Underground Railroad

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The Underground Railroad
In the discussions of history, scholars come across the aspect of the Underground Railroad. This topic presents the secret routes comprising of safety lines and houses which were used in the 19th century by the slaves of African origin in the United States, in a bid to escape to the Free States and Canada. It was not possible for the slaves to achieve success in the attempts without help from the allies. Hence, the slaves received support from the abolitionists and the people who were sympathizing with their cause. The discussion of the formation and usage of the railroad form the basis of this paper with much orientation towards connecting the happenings then with the world of today.
The railroads
The underground railroads denote the secretive routes and safe houses that were used by the African slaves with the help of allies and abolitionists in a bid to escape from slavery. “The underground railroads led mainly to the Free States, Canada as well as Mexico.” Although the authorities had got wind of the existence of the railroad early enough, there were underestimates. The underestimations worked well for the slaves because; there was a continued safe usage of the paths.
There were estimations that; by the year 1850, there had been more than 100,000 slave escapes through the railroad. One may be tempted to think that hundred thousand is a subtle number going by the estimations of the slaves then. However, it is essential to note that; this is a highly significant number considering that; the railroad was not the only route of escape, and also that the populations were down then, unlike today when a hundred thousand figure of a community may sound quite insignificant.

“Despite the many points of escape, there is the discovery that many of the slaves would head to Canada.” At the time, Canada went by the title British North America. In Canada then, there was the prohibition of slavery; hence, many of the slaves who escaped through the Underground Railroad found it safe to go to Canada. The preference for Canada was also by the considerations that the country’s border had many entry points which were much accessible by the fleeing slaves. This aspect was very much unlike the restricted countries such as Mexico. Most of the Former slaves chose to settle in Ontario. There were estimations that over 30,000slaves escaped to the place through the Underground railways during the 20 years peak period.
Political and judicial deliberations
There were estimations that; each year, there used to be over a thousand slave escapees from tee slaveholding states. There were over five thousand records of court cases involving the slave escape. It is on records that; the continued usage of the Railroad for the slaves to escape got much assistance from the stance of the Free States towards the slaves. “There had been the enactment of laws directing the Free States to assist the slave holding states by way of holding the escaping slaves and handing them back to the country of slavery.” However, the Free States did not heed the requirement of the law hence, the continued usage of the Railroads by the slaves with much success. The Free States continued to offer residence to the escaping slaves hence more and more slaves would escape and settle down in the countries such as Canada.
There used to be much corruption in the courts concerning cases involving the slaves. For instance, for a judge to rule out that a person was a slave, there was handing out $10. On the other to rule out a person was free, the judge would only require a bribe of $ 5. There were many loopholes in the legislation concerning the deliberations on the slaves which brought disagreements between the Northerners and the Southerners. For instance, there were no clear distinctions of identifying a slave and a free person, hence; it became highly possible for free people to get accused of being freeing slaves. It became highly involved to prove a free status.
Many people may be tempted to associate the political confusion at the time with the slavery issue and only with the slavery time. Such perceptions are limiting because; the issues facing nations today have at times got much ambiguity. Take for example the issue of terrorism. At some point, in the judicial deliberations, it becomes hard to prove the extremism of a terrorist or otherwise. There have also been issues of bribery with different twists depending on the case at hand, especially in incidences of multinational interests whereby the interests are conflicting.
The structure
“Many people have had the assumptions that the underground railroads were real tracks constructed under the ground.” This perception is far from the reality. The term was a figurative speech. The network of escape did not contain railroad under the ground in the literal meaning of the words. Rather, it consisted of the underground resistance, and the usage of the term rail was in a coding mode. The structure of the Underground Railroad consisted of meeting points with concealed routes. It also included transportation system as well as safe houses. There was also the personal assistance from the abolitionist sympathizers.
There was the organization of the slave escapees to small groups such small groups were efficient in facilitating the escape because; they would provide each other with the knowledge concerning the connecting stations with a lot of secrecy. Secrecy was paramount in the escape as a whim of the escape to the authority inside the country of slavery would yield dire consequences. “The gory issue would no longer be going back to the slavery, rather, there would be a court case to answer, most of the times the verdict being a long time jail term and other unimaginable punishments.” The small groups would embark on the journey, with the confidence of the few connecting stations they knew, while at the same time having little knowledge of their surroundings. They would move from one connecting station to the next with much discretion.
The escaping slaves would keep moving to the North with their help coming from different entities. The blacks that were born free would empathize with them and offer their assistance. Also, the former slaves who had escaped and also the Native Americans were of great help. The church clergy, as well as the congregation, would offer much assistance to the escaping slaves whenever they came across them. Amongst the entities that offered help to the escaping slaves, it was the free blacks that were of most importance. Without them, there could have been no escape of the slaves without molestation. The success of the Underground Railroad, therefore, has much connection with the willingness of the free blacks to cooperate with the slaves, just as it had much to do with the stance of the Free States.
Route
“In coming up with the courses to be used for the escape, the schemers knew that there was a significant risk of infiltration.” In a bid to avoid falling into the trap, there was the reduction of the exposure of the whole scheme to the people who would use the routes for the escape. The common slaves only knew of part of the operation but not the whole system of the way. The escaping slaves would, therefore, get to move from one station to the other with the assistance of what got a reference as conductors with them having little knowledge of the scheme.
In a bid to move the fugitives from station to station without much pressure, the leader would many of the times pretend to be a fellow escaping slave. By so doing, it became easy to enter into the plantation with the rest of the slaves hence making the moves easy. Without such schemes, it would be easy for the fugitives to plan to extract information from the conductor, even by force so as to be able to move on their own. Such moves would have been dangerous, hence, a good thing that the schemers came up with the deliberations of concealing the conductors. The guide would direct the fugitives to move to the North.
The movement was during the night whereby; a 15-30 km journey would lead to the next station. After arriving at the station, there would be resting period. During such a time, the conductor, acting as one of the fugitives would communicate to the next station that the plantation was about to arrive there. The necessary measures would be undertaken by the conductor in charge of the next station so as to allow a quiet resting of the fugitives when they arrive. “The resting was during the day. At dust, the plantation would embark on their journey to the next station.” The stations were in hiding places such as caves and hollowed riverbanks. The fugitives would hide there during the day while resting and would embark on their Northward journey at dusk till they reach the next station. The cycle would continue until they arrive at the Free States.
At some moments, there was transportation from a boat or train. However, most of the times, the journey was by foot or wagon, mainly in groups of three. Rented horses and wagons would transport as many people as twenty. There were no direct routes as such would make the fugitives much vulnerable to the pursuers. Most of those who escaped through the underground railroads were men. It was tough for women and children to maintain the silence that was necessary to facilitate the escape through the Underground Railroad. Moreover, women were not easily allowed to move away from the slavery plantations as the men; hence; it was difficult for them to get the chance to escape. With the increase in cotton plantations in the Deep South, there was an increasing demand for slaves which led to much slave catching not only for the fugitives but other people as well. Therefore, there were increased deliberations on the Underground Railroad to facilitate the escapes.