Why Did The Underground Railroad Really Cause The Civil War?

The Civil War was a war fought between the North and the South of United States. The North fought against slavery while the South fought for slavery. There were many events and actions that provoked both sides to believe a civil war was necessary. One very popular cause the Underground Railroad. The Underground Railroad was a series of secret routes and pathways. They were the “safe” routes. Slaves could reach freedom by following a conductor, who would lead them through all the routes depending on where they were located. The success of the Underground Railroad caused the South to lose about 100,000 slaves. Because of the success, the South were angry because they supported slavery; they had been owning slaves and were used to it. Hence, this popular cause was one reason why the Civil War was fought and so I chose this very reason.

The slave would have no recourse and would have no right to a trial by jury even if they had become free. A scene was shown in the History Channel in which a black free man was grabbed roughly from his job as a tailor. He stated that he was a free black man, but the men who grabbed him did not care because of the new Fugitive Slave Law. Even though that black man was free and had a job, he had to go back to his original owner. The law was very unfair and so, slaves escaped to Canada because people didn’t want to chase them that far. This angered the North greatly because many slaves were brought back to the harsh and horrible conditions they were in before. The law was made so that slaves would be returned right away without any delay. This cause made much sense in why the Civil War happened, which is why I chose this as my second cause. Though the Underground Railroad brought thousands of slaves to freedom, the Fugitive Slave Law of 1793 was bringing them