Editing Midwestern United States (section)

==== Slavery prohibition and the Underground Railroad ====
[[File:US Slave Free 1789-1861.gif|thumb|upright=1.6|An animation depicting when United States territories and states forbade or allowed slavery, 1789–1861]]
The Northwest Ordinance region, comprising the heart of the Midwest, was the first large region of the United States that prohibited [[Slavery in the United States|slavery]] (the [[Northeastern United States]] [[Abolitionism in the United States|emancipated]] slaves into the 1830s). The regional southern boundary was the Ohio River, the border of freedom and slavery in American history and literature (see ''[[Uncle Tom's Cabin]]'' by [[Harriet Beecher Stowe]] and ''[[Beloved (novel)|Beloved]]'' by [[Toni Morrison]]).

The Midwest, particularly Ohio, provided the primary routes for the [[Underground Railroad]], whereby Midwesterners assisted slaves to freedom from their crossing of the Ohio River through their departure on [[Lake Erie]] to Canada. Created in the early 19th century, the Underground Railroad was at its height between 1850 and 1860. One estimate suggests that by 1850, 100,000 slaves had escaped via the Underground Railroad.<ref name="afroamhistory">[http://afroamhistory.about.com/od/undergroundrailroad/a/undergroundrr.htm The Fugitive Slave Law] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090125175114/http://afroamhistory.about.com/od/undergroundrailroad/a/undergroundrr.htm |date=January 25, 2009 }} African-American History, pp. 1–2. About.com</ref>

The Underground Railroad consisted of meeting points, secret routes, transportation, and safe houses and assistance provided by abolitionist sympathizers. Individuals were often organized in small, independent groups; this helped to maintain secrecy because individuals knew some connecting "stations" along the route, but knew few details of their immediate area. Escaped slaves would move north along the route from one way station to the next. Although the fugitives sometimes traveled on boat or train, they usually traveled on foot or by wagon.<ref>Bordewich, Fergus, 2005, p. 236</ref>

The region was shaped by the relative absence of slavery (except for Missouri), pioneer settlement, education in [[one-room school|one-room free public schools]], democratic notions brought by [[American Revolutionary War]] veterans, [[Protestant]] faiths and experimentation, and agricultural wealth transported on the Ohio River [[riverboat]]s, [[flatboat]]s, [[Barge|canal boats]], and [[rail transport|railroads]].{{Citation needed|date=September 2008}}