on the Underground Railroad

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What was the 3/5ths Compromise?
The 3/5ths Compromise was a compromise at the Constitutional Convention that let slaves count as 3/5ths of a person toward the population of the state. In other words, for every 5 slaves, 3 would be counted for representation in Congress, electoral votes, and taxation.

Welcome

The drawing on this page is a very famous picture of a slave begging for freedom.

It was scanned from the book The Underground Railroad.

This website is here to show you the importance the Underground Railroad had when communication between slaves was difficult.

We also hope to show you the different ways the slaves spoke to each other without speaking, but rather by singing or signaling.

To navigate the website, click on the links to the left in the box above. Some of the pages may take a little longer than others to load due to image and text length.

Be sure to look at the "Quick Facts" boxes on each page to the right above, as they have some interesting little notes and captions on them!