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Before the US Civil War, a group of abolitionists didn't just sit around passively to wait for the end of slavery to arrive. They took matters into their own hands. They set up a clandestine network that operated over multiple states to bring escaped slaves to freedom. Their network wasn't a top-down organization which centrally organized everything. Rather, it was one of the earliest examples of a decentralized network where the members didn't even know who else was involved.
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The Underground Railroad was neither underground nor a railroad, but it was perhaps the most important abolitionist effort that led to the actual freedom of enslaved people prior to emancipation. The Underground Railroad was one of the most clever organizations in history in terms of how it was organized and how it operated. Before I get into the organization of the Underground Railroad, I should start at the beginning. In a previous episode, I gave an overview of the abolitionist movement in the United States.
As I noted in the episode, opposition to slavery in the United States began as soon as slavery did. In 1780, Pennsylvania passed the Gradual Abolition Act, becoming the first state to begin the process of ending slavery. This created a clear destination for those who were seeking freedom. Concurrently, Quakers in Philadelphia and elsewhere were establishing some of the first formal anti-slavery societies, guided by their religious belief in human equality.
These early efforts were largely individual and spontaneous rather than coordinated. Enslaved people would flee plantations, often aided by sympathetic individuals who provided food, shelter, or directions. The term underground railroad wasn't used yet, but the fundamental patterns of escape and assistance were starting to form. At this time, if an escaped slave made it to Pennsylvania or other states as they passed abolition laws, they were pretty much in the clear.
But one of the major changes to the law which led to the development of the Underground Railroad was the Fugitive Slave Act of 1793. The Fugitive Slave Act was a critical catalyst in the development of the Underground Railroad, creating a legal framework that paradoxically intensified the very resistance it was designed to suppress. The law was part of a broader compromise between northern and southern states during the early years of the country.
It was a federal law that codified the constitutional provision in Article 4, Section 2, which required that escaped enslaved individuals be returned to their enslavers even if they reached free states.
The act stipulated that slave owners could capture escaped individuals anywhere in the United States, that local magistrates were required to hear and decide capture cases, that captured individuals had virtually no legal defense mechanisms, and that only minimal legal documentation was required to claim an individual as an escaped enslaved person.
It meant that it was no longer enough just to make it to a free state, which, depending on where you were coming from, such as a border area, might have been relatively easy. After the passage of the act, that was no longer possible. Getting to a free state was no longer a guarantee of freedom. And in fact, law enforcement authorities in free states were obligated to return anyone caught.
While the Act was designed to protect the economic interests of slave owners in the South, it had precisely the opposite effect of what its creators intended. Instead of smoothly facilitating the return of escaped slaves, the Act sparked a robust and organized resistance movement.
In the early 1800s, Quaker abolitionist Isaac T. Hopper, for example, established a network in Philadelphia to aid freed slaves seeking freedom. Similarly, Quakers in North Carolina formed abolitionist groups that laid the foundation for escape routes and safe houses. The African Methodist Episcopal Church, established in 1816, was another proactive religious group helping fugitive enslaved people.
Because of the Fugitive Slave Law, however, such people couldn't openly discuss what they were doing as it would invite unwanted attention and possibly get them into legal trouble. Information about helping escaped slaves was transferred slowly and quietly between individuals. So at no point was there ever a meeting or a convention where all the abolitionists came together to decide how they would create an organization to help people get to freedom.
It was a process that developed from the ground up over a period of decades. People who helped escape slaves had to covertly develop routes, safe houses, and systems of coded messages. Perhaps most importantly, they had to find other people to join the network that they could trust. The 1820s and 1830s saw the development of this network. Several key developments in this period significantly impacted the Underground Railroad's growth.
The Missouri Compromise of 1820 created clear geographical distinctions between free and slave territories, making the destinations for freedom seekers more defined. In 1827, New York finally completed its gradual emancipation process, strengthening the North as a region of freedom. The term "underground railroad" itself emerged during this period.
The first documented use appeared in 1831, when an enslaved man named Tice Davids escaped from Kentucky and went to Ohio. When his former owner couldn't find him, he reportedly said Davids, quote, must have gone off on an underground railroad. The railroad metaphor took hold as steam railroads were revolutionizing American transportation at this time. During this period, Canada became increasingly important as a final destination.
After Britain abolished slavery throughout its empire in 1834, Canada offered true legal freedom beyond the reach of American laws. The 1840s saw dramatic growth in the American abolitionist movement, providing more supporters and resources.
The 1850 Fugitive Slave Act, which was part of the Compromise of 1850, made the situation more dangerous for people in the Underground Railroad by requiring Northerners to assist in capturing freedom seekers and imposing harsh penalties on those who helped them escape. Paradoxically, this law also galvanized abolitionists and drove the railroad further underground, making it more organized and secretive.
The 1850s, the decade preceding the Civil War, was the most active time for the Underground Railroad, and it was during this period that the greatest number of slaves managed to escape to freedom. During this period when the Underground Railroad was at its peak, how exactly did it work? The first thing to understand is that there wasn't a single way that anything was done because of the clandestine and distributed nature of the program.
The vast majority of slaves who escaped via the Underground Railroad did so from border states. And this was simply a matter of logistics. Somebody in Northern Virginia had a shorter trip to Pennsylvania than someone did from Mississippi. The Underground Railroad and the abolitionist movement in general was almost an entirely northern phenomenon. There were a few major routes where the Underground Railroad operated.
The eastern corridor went through the Chesapeake Bay into Pennsylvania and New York, and then continuing into New England or Canada. The central route went through Ohio, Indiana, and Michigan into Canada. And the western path went through Illinois and Iowa. The northern routes were the ones most frequently used, but there were others. There were people smuggled aboard ships going to islands in the Caribbean, as well as southern routes which went into Mexico. Routes shifted constantly in response to danger or opportunity.
Those who were part of the Underground Railroad adopted the railroad metaphor to describe their operations. Conductors were guides who led people between safe houses. Stations or depots were hiding places in safe houses. Station masters maintained safe houses. Passengers, cargo, or packages referred to those escaping slavery. And stockholders were financial supporters. Safe houses varied widely, from humble cabins to the home of wealthy abolitionists.
Some included secret rooms, false walls, hidden basements, or concealed attics. Some examples that still exist include the Johnson House in Philadelphia, the Levi Coffin House in Fountain City, Indiana, and the John Rankin House in Ripley, Ohio. Those who ran safe houses might only know who ran the previous and next stop on the railroad. Their knowledge of the overall system was compartmentalized by design so that if they were discovered, only a small portion of the network would ever be compromised.
If a safe house was compromised, then fleeing people could just route their journey around it. Almost all travel took place at night when there were fewer people about and darkness could conceal movement. Codes were often used so that those escaping could navigate between points. One of the myths that's developed is that of the so-called "freedom quilts" where patterns in quilts supposedly contained a code. This story was actually invented in 1999 and it's been debunked by most historians of this period.
Another myth is that families often escape together. This is also not true. The vast majority of people escaping slavery were solo and usually young men. This was because escapes were something that were usually done opportunistically when they had a chance and it wasn't something that they could plan in advance. If they did plan an escape in advance, they would want to tell as few people as possible to reduce the risk of being turned in.
One of the riskiest stops on the Underground Railroad was the crossing from Detroit to Windsor, Ontario. It's a rather short distance, but it's really the only place you can get across the Great Lakes between northern Minnesota and Buffalo, New York. Because it was a choke point for people trying to get to Canada, it was heavily watched by those trying to catch fugitive slaves. They would sometimes take small boats across and other times hide on ferries inside of cargo containers or disguise themselves as workers on the ship.
Because of the compartmentalized nature of the organization, nobody really knew who was actually taking part in assisting the Underground Railroad. It wasn't until the Civil War started that much of the details about who took part and what they did became known publicly. One of the most important figures was William Sill, who has been called the father of the Underground Railroad. He was a prominent abolitionist, writer, and key figure in the Underground Railroad.
Born a free black man in 1821 in New Jersey to parents who were born slaves, he moved to Philadelphia where he became a leader in the Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society. As a station master on the Underground Railroad, he helped hundreds of enslaved people escape to freedom, often providing them with shelter, resources, and guidance.
Unlike many abolitionists, Still meticulously documented the names, origins, and destinations of all the fugitives he assisted, later compiling these records into his 1872 book, The Underground Railroad Records, and it's one of the most valuable first-hand accounts of the entire Underground Railroad. Harriet Tubman earned the nickname Moses for her efforts in the Underground Railroad.
After escaping slavery herself in 1849, she returned south approximately 13 times, helping 70 people escape directly and providing instructions to countless others. And she will be the subject of a future episode. Levi Coffin was a Quaker from North Carolina who later moved to Indiana and Ohio. Coffin helped over 3,000 people escape slavery, earning him the nickname the President of the Underground Railroad.
Frederick Douglass, who himself escaped from slavery, was perhaps the leading abolitionist in the country. In addition to his writing and speaking on the abolition of slavery, Douglass personally used his home in Rochester, New York as a safe house. And Douglass, too, will be the subject of a future episode. Because very few records were kept, the total number of people who escaped to freedom via the Underground Railroad will never be known.
However, the estimates usually range between 20,000 to 40,000, with some estimates as high as 100,000. As important as freeing those thousands of people were, it needs to be put in context. In 1860, at the very start of the Civil War, there were approximately 3.9 million slaves in the United States. So that means, at best, only about 1% of those who were enslaved ever managed to escape to freedom.
Once the war started, most Union generals refused to return escaped slaves. The Confiscation Act of 1861 made it illegal to return any slave who was forced to fight for the Confederacy. The Confiscation Act of 1862 completely prohibited the returning of slaves by Union officers. With the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, all slaves in Southern states were able to escape to freedom by just making it to the Union front lines.
And in 1864, the Fugitive Slave Act was formally repealed. The Underground Railroad was one of the most important and widespread cases of civil disobedience in American history. The men and women who helped with the Underground Railroad put their lives and fortunes on the line to help people escape to freedom. The executive producer of Everything Everywhere Daily is Charles Daniel. The associate producers are Austin Okun and Cameron Kiefer.
Today's review comes from listener EA Oppenheim over on Apple Podcasts in the United States. They write, One of the best. I'm a member of the Completionist Club Frequent Flyer chapter. This is one of my all-time favorite podcasts and I listen while traveling and at home. I love the breadth of topics and the occasional deadpan humor. It's the right length too. I would like to request more episodes on Steam topics and maybe slightly fewer episodes about ancient Rome. I even love listening to Encore episodes.
Well, thanks, EA Oppenheim. I will certainly be doing more STEAM topics in the future. However, there is a limit to what I can do in an audio format. Many of the topics in, say, art and mathematics are very difficult to address without a visual element. That being said, you can be assured that there will be more topics on science, art, and technology. And I'm going to keep doing stuff in the Roman Empire. Remember, if you leave a review or send me a boostogram, you too can have it read on the show.