Slaves in the 1850s couldn't do much with their lives. They could stay on their master's plantation and do all sorts of extremely hard work, be beaten, and experience what it was like to see family members sold. Or they could try to escape. When a slave tried to escape, his master would normally send people to chase him. If the slave had been found, he would most likely have been killed; however, all other slaves often had to witness his execution and were then beaten or punished to ensure they did not make the same mistake. However, if a slave managed to survive, his life was not necessarily easy. He always had to be cautious so that anyone could recognize him as a slave and transform him. Additionally, another slave might report him to try to gain favor with his master. The slave would have to travel on clear nights in order to use the North Star as a guide. During the day he had to sleep in caves or other secluded places. He might get a little help along the way, but he had to be careful who got it because if he got it from the wrong person he could end up back in the hands of his master. Whether he had reached the north was not yet entirely certain. free because there were many people in the north willing to take the reward and return him to his master. The enactment of the Fugitive Slave Law of 1793 made things more difficult because if the slave were found, even in the North, he could be brought back to the South by his master. This meant that the slave's best hope was to make it all the way to Canada. The chances were very slim, but if he could pull it off, he would be free! Because the Underground Railroad was so secret, there is no way to tell how exactly it originated. Many people... middle of paper... how many have escaped. Some say several hundred escaped in the mid-1800s, others say 1,000 a year escaped during the same period, and others say 2,000 escaped a year during that period. Experts agree, however, that early on the most successful attempts were made by states closer to the north, and only a handful made it successfully from the deeper parts of the South. They believe this for multiple reasons. First, the journey from the Deep South was significantly longer. Secondly, since the slave trade was stopped, slaves were very valuable, and due to the large cotton fields, which had to be maintained, masters cared more about lost slaves and were willing to spend extra money to buy back their slaves. . Finally, because slaves were much further from the free zones, it was more difficult for them to obtain information about freedom.