Narrative Synthesis

“If… the machine of government… is of such a nature that it requires you to be the agent of injustice to another, then, I say break the law.”-Henry David Thoreau

The act of breaking the law with the intention of protest is called civil disobedience. Civil disobedience has taken many forms, from protesting to refusal to pay taxes. Many people have preached about the importance of civil disobedience in a democratic society. Henry David Thoreau insisted that individuals have the duty to speak out against injustices committed by their government. It is said that government is a reflection of the people, doing everything in societies’ best interest, but quite frequently the government does the opposite of what is in our best interest. When the British Empire wrongfully taxed the American Colonies, Thoreau felt it was his duty to boycott these taxes to make it clear that they were unjust, he did this willingly accepting the consequences, a night in prison, to prove that if the acts of the government are wrong then the people need to do whatever it takes to change them. There have been countless acts of civil disobedience in the course of history. A perfect example of civil disobedience is the Underground Railroad.

The Underground Railroad was a system of routes and safe spots connecting fugitive slaves to freedom in the northern states and Canada. The Underground Railroad had countless conductors and allies throughout all of America. They all aided a select few oppressed people escape the atrocities of slavery by making it easier for them to hide from the people chasing them. It was not an easy task escaping from a plantation, and those caught were subject to very cruel punishments. During slavery, quite a few Americans realized that the act of enslaving a human based on simple biological differences was unjust and completely wrong. Not to mention the way the slaves were treated, little food, long exhausting hours, constant abuse, many Americans felt that nobody deserved to be treated this way and that it should be stopped immediately. All of these reasons caused one of the largest accounts of civil disobedience, involving two different social classes and hundreds of people working together to liberate a society, making the Underground Railroad largest and most justifiable act of civil disobedience in American history.

It took thousands of people to catalyze such a revolution. The abolitionist movement grew over time as more people supported it and aided in the abolition of slavery. Many of the allies and conductors were abolitionists (a few were former slaves) all were hoping to free the slaves by aiding them anyway they could. The conductors helped the slaves on their quest for freedom by directing them, leading them, and hiding them. The conductors would lead the slaves the safe houses on the way up north. The owners of these houses were free citizens willing to help the slaves who were in desperate need. They would supply them with food, shelter, and clothing. Sometimes they would even supply doctors to help heal the people stricken by the atrocities of being a fugitive slave. Levi Coffin was a key figure in the Underground Railroad. He was said to have housed a hundred slaves a year for 33 years. His neighbors had mixed views about what he did. They told him that what he was doing was wrong and illegal, that he should not be helping black people do anything let alone help them do something illegal. He had a very strong philosophy, much like Thoreau's, that if an act committed by your government is morally wrong to you then you must invest your opinion in protest and answer to a higher power such as God or simply yourself. You have to stick to your moral values and combat the forces acting against your beliefs. He went on to say, “I told them that I felt no condemnation for anything that I had ever done for the fugitive slaves. If by doing my duty and endeavoring to fulfill the injunctions of the Bible, I injured my business, then let my business go. As to my safety, my life was in the hands of my Divine Master, and I felt that I had his approval. I had no fear of the danger that seemed to threaten my life or my business. If I was faithful to duty, and honest and industrious, I felt that I would be preserved.” (Coffin) Levi Coffin and thousands of other Americans helped fugitive slaves even though they were risking their own wellbeing. They believed so strongly that the treatment of slaves was wrong that they did not consider the legal consequences, and they helped slaves in anyway.

It is hard to see how something as backwards and as morally wrong could be a national institution fully supported by the government. It was obvious that America's priorities were driven by money, and the government would do anything to capitalize. This is why slavery gained national support so rapidly. Manufactures saw a cheap, beneficial way to make money sot they turned the slave trade into the largest influencing factor in our nation's economy. The people that were once Africans were harvested out of their home villages and turned into a product then sold to wealthy colonists that already controlled most of America. Africans were immediately changed from living breathing people to pieces of property waiting to be seized. Once they were purchased they were treated like nothing more than an animal on a farm. They were fed and worked. The only difference between cattle and slaves was that farmers were above eating other humans. William Still, an abolitionist, an Underground Railroad conductor, a historian, and a civil rights activist, wrote about a slave named Perry Johnson and the atrocities committed towards him. He explains that Perry's master was abusive to say the least, “Perry had the misfortune to let a "load of fodder upset," about which his master became exasperated, and in his agitated state of mind he succeeded in affixing a number of very ugly stationary marks on Perry's back. However, this was no new thing... This lady he pronounced to be a "perfect savage," and added that "she was in the habit of cowhiding any of her slaves whenever she felt like it, which was quite often." (64) The Americans against slavery saw what was wrong with treating a whole race this way, so they made it clear to the government and the slave owners that they felt this way by helping the slaves escape.

The conductors and allies of the Underground Railroad had very justified reasons to help the slaves evade the people chasing them and slavery in general. Without the aid of the people who made up the Underground Railroad many slaves would have had no chance of making it to freedom. Running from plantation owners was not an easy feat. As soon as a slave escaped they would be chased by their owners, dogs, and professional slave catchers. Moses Grandy speaks to the issues faced by fugitive slaves, “They hide themselves during the day in the woods and swamps; at night they travel, crossing rivers by swimming, or by boats they may chance to meet with, and passing over hills and meadows which they do not know; in these dangerous journeys they are guided by the north-star, for they only know that the land of freedom is in the north. They subsist on such wild fruit as they can gather, and as they are often very long on their way, they reach the free states almost like skeletons.” If the slaves did manage to make it to the forest and hide from the hunters, they would have to deal with hunger and the elements of being shelter less in the woods. If the slaves were caught they would be drug back to the farm and punished. The punishments consisted of lashings, verbal abuse, and death. Sometimes the slaves would be hung in front of the whole town to be an example to other slaves. The weak, poor slaves were no match for the prosperous plantation owners and the power of their money. Most slaves could not have made the journey alone, but with the aid of the Underground Railroad at least 100,000 slaves escaped into freedom.

It is very obvious that the Underground Railroad was a courageous act committed by selfless Americans who were just trying to show the government that slavery was wrong and help the slaves themselves. The conductors and allies of the railroad had every justifiable reason to do what they did. The treatment of slaves alone is enough to show that helping slaves escape was the right thing to do. Enslaving a whole race also adds to the fact that the Underground Railroad was a justifiable act. Whether the people who participated in it knew they were changing the government or not, the Underground Railroad was still the largest and most justifiable act of civil disobedience ever committed.