The Business of the Road: William Still, the Vigilance Committee, and the Management of the Underground Railroad

This article reconsiders William Still's work aiding fugitive slaves as the leader of Philadelphia's Vigilance Committee during the 1850s. It argues that Still's management of the committee, his commitment to bringing a level of order and efficiency to the work of the Underground Railroad, was an essential element of the committee's success in the 1850s in its effort to aid fugitive slaves in their flight from bondage. Still and his coworkers increasingly embraced the language of business and capitalism as a way of describing their work. Like other businesses of this era, Still's Vigilance Committee embraced new transportation and communication technologies in order to compete with slavecatchers who after passage of the new Fugitive Slave Law in 1850 were increasingly able to use the federal government as an ally.