The Underground Railroad In American History

The Impact of the Underground Railroad in American History To begin, when the topic of American history is brought up, people do not tend to bring up slavery and how it has impacted our country by once splitting it into two. Instead they bring up how our country gives independence and freedom to its citizens. This was not always the case, though in 1619 the first slaves were brought to Virginia by the Dutch to help boost production of tobacco and other important crops. These African American people were kidnapped and made to join the impoverished European people of the colony in working for wealthy colonists. The agreement when slavery first began was that if you worked for seven years you would gain freedom along with your own plot of

The Underground Railroad was made around 1820 by multiple people that were not just abolitionists. The Underground Railroad has numerous routes that went from the South all the way to Canada. The routes would also branch off to Northern states where there were still some slavery but not as unsympathetic. “The Underground Railroad worked as a series of networks. The journey North was an extremely long route and the Underground Railroad provided depots or safe houses along the way” (Hudson 2). Even the people helping with the Underground Railroad were risking their lives by accommodating these slaves while they were on the run. The enslaved African Americans would do anything for freedom, even if they had to put their lives in jeopardy or even their families. Most slaves wanted to escape the South where they were bound to die because of how bad the slave owner’s were down there. Some slaves were scared of leaving slavery because that was all they knew. Slaves if they escaped would have troubles finding jobs and a safe place for their family. In like manner, all slaves wanted was to be able to have their own job that they could be paid for and their own house just like any other American citizen. “The Underground Railroad was established to aid enslaved people in their escape to freedom” (Hudson 1). Slaves had no other option than to try to run away from their plantation and hopefully run into someone working for the Underground Railroad to assist them in their escape. There were a lot of people who supported the Underground Railroad that did not want to be known publicly about due to how frowned upon it was especially in the South. A majority of some of the people in the North did not want to get immersed in helping with the Underground Railroad because they thought it was iniquitous to help an escaped slave run from the law. The