was her mother’s first name. She did not have any choice but was to be born into slavery. Ever since she was a baby, that was all she known. She was born in the 1820’s in Dorchester County, Maryland on a plantation. Died on March 10th, 1913 in Auburn, New York. Harriet is known to be an African American abolitionist, humanitarian and was a Union spy during the American Civil War. Tubman had made a choice and escaped from slavery. She made thirteen missions to rescue more than seventy slaves all around. The Underground Railroad was a way she used antislavery activists and safe houses. Later in her days, she helped a man named, John Brown who recruited men for his raid on Harpers Ferry. There soon was a post-war era that struggled for women’s suffrage. Harriet Tubman was a very strong, independent woman and never gave up to help other African Americans from becoming marketed in the slave trade. Harriet’s mother had been selected to be apart of the big house where they sold off slaves to people. Tubman acted like a big sister and took care of her younger brother and a baby in the house. When Harriet Tubman was about five or six years of age, Brodess hired her out to Miss Susan whom had a baby she wanted Harriet to watch and be her nursemaid. Miss Susan had Harriet only watch the baby when it was sleeping and if the baby woke up and started to cry when it was not suppose to, Harriet got punished for it and was whipped. Till the day that Harriet died, she still had the...
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...had the gold rush in 1849 it was petitioning to congress to become a free state. Ever since the Missouri compromise the slave to free state ratio was balanced, so letting California in as a free state would make it unbalanced. On january 29, 1850 Henry Clay, a senator from kentucky proposed a compromise. According to the compromise the territories of Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Arizona would be organized without mention of slavery, which later the inhabitants of the area agreed to when they applied for statehood. It also noted that the slave trade in Washington D.C would be abolished although slavery would still be allowed, and finally California was admitted as a free state and in order for that to satisfy slave-state politicians the fugitive slave act was passed. The fugitive slave act was one of the most controversial, it made it so people had to aid in the return of a runaway slave, also it denied a fugitive’s right to a jury trial. More often than not these fugitive’s cases were handled by special commissioners, these commissioners would be paid Five dollars if the alleged fugitive was set free and Ten dollars if the fugitive was sent home. For slaves attempting to build lives in the north this was the worst thing that could happen as many slaves left their homes and fled up to Canada. During the next decade an estimated 20,000 slaves moved up to canada. Harriet Jacobs, a fugitive living in New York said that the passing of the last was “the...
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...Harriet was a slave to the Brodas family of Dorchester County, on Maryland’s eastern shore when she was six, she was hired out to work as a house slave and nursemaid. Later, she would work out on the fields. In her twenties she met and married John Tubman, who was a free black man. Harriet took his last name and took her mother’s first name and that’s how she became Harriet Tubman. In 1849 Harriet started hearing rumors that some slaves were going to be sold so she decided to run away. Harriet was helped by a friend a white women who guided Harriet to the people who help with the (secret pathway) and that’s when her journey to the Underground Railroad began. It will take her many nights to reach freedom. The next year Harriet would return on the sly to Maryland she ferried her children and her sister out of slavery. Harriet’s husband John was already a free man and decided to stay and later would remarry another women and have a child. Harriet rescued her brothers and their friends and many others. A couple of days later slave owners were offering a $40,000 reward for Harriet’s capture. That did not stop her it just made her smarter and more clever. In all Harriet made nineteen trips and conducted more than three hundred people along the underground railroad some e people called her Moses and some called her the “the General’’. Throughout this book Harriet has been a slave, conductor, and patriot and along the way she has shown that she is brave. Being a slave wasn’t the best...
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...States tore the nation in two. 3 Slave rebellion, both violent and nonviolent, played an enormous role in the abolitionist movement. The social, political, and economic impact of the rebellions, reached far beyond the Civil War, giving black Americans a new-found identity. A day in the life of a slave was tiring. They worked from sunrise to sunset and rarely had a day off, if lucky once a month. They would spend their limited free time mending their huts, relaxing and making pots and pans. The slaves were not allowed to read or write, and only some were allowed to go to church. They had no choice, no freedom and no money. They had to do exactly what their slave masters would tell them to do. They would...
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...Americans as slaves to Jamestown colony to harvest tobacco and that was the start of discrimination (Slavery in America, 2012. Sugar, rice and wheat are some of the crops that slaves tend to under the control of their slave owners. From dusk until dawn, enslaved African Americans worked to tend crops (Slavery in America, 2012). African Americans were enlisted and were forced to join the Army when Civil War came but refused to because of a law that was being upheld to keep them from enlisting. This was changed when President Lincoln submitted the Final Proclamation. There were still discrimination and segregation even though African Americans were already allowed to enlist in the army (The Civil War and Emancipation, 2012). There have been many concerns regarding African Americans participating in political causes throughout the years. There was an instance that a literacy test was done in the State of Mississippi to prevent Blacks from voting. The result was the state adopted a grandpa clause because the test caused whites from being able to vote as well. Before 1870, regardless of literacy or tax qualifications, everyone has the right to vote. The Black community was stopped to vote while whites were able to vote under grandpa clause. Several laws that supported slavery were made in the 1700s and 1800s. It is illegal to teach slaves about reading and writing under the South Carolina Act of 1740. Keeping slaves in control and not rebelling were also responsibilities of slave owners...
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...I am Lucy, a fourteen year old slave girl who is going to escape slavery. Let's start on my journey to escaping as a slave. I lived on the King Plantation in Kentucky. The owners had to sell the us at a slave auction because plantation was in bankruptcy. I did not want to get sold at the auction. Before I ran away, I stole some food from the slave and plantation garden in the middle of the night and then I ran. When I ran away from the plantation one night, I had to be careful not to be spotted by a patroller on the backroad. I had to overcome some obstacles on my runaway journey. I had to steal a boat to sneak across the river. On my escape, I did not stop to help someone or ask for help with my journey, I did not want to risk being caught....
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