🏛️ Chapter 3: Canada's History
What was the Underground Railroad?
Correct answer: A Christian anti-slavery network that brought escaped slaves to Canada
A A network of tunnels dug beneath the Niagara frontier
B The first railway line built between Canada and the United States
C A secret canoe route used by Montreal-based fur traders
✓ A Christian anti-slavery network that brought escaped slaves to Canada
💡 Explanation
Thousands of people fleeing slavery in the United States reached Canada through this network of anti-slavery Christians.
Key facts to remember
- Slavery existed worldwide, not only in the Americas
- The campaign against the slave trade started in the British Parliament
- 1793: Upper Canada, first in the Empire to start abolition
- Lieutenant Governor John Graves Simcoe led the change
- 1807: British Parliament bans the buying and selling of slaves
- 1833: slavery abolished throughout the British Empire
- Escaped slaves followed "the North Star" north to Canada
- The Underground Railroad was a Christian anti-slavery network
Why this is the answer
From the official Discover Canada study guide — 3.2.5 Abolition of Slavery:
Slavery was found all over the world - in Asia, Africa, the Middle East and the Americas. The first campaign against the transatlantic slave trade started in the late 1700s, in the British Parliament. Upper Canada acted in 1793. Its Lieutenant Governor was John Graves Simcoe, a military officer and a Loyalist, and he led the change. The colony then became the Empire's first province to move toward abolition.
In 1807 the British Parliament made buying and selling slaves illegal. In 1833 it abolished slavery across the whole Empire. Meanwhile thousands of slaves escaped from the United States. They followed "the North Star" northward and settled in Canada. The route that carried them was the Underground Railroad, a Christian anti-slavery network of people who hid and guided them along the way.
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