9781422274156

Fugitive slaves arrive in Philadelphia, a free state. During the nineteenth century, abolitionists and free blacks in the North helped freedom-seeking slaves escape to Canada, defying federal laws.

illegal. The act stated that escaped slaves living in the north could be captured and returned to slavery. The American Civil War was fought between 1861 and 1865. For the southern states that joined the Confederacy, the war was about protecting and preserving their system of slavery. For most people in the northern states, it was about preserving the federal union of states. The Civil War started when Confederate troops attacked Fort Sumter, a federal garrison in the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina, shortly after the inauguration of Abraham Lincoln as president. Although Confederate armies were

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Contemporary Issues: Race Relations

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