Topersuade southernersto agree toth ese
arrangements.Congresspassed a newFug it ive Slave
Act.This wasa lawto m akeit easierfo rso uth ern ers
torecap tu re slaveswhoescaped fromt heir masters
and fled forsafetytofret'states.The lawcalled fo r
"severe pen alties onanyoneassistingNegroesto
escapefro mbondage."
Sian 'owners hadlo ngofferedrewards,or
" bounties."fo rthereturnofnlllJ.wayslaves .T hi s
had crea teda groupofmen called"bounty hunt ers. "
T h esemen madeth eirlivingbybuntingdown
fugi tiveslaves inordertocollect therewardsall
th em .Withth esupportofthenewlaw ,bounty
huntersnowbegansearchingfreestatestorescaped
slaves,
TheFugitiveSlaveActangeredman yno rt hern er s
whoh adnotso far givenmuchthoughttotheTig hts
andwrongsofslavery.Somenorthern judgesrefused
to enforceit.Otherpeopleprovidedfood, mo ney.
and hid ing places forfugitives.Theymap pedout
escaperoutesandmovedru nawayslavesbyn igh t
fromonesecret hidingplace toanothe r. Thefinal
sto pontheseescaperouteswasCanada,where
fugitives couldbefollowedbyneitherAm ericanlaws
lia rbountyh unters.
Becauserailro ad s werethemo st mode rn formof
transp ort at th is rime, thiscarefullyo rga nizedsy stem
wasca lled the"Underground Railr o ad. "Peopl e
providing mo neyto payfOTit werecalled
"stockholders. "Guidesw ho ledth e fugitivesto
freedomwer ecalled" co nductors."andh idingplaces
werecalled" dep ots."All theseweretermstha twere
usedon ord ina ry railro ad s.
Man yconductors on the U nderg rou nd Railroad
werefo rmerslavesthemselves.Oftentheytr aveled
deepmro slave states to m ake contact withru na w ay s.
T hisw asa dangerous t hi ngto do.If conductorsw ere
capturedthey cou l d end up asslavesagain-or dead.
As thenumber of f u git iveslavcsincreased , gun figh ts
betweenbou n tyhu nt ersand conduc to rs becam e
more an dm o recommo n,
In 185-1-a Sen ato rnamedStephenDou glaspersu aded
Congr esstoendrh cMisso uriCom promise. West o f
Missouri. on lan dth atwassupposedto be clo sedto
slaver y.wasa western terr itorycalledKansas.In
185 -1-Con g ressvotedto letits peopled ecid e for
themselveswhethertopermitslaveryth ere.
I I NOllrIIANIlS O UTHWilliamLloydGarrisonandthe
abolitionists
So meAmericans oppose d to slaveryw erep repared
towait fo r it t o cometoan en dg rad uallyan d by
ag reementwiththe slaveowners. Otherswanted
to en d itimm ed iatelyandw it hou tcom pro mises.
T h e bestknownspokesmanofthepeoplein this.
secondgroupwasa Bosto n writername dWilliam
Llo yd Garri son.
O n j an uary I, liB!.Garrison producedth e first
issu eo fTheLiberator,a newspaperded icated to
th e abolitiono f slave ry. "On thissubjectI do not
w ish to thi nk. or speak. o r write with moder-
ation,"hewrote." I will norretreata si ngle inch-.
and Iw illbeheard:'Garrisonmeant whathe said. H e becamew ell-
knownfo r theextreme\\"JYin which he ex pressed
his views .I I c prime d, andsometimesinvented.
sensati on alstoriesabouthowcr ue llyb lack slaves
were treate d .lieattackedslave owne rsas evil
mo ns ters, abo ut whom not h inggood could be
said.
Someti m e, Garri so n went too far even to r his
fello w no rt hern ers.InIH3 5 an angrym o bshowed
its dislikeofhis op inionsb y parad ing himthroug h
thestree tsofBoston w itha ro pe aroun dh is neck.
But Garrison re fusedtobesilenced. Ilis bloo d-
th irsty calls fo r actio n and sensational stories
co ntin ued to offendboththesuppo rtersofslave ry
and th o sewhowantedto bri n git toanen d peace-
fully. Burth ey convincedlllarlYother peopleth at
slavery waseviland th atit m ust b e abo lished at
once - e venif theo n lyway to do this was byWJT.A racebega ntow incont rolofKan sas.Pro -slavery
immigr ants pouredillfromtheSouth and am i-
slaver yimmig rant sfromtheNorth.Each groupw as
deter min edtooutnumberth e o ther. Soonfig ht in g
and killingbegan.Pro-slaveryraidersfromMisso uri
burned atown calledLawrenceand killedso meo f its
people.In repl y,Jhalf-madabolitionist nam edjohn
Brownleda raidinwhichanumberofsuppo rterso f
slaverywerekilled.Becauseofallthefightingand
k illing ill theterrito ryAm ericanseverywherebegan
referr ingto itas"bleeding Kansas."47