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The Fugitive Slave Act had existed in the United States since 1793, but it was not strongly enforced. However, as more Northern states abolished slavery, slaveowners came to believe that the free states would lure freedom-seeking enslaved people away from the South. It was the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 that really changed things. The updated law now said that slaveowners had the right to reclaim enslaved people who ran away, even in free states. It also required the government to help slaveowners in getting escapees back. No such requirement had existed before 1850. Also, if captured, free African Americans were not allowed to prove that they were indeed free. Some people who had been free for their entire lives now had no choice but to leave the United States in order to keep their freedom. It became a very confusing and unjust situation. Punishment was given to anyone who helped enslaved people to escape. The new law was so severe, however, that it led to abuses and was actually counterproductive. Abolitionists increased in numbers to oppose it. The operations of the Underground Railroad became more efficient out of necessity. New laws favoring enslaved people were enacted in many Northern states.

Attempts by the Northern states to weaken the Fugitive Slave Act by enacting their own laws caused much animosity. This brought more anger to the already fiery debate over slavery. In the end, these opposing state laws were used as justification by South Carolina in December 1860 to secede from the United States.

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On January 1, 1863, the Civil War was underway. President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation. It said “that all persons held as a slave, henceforward shall be free.” However, the order only applied to the Southern states that had left the Union.

Lincoln joined the Republican Party in part because he knew slavery was wrong. However, his ideas about slavery were not the same as the abolitionists. They fought to end slavery immediately; they fought to end racial segregation and discrimination. Oppositely, Candidate Lincoln before becoming president, stated during a political debate: “I, as much as any other man, am in favor of having the superior position assigned to the white race.” He stood against ending slavery immediately to satisfy abolitionists’ wishes and goals. Yet his campaign did support the idea that slavery in the Western territories would not be permitted.

Lincoln, before joining the Republican Party, had similar beliefs to the Free Soil Party. Their motto was: “Free soil, free speech, free labor and free men.” Free Soilers thought that slavery should be confined to certain areas, not allowing it to spread. The Free Soil Party was popular from 1848 to 1854. Free Soilers opposed slavery migrating to the western territories. They believed that if slavery was confined, it would die out on its own. An economy where everyone was free was better and richer than one with slavery, they said. If slavery was abolished all at once, the South would be angry. So angry, in fact, Free Soilers thought the conflict would destroy the country.

Winning the presidency in 1860, President Lincoln’s views on slavery evolved as the Civil War took shape. The events of the war helped form Lincoln’s beliefs on race and slavery. He admitted that he could not take credit for “freeing the slaves.” It was the struggle, push and sacrifices made by millions who changed the course of history and ended slavery.

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When a person was enslaved for life, the only way for them to gain freedom was to escape. In the North, states made owning another person illegal. To an enslaved person, the trip to the North could be 10 miles or 110 miles. They had never seen a map. They only knew “north” meant freedom. Staying put offered no freedom. Getting caught as a runaway meant severe punishment or death. The punishment was meant to scare other enslaved people by showing them what would happen if they ran away. It was also meant to stop them from thinking of freedom.

To make the trip north, a runaway needed help. They needed people to guide, hide, and feed them. Abolitionists knew how to help, even though they knew that helping an enslaved person escape was against the law. Consequences for helping an enslaved person escape were severe. Many slave owners would come after their “property.” They would torment people they thought were helping the runaways. Farms were burned, people were injured, and some were arrested. These consequences did not stop the abolitionists.

A system of secret codes, paths, and hideaways was created. The paths or tracks would be hidden from the public eye. There would be people to act as guides on the tracks, like a conductor on a railroad. There would be places to rest along the way, like railroad stations. The escaping people were the passengers. In this way, the Underground Railroad was created and operated.

It wasn’t a real railroad, but the words were used as code. This code was meant to fool anybody searching for a runaway.

The passengers were met in secret by a conductor. The conductor would guide them to the stations. They were given food, clothing, and supplies for the next part of the trip. The passengers traveled at night. They traveled quietly and as quickly as they could.

There were many routes on the Underground Railroad. The routes went to many different cities in the north and eventually to Canada. Enslaved people risked their lives to be free. Many kind and brave people helped them reach freedom.

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Although many states were part of the Underground Railroad's vast network, Ohio was of great importance. It had the advantage of being the state closest to Canada, which was only about 250 miles away. Many slaves were ferried from Ohio, across Lake Erie, to freedom in Canada. Several Ohio towns were commonly used as departure points, including Toledo and Cleveland. Oberlin, Ohio was a pivotal part of the Underground Railroad due to its central location that connected five different routes. There is a monument on the Oberlin College campus that is dedicated to the importance of the Underground Railroad in Ohio. Even though Ohio was a free state, it was still illegal to help escaping enslaved people there in any way.

Canada was the final destination for many escapees, mainly because U.S. slaveowners did not have legal authority to retrieve them from other countries. Approximately 30,000 to 40,000 escaping enslaved people entered Canada during the last legal years of slavery. Canada assured freedom, unlike “free” states in the northern United States, due to the Fugitive Slave Act. This law mandated that escaping enslaved persons, if caught, were to be stopped and then returned, even from free U.S. states, back to their former owners.

The location of Ohio was not its only asset to the Underground Railroad. There was also a very large population of Quaker abolitionists, who greatly aided escaping enslaved people. There were also certain citizens who were important to the success of the Underground Railroad. One of those citizens was Levi Coffin from Cincinnati. He was jokingly referred to by fellow freedom fighters as the "President of the Underground Railroad." In 1854, Coffin also started an orphanage for African American children. In July 1902, African Americans in Cincinnati erected a monument over Coffin’s grave to honor him and his wife. The monument reads, “Noble benefactors, aiding thousands to gain freedom.”

John Rankin, a Presbyterian minister, used his home in Ripley to give refuge to escaping enslaved persons. The home, which stood on a high hill above the Ohio River, signaled to enslaved people waiting across the river in Kentucky via lantern when it was safe to cross the river. Rankin’s neighbor, John Parker, a free African American and foundry owner, used a rowboat to ferry many escapees across the river. He was also noted for going into Kentucky and helping enslaved people escape from their plantations.

John Rankin’s home is now a museum. In the home, you can see several secret rooms where enslaved people were hidden before starting the next leg of their journey. The “Freedom Stairway” can also be seen here, which is the hundred-step staircase that led enslaved people from their successful crossing of the Ohio River up the hill to safe harbor at Rankin’s home. The home of neighbor Mr. Parker, in Ripley, is also a museum.

It was at the home of John Rankin that Harriet Beecher Stowe, also an Ohio resident, heard about the dangers that fugitives from slavery encountered. This later became the basis for her famous book, Uncle Tom's Cabin. At this time, she interviewed formerly enslaved people who had escaped to freedom through the Underground Railroad. Many of the characters in her book were modeled after these real people. Although Ms. Stowe did not aid directly in the Underground Railroad, her book brought the evils of slavery to light for many. Her home can be visited in Cincinnati.

Another Ohio memorial to the Underground Railroad is the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, also located in Cincinnati. Interestingly enough, this museum sits on the banks of the Ohio River, a reminder of the importance of the river for many of those escaping from slavery. The Freedom Center tells the story of the struggle for freedom in the United States and that all people should be treated with dignity and respect. The National Underground Railroad Freedom Center also celebrates the people who created the secret network to freedom, the Underground Railroad.

The Underground Railroad remained in operation until the 13th Amendment to the U.S. constitution outlawed slavery in 1865.

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Araminta Harriet Ross was born into slavery in Bucktown, Maryland, in 1820. When she was a child, she was “hired out” to people. The people paid her owner for her work. She worked for several very cruel people, who injured her. These injuries would bother her for the rest of her life.

In 1844, she was allowed to marry a free man named John Tubman. In 1849, when her owner died, she knew it was her chance for freedom. She ran north. She had no plan, and the journey was terrifying and difficult. She used different stations on the Underground Railroad. She had no conductor between stations. She traveled alone and made the 90-mile journey to Philadelphia. Harriet Tubman said about realizing she was in Philadelphia: “When I found I had crossed that line, I looked at my hands to see if I was the same person. There was such a glory over everything; the sun came like gold through the trees, and over the fields, and I felt like I was in Heaven.”

In Philadelphia, she met a man named William Still. He was a clerk and janitor for the Pennsylvania Society for the Abolition of Slavery. He introduced her to many people connected to the Underground Railroad. Tubman didn’t stay in the safety of Philadelphia for long. She became a conductor on the Underground Railroad.

Tubman made 19 daring trips along the Underground Railroad and helped about 70 people escape from slavery. She was called “Moses” by many for leading people to freedom. She was feared and hated by enslavers and revered or respected by abolitionists and freedom seekers. They couldn’t believe “Moses” was a woman. She was one of the most successful “conductors” along the Underground Railroad.

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We know more about the secret Underground Railroad thanks to William Still. Both his parents escaped slavery and came to Pennsylvania before he was born. When his mother escaped the South, she couldn’t take all her children with her. She was always troubled about the two young sons she had to leave behind.

In Philadelphia, Still worked as a janitor and clerk for the Pennsylvania Society for the Abolition of Slavery. He also became one of the most successful conductors for the Underground Railroad. He met people who escaped slavery on the Underground Railroad and encouraged them to change their names. Then he wrote their names in a book. Changing their names had two purposes. First, it would signal their new life as a free person. Second, it would help hide them from anyone who wanted to take them back to slavery.

Still knew keeping records like this was dangerous. Conductors often preferred not to learn details about "passengers." They feared questions from authorities if they were ever caught. After the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 was passed, most people who had kept records about the Underground Railroad burned them. Still continued to write down the names. He hid his records in a crypt, an underground burial chamber, where he thought no one would look. He knew that families would want to reunite after they left slavery behind. So he continued to write down the names and keep them hidden and safe.

When asked how the Underground Railroad was successful, Still replied, "'How?' I answer, 'Through extraordinary determination and endeavor,' such as are demonstrated in hundreds of cases in the pages of this book, in the struggles of men and women to obtain their freedom, education, and property. These facts must never be lost sight of.... The pulse of the four millions of slaves and their desire for freedom, were better felt through 'The Underground Railroad,' than through any other channel.”

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The Fugitive Slave Act had existed in the United States since 1793, but it was not strongly enforced. However, as more Northern states abolished slavery, slaveowners came to believe that the free states would lure freedom-seeking enslaved people away from the South. It was the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 that really changed things. The updated law now said that slaveowners had the right to reclaim enslaved people who ran away, even in free states. It also required the government to help slaveowners in getting escapees back. No such requirement had existed before 1850. Also, if captured, free African Americans were not allowed to prove that they were indeed free. Some people who had been free for their entire lives now had no choice but to leave the United States in order to keep their freedom. It became a very confusing and unjust situation. Punishment was given to anyone who helped enslaved people to escape. The new law was so severe, however, that it led to abuses and was actually counterproductive. Abolitionists increased in numbers to oppose it. The operations of the Underground Railroad became more efficient out of necessity. New laws favoring enslaved people were enacted in many Northern states.

Attempts by the Northern states to weaken the Fugitive Slave Act by enacting their own laws caused much animosity. This brought more anger to the already fiery debate over slavery. In the end, these opposing state laws were used as justification by South Carolina in December 1860 to secede from the United States.