Upon the general question of the political effects of the Underground Railroad, the book adds much to our information, by its discussion of the probable numbers of fugitives, and of the alarm caused in the slave states by their departure. The census figures of 1850 and 1860 are shown to be wilfully false; and the escape of thousands of persons seems established beyond cavil. Into the constitutional question of the right to take fugitives, the book goes with less minuteness, since it is intended to be a contribution to knowledge, and not an addition to the abundant literature on the legal side of slavery. It has been the effort of Professor Siebert to furnish the means for settling the following questions: the origin of the system of aid to the fugitives, popularly called the Underground Railroad; the degree of formal organization; methods of procedure; geographical extent and relations; the leaders and heroes of the movement; the behavior of the fugitives on their way; the effectiveness of the settlement in Canada; the numbers of fugitives; and the attitude of courts and communities. On all these questions he furnishes new light; and he appears to prove his concluding statement that "the Underground Railroad was one of the greatest forces which brought on the Civil War and thus destroyed slavery." CONTENTS CHAPTER I SOURCES OF THE HISTORY OF THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD PAGE The Underground Road as a subject for research 1 Obscurity of the subject 2 Books dealing with the subject 2 Magazine articles on the Underground Railroad 5 Newspaper articles on the subject 6 Scarcity of contemporaneous documents 7 Reminiscences the chief source 11 The value of reminiscences illustrated 12 CHAPTER II ORIGIN AND GROWTH OF THE UNDERGROUND ROAD Conditions under which the Underground Road originated 17 The disappearance of slavery from the Northern states 17 Early provisions for the return of fugitive slaves 19 The fugitive slave clause in the Ordinance of 1787 20 The fugitive slave clause in the United States Constitution 20 The Fugitive Slave Law of 1793 21 The Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 22 Desire for freedom among the slaves 25 Knowledge of Canada among the slaves 27 Some local factors in the origin of the underground movement 30 The development of the movement in eastern Pennsylvania, in New Jersey, and in New York 33