UNDERGORUND RAILROAD

The Underground Railroad was a loose network of antislavery northerners-mostly black, which illegally helped fugitive slaves reach safety in the free states or Canada in the period before the American Civil War. It was also called the Liberty line. It was once thought that more than 60,000 slaves gained the freedom in this way, but that estimate is probably an exaggeration. Because of its proximity to the north, the upper South supplied a high proportion of …

…The federal Fugitive Slave Law of 1793 became difficult to enforce as Yankee judges and legislators restricted masters' rights of recovery. A new law, part of the Compromise of 1850, was more stringent, but the activities of the Underground Railroad continued. Outraged at northern defiance of the law, southerners grew increasingly provoked. Antagonism over fugitives and the publicity accorded them were crucial in fueling the flames of sectional mistrust that eventually led to the American Civil War.