Underground Railroad Negative

Negatively and Positively, the Underground Railroad shaped the environment of slavery during the eighteen-hundreds. Laws and risks gave off a bad vibe in trying to escape, but the top secrecy and the devotion the conductors gave to the fugitives over bared the risks. Fearfully, many abolitionist and fugitives broke laws and were on the path to death if caught escaping. Eric Froner described how Frederick Douglass had to be aware of officers and police monitoring fugitives, “At every ferry a guard, on every bridge a sentinel, and in every wood a patrol of slave hunters” (4). Even though fugitives knew about the guards watching everything that goes on around, the Underground Railroad was their only shot at emancipation and slaves would rather …show more content…
Not only did Harriet, one of the greatest African Americans, use prayer and God to help seek the promise land, but other fugitives use the same tactics as well. God was a guardian angel to slaves and that motivated them even more to reach their goal. The Underground Railroad also gave hope due to the disclosed information it had and the commitment it had to help slaves reach freedom. Larson said in her book that Tubman would threaten to kill any runaway slaves in the group if they had second thoughts on turning back on escaping (5). Many leaders of the railroad were extremely devoted to the runaways and they didn’t want people to figure out about the only gateway for the slaves to set out a new life that they were able to control and determine how they live their lives without authority. Tubman did not want to lose a single slave, and she never did all the years she was a conductor. The positives seemed to outweigh the negatives because many fugitives took the risks and relied on the dedication of the conductors to lead them on the Underground Railroad to being on their own schedule and have a life of happiness and to supply their family instead of