ABSTRACT
Far more slaves ran away than engaged in open rebellion. The network of 'stations' never achieved the rates of success claimed by hysterical slave owners. Many of the stories about the Underground Railroad are more myth than history. In addition to aiding in the escape of slaves and giving countless others hope, the Underground Railroad, myths and all, significantly stepped up tensions between North and South. Southerners deeply resented Northern help given to runaways and demanded strict fugitive slave laws and punishment for those caught violating them. The presence of slave catchers in Northern cities and towns outraged even people who had never opposed slavery in the South or cared for African Americans. The growth of an abolitionist movement paralleled the existence of the Underground Railroad, dedicated to immediately ending slavery in the United States. Free African American Solomon Northrup of Saratoga Springs, New York, was kidnapped and sold into slavery by unscrupulous whites in 1841.
