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Underground Railroad
The Underground Railroad was a network of secret routes and safe houses used by 19th-century enslaved people of African descent in the United States in efforts to escape to free states and Canada with the aid of abolitionists and allies who were sympathetic to their cause. The term is also applied to the abolitionists, both black and white, free and enslaved, who aided the fugitives.〔(【引用サイトリンク】publisher=Public Broadcasting Service )〕 Various other routes led to Mexico or overseas.〔("Purpose and Background" ). ''Taking the Train to Freedom''. National Park Service. Retrieved July 17, 2011〕 An "Underground Railroad" running south toward Florida, then a Spanish possession, existed from the late 17th century until shortly after the American Revolution. However, the network now generally known as the Underground Railroad was formed in the early 19th century, and reached its height between 1850 and 1860.〔Vox, Lisa, ("How Did Slaves Resist Slavery?" ), ''African-American History'', About.com, Retrieved July 17, 2011.〕 One estimate suggests that by 1850, 100,000 slaves had escaped via the "Railroad".〔
British North America (present-day Canada), where slavery was prohibited, was a popular destination, as its long border gave many points of access. Most former slaves settled in Ontario. More than 30,000 people were said to have escaped there via the network during its 20-year peak period,〔 although U.S. Census figures account for only 6,000.〔("From slavery to freedom" ), ''The Grapevine'', pp. 3–5.〕 Numerous fugitives' stories are documented in the 1872 book ''The Underground Railroad Records'' by William Still, an abolitionist who then headed the Philadelphia Vigilance Committee.
==Political background==
At its peak, nearly 1,000 slaves per year escaped from slave-holding states using the Underground Railroad – more than 5,000 court cases for escaped slaves were recorded – many fewer than the natural increase of the enslaved population. The resulting economic impact was minuscule, but the psychological influence on slaveholders was immense. Under the original Fugitive Slave Act of 1793, officials from slave-holding states were responsible for the recovery of runaway slaves, but citizens and governments of many free states ignored the law, and the Underground Railroad thrived.
With heavy lobbying by Southern politicians, the Compromise of 1850 was passed by Congress after the Mexican–American War. It stipulated a more stringent Fugitive Slave Law; ostensibly, the compromise addressed regional problems by compelling officials of free states to assist slave catchers, granting them immunity to operate in free states.〔Potter, David, 1976 pp. 132–139〕 Because the law required sparse documentation to claim a person was a fugitive, slave catchers also kidnapped free blacks, especially children, and sold them into slavery.〔Bordewich, Fergus, 2005, p. 324〕 Southern politicians often exaggerated the number of escaped slaves and often blamed these escapes on Northerners interfering with Southern property rights. The law deprived suspected slaves of the right to defend themselves in court, making it difficult to prove free status. In a ''de facto'' bribe,〔Douglass, Frederick (July 5, 1852), ("The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro" ), ''History Is a Weapon'', Retrieved July 17, 2011.〕 judges were paid a higher fee ($10) for a decision that confirmed a suspect as a slave than for one ruling that the suspect was free ($5). Many Northerners who might have ignored slave issues in the South were confronted by local challenges that bound them to support slavery. This was a primary grievance cited by the Union during the American Civil War,〔Potter, David, 1976, p. 139〕 and the perception that Northern States ignored the fugitive slave law was a major justification for secession.〔Declaration of the Immediate Causes Which Induce and Justify the Secession of South Carolina from the Federal Union http://avalon.law.yale.edu/19th_century/csa_scarsec.asp〕
抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』
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