24) Others ran due to the fear of being separated or sold from their friends and family. Since the beginning of the African Slave Trade that brought slaves to America in 1444, the slaves wanted to escape. Those who were free at that time were the white people who seemed to be separated in values. The North was a more industrialized area where jobs were filled by newly imported immigrants, making them less dependent on slave labor. The South however, had rich fertile land that was mostly used for farming. There were vast plantations that needed to be worked on to cultivate crops. For the most part, the people of the area tended to be more genteel and seemed not quite adjusted to hard work, but more of giving orders. The idea of telling people what to do and how to do it, just seemed to fit all to well into this scenario. The Railroad did not have a certain location as I mentioned above. Since the 1500's slaves had been running on their own. When the idea caught on among the brave slaves, was when it began to take form. Slave owners in the South certainly weren=t happy about the loss of their Aproperty.@ As a result to the slaves rebelling much money was lost as well as slaves. As a result of this, the South passed the Fugitive Slave Law of 1793. This law gave the federal judges the right to decide, without a jury, whether someone accused of being a fugitive should be returned to the person who claimed to be his or her master. The North was upset about the treatment of the slaves and was not happy about owners being allowed to come into their states to take the slaves back. Finally, the North decided to do something about it. To get revenge on the south, they would take away the South=s riches. They would help the slaves escape to freedom. The slaves were now angry, scared, and confused. Hearing of this Underground Railroad, they slowly began to escape more and more. By 1807, a law was passed that made it illegal to import anymore slaves....
