Ch15sec2 notes
- 1. How did the antislavery movement begin and grow? How did the Underground Railroad help slaves reach freedom? • The Underground Railroad was a network of black and white abolitionists who secretly helped slaves escape to freedom. • Conductors guided runaways to stations where they could hide—the homes of abolitionists, churches, and caves. • Harriet Tubman escaped from slavery. She risked her freedom and her life by returning to the South 19 times. She led more than 300 former slaves to freedom. Why did many white northerners and southerners oppose the campaign to abolish slavery? In the North • Northern mill owners, bankers, and merchants who depended on southern cotton worried about losing their cotton supply. • Northern workers feared that freed African Americans might come and take their jobs. In the South • Many white southerners accused abolitionists of preaching violence. • Slave owners defended slavery even more firmly than before. Some argued that slaves were better off than northern factory workers. To many southerners, slavery was an essential part of the southern economy and way of life