CHAPTER 14 • SECTION 3
More About . . .
Abolition and Early State
Constitutions
In 1777, Vermont’s constitution banned
slavery, but it was the only state
constitution to explicitly do so. Other states
passed laws for gradual emancipation,
including Pennsylvania (1780), Connecticut
(1784), Rhode Island (1784), New York
(1799), and New Jersey (1804). In
Massachusetts, most historians credit a
1783 court case, Commonwealth v. Jennison
(also known as the Quock Walker case),
with ending slavery there, although no
official document from this case directly
banned slavery.
Unit 5 Resource Book
• Primary and Secondary Sources,
pp. 164–165
RESEARCH &
Go online to explore
WRITING CENTER
more of the heated
debate at
ClassZone.com
History Makers
Frederick Douglass
Find links to biographies of Frederick
Douglass at the Research and Writing
Center @ ClassZone.com. Born Frederick
Bailey, Douglass was the son of a black
mother and a white father. When he was
eight, his owner sent him to be a servant
for the Hugh Auld family. Mrs. Auld defied
state law and taught young Frederick to
read. At the age of 16, Douglass returned to
the plantation as a field hand. He endured
so many whippings, he later wrote, “I was
seldom free from a sore back.”
In 1838, Douglass escaped by hopping
a train with a borrowed pass. To avoid
recapture, he changed his last name.
Many years later, he returned to the Auld
plantation to call on the owner. The elderly
Auld apologized for his actions as a slave
owner but also tried to defend them.
CRITICAL THINKING ANSWERS
1. Draw Conclusions Possible Answer:
The abuses Douglass personally suffered
provided audiences with convincing
evidence of the injustice of slavery.
2. Make Inferences Douglass meant
that freedom is much more valuable
than any material wealth.
Unit 5 Resource Book
• American Literature, pp. 167–170
466 • Chapter 14
Demanding an End to Slavery Abolitionists were bold in their statements
and reactions to their beliefs were just as fierce. David Walker, a free African
American in Boston, printed a pamphlet in 1829 urging slaves to revolt.
Copies of the pamphlet appeared in the South. This angered slaveholders.
Shortly afterward, Walker died; some believed he had been poisoned.
Some Northern whites also fought slavery. In
1831, William Lloyd Garrison began publishing an
abolitionist newspaper, The Liberator, in Boston. Of
his antislavery stand, he wrote, “I will not retreat
a single inch—AND I WILL BE HEARD.” Many
hated his views. In 1835, a mob in Boston grabbed
Garrison and dragged him toward a park to hang
him. He was rescued by the mayor.
Two famous abolitionists were Southerners
who grew up on a plantation. Sisters Sarah and
Angelina Grimké believed that slavery was morally
wrong. They moved to the North and spoke out
against slavery, even though women at the time
were not supposed to lecture in public. Theodore
Weld, Angelina’s husband, led a campaign to send
antislavery petitions to Congress. Proslavery congressmen passed a gag rule to prevent the reading
Frederick Douglass 1818–1895
of petitions in Congress.
President John Quincy Adams ignored the gag
When lecturing on abolition, Douglass—an
rule and read the petitions. He also introduced
escaped slave—was often introduced as “a piece
an amendment to abolish slavery. Proslavery conof property.” Douglass was a popular and eloquent
gressmen tried to stop him. Such efforts, however,
speaker who had few equals on the lecture circuit.
weakened the proslavery cause by showing them to
Abolitionists welcomed his graphic descriptions
be opponents of free speech. Adams also defended
of slave life as a way to publicize the injustice of
a group of enslaved Africans who had rebelled on
slavery. As his popularity grew, Douglass began to
the slave ship Amistad. He successfully argued their
introduce the topic of racial discrimination in the
case before the U.S. Supreme Court in 1841, and
North. In addition to lecturing, Douglass published
the Africans returned home immediately.
his autobiography and an abolitionist newspaper,
History Makers
The North Star. He said that in the North, people
“are far wealthier than any plantation owner—they
are rich with freedom.”
CRITICAL THINKING
1. Draw Conclusions How might Douglass’s life
experiences have made him a persuasive speaker?
2. Make Inferences What did Douglass mean by
Northerners being “rich with freedom”?
ONLINE
BIOGRAPHY
For more on Frederick Douglass, go
to the Research & Writing Center
@ ClassZone.com
Eyewitness to Slavery Two powerful abolitionTruth,
ist speakers, Frederick Douglass and Sojourner Truth
spoke from their own experiences of having been
enslaved. Douglass had a long career as a lecturer
for the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society.
People who opposed abolition spread rumors
that the brilliant speaker could never have been
a slave. To prove them wrong, in 1845 Douglass
published an autobiography that vividly narrated
his slave experiences. Afterward, he feared recapture by his owner, so he left America for a two-year
speaking tour of Great Britain and Ireland. When
Douglass returned, he bought his freedom.
466 Chapter 14
DIFFERENTIATING INSTRUCTION
English Learners
Pre-AP
Vocabulary: Cognates
Cite Examples of Orators
Point out that the verbs defend and rebel
in the sentence “Adams also defended a
group of Africans who had rebelled . . .”
have cognates, or related words, in
Spanish. Explain that these English
words have the same Latin roots and
the same meanings as the Spanish verbs
defender and rebelarse.
Frederick Douglass influenced policy
in America, largely because of his
extraordinary abilities as an orator, or
public speaker. Today, policymakers
and reformers have access to so many
forms of media that public speaking
may be less influential. Have students
discuss what value public speaking
has in today’s society (in trials, sales
presentations, campaign debates). Have
them cite examples of strong public
speakers they have heard.
CHAPTER 14 • SECTION 3
N
Underground Railroad
E
W
Montreal
CANADA
UNORGANIZED
TERRITORY
Niagara Falls
Detroit
Cincinnati
MISSOURI
Ohio
TEXAS
Riv
er
Mississipp
i
ARKANSAS
KENTUCKY
LA.
0
100
SOUTH
CAROLINA
100 200 kilometers
New Orleans
DEL.
70°W
60°W
AT L A N T I C
OCEAN
Gulf of Mexico
History
ANALYZING MAPS Have students study the
map to identify geographic features that may
have served as routes along the Underground
Railroad. (rivers; lakes; Atlantic Ocean)
ANSWER
Harriet Tubman (left) with people
she helped to free
GEORGIA
30°N
Connect
Geography
FLORIDA
200 miles
Connect Geography
VIRGINIA
MISS.
0
N.J.
NORTH
CAROLINA
TENNESSEE
ALABAMA
Underground Railroad
Brooklyn
Baltimore
Washington, D.C.
Ripley
Evansville
Cairo
INDIAN
TERRITORY
PA.
MD.
OHIO
Ri
v er
ILL.
N
CONN.
R.I.
New York City
Sandusky
IND.
KANSAS
TERRITORY
Erie
Chicago
IOWA
40°
YORK MASS. Boston
MICHIGAN
MINN.
Slave states
Routes of the
Underground
Railroad
S
N.H.
Collingwood NEW
WISCONSIN
Free states
MAINE
VT.
History
80°W
Movement How might weather or time of year affect
Movement Possible Answer: Rainy or cold
weather would make traveling slower and more
uncomfortable, but might also mean fewer men
would be out hunting for the escaped slaves and
dogs might have more trouble following a trail.
the movement along the Underground Railroad?
Sojourner Truth also began life enslaved, in New York State. In 1827, when
she was about 30, Truth fled her owners and stayed with a Quaker family.
She was originally called Isabella but changed her name in 1843 to reflect
her life’s work: to sojourn (stay temporarily in a place) and “declare the truth
to the people.” A bold and captivating speaker, Truth drew huge crowds.
More About . . .
Harriet Tubman
When Harriet Tubman escaped from the
plantation in Maryland where she was a
field hand, she was unable to persuade her
brothers and her husband to come with her.
When she reached Pennsylvania, she said in
a later account, she was free, but she was
also alone—“a stranger in a strange land.”
The Underground Railroad Some brave abolitionists helped slaves escape
Railroad Neither underground nor a railto freedom along the Underground Railroad.
road, the Underground Railroad was actually a series of aboveground escape
routes from throughout the South up to the free North. On these routes,
runaway slaves traveled on foot and by wagons, boats, and trains. They
usually journeyed by night and hid by day in places called stations. Stables,
attics, and cellars all served as stations. At his home in Rochester, New York,
Frederick Douglass once housed 11 runaways at the same time.
The people who led the runaways to freedom were called conductors. The
Tubman who was born into slavery in Maryland.
most famous was Harriet Tubman,
She escaped in 1849 when she learned that her owner was about to sell
her. Tubman later described her feelings as she crossed into the free state of
Pennsylvania: “I looked at my hands to see if I was the same person now
that I was free. There was such a glory over everything.”
After her escape, Harriet Tubman made 19 dangerous journeys to free
enslaved persons. She carried medicine to quiet crying babies. Her enemies
offered $40,000 for her capture, but no one ever caught her. “I never run my
train off the track and I never lost a passenger,” she proudly declared. Among
the people she saved were her sister, brother, and parents.
Eventually Tubman helped guide six of her
brothers, her elderly parents, and many
other relatives to freedom. Some historians
estimate that somewhere between 30,000
and 100,000 enslaved Americans escaped
through the Underground Railroad.
Unit 5 Resource Book
• America’s History Makers,
pp. 157–158
A New Spirit of Change 467
DIFFERENTIATING INSTRUCTION
Inclusion
Pre-AP
Model Interpreting a Map
Key and Scale
Infer Hazards of the
Underground Railroad
For students who have difficulty
analyzing visual information or spatial
relationships, point out the colors on the
Underground Railroad map that indicate
free and slave states. Explain that the
arrows show the directions of routes
from the slave states to the free states.
Call attention to the distances slaves had
to travel and physical features that aided
them on their journey.
Ask students to speculate on the perils
that Underground Railroad participants
faced. What hardships might the
runaways have endured on the journey?
What would their fate have been if they
were captured? What were the risks for
“conductors” and “station agents”?
What conclusions can students draw
about the scope and effectiveness of the
Underground Railroad effort?
Teacher’s Edition • 467