Since the founding of the republic, slaves in the American south had tried from time to time to flee northward in search of their freedom. While slave owners did from time to time free a slave outright, far more sought to escape to the free states in the north by whatever means was available.

During the first half of the nineteenth century, sympathetic residents of northern states could openly assist these slaves once they reached the free states. As a result, there were populations of free blacks in parts of many of these states. The "compromise of 1850" changed this landscape dramatically.

While it included a number of elements, the Compromise contained two key provisions. California would be admitted to the Union as a free state, and - to placate the southern states - Congress would pass the Fugitive Slave Act. The Act required law officers in northern states to return escaped slaves to their owners in the south, and it made it a crime to assist an escaping slave, even in the northern states.

At a stroke, Congress put thousands of free blacks living in northern states into fear of being sent back to the south. The Fugitive Slave Act effectively moved the "goal line" for escaping slaves from the Mason Dixon Line north to the Canadian border, and it drove the business of assisting escaping slaves underground.

Knowing which doors to try was the key to "riding" the Underground Railroad.

This "underground railroad," as it came to be called, was a loosely configured network of safe houses, signaling systems, and "conductors," people willing to assist those headed northward toward Canada. This is the reason underground railroad sites are found primarily in the "free" northern states - something that may seem paradoxical to many students. The underground railroad's signals and codes helped keep fleeing slaves hidden, and codes such as songs served as easily-remembered ways for these illiterate travelers to stay on their courses. Scholars estimate that during the years prior to 1860, scholars estimate that thousands of slaves used the underground railroad to find safety in Canada.

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