Underground Railroad

John Graves Simcoe, Upper Canada's (as Ontario was then known) first Lieutenant-Governor, tried to end slavery in the colony in 1773

The Act of the Legislative Assembly that was passed that year was a compromise. It confirmed the ownership of slaves already in Upper Canada, but did allow children of slaves born after the Act to be automatically freed when they reached 25 years of age. Upper Canada gained the distinction of being the first British possession to legislate against slavery. This law remained in effect until it was replaced by the "Imperial Parliament Emancipation Act of 1834" which abolished slavery in the entire British Empire. By that time, slavery had nearly disappeared in Upper Canada.

The news of Simcoe's anti-slavery legislation reached Blacks in the United States slowly, as slave owners struggled to keep them ignorant of prospects in Canada. After the War of 1812, the Attorney General of Upper Canada declared that residence in Upper Canada made Blacks free. This news spread to slaves in the American border states. Slaves sold from these northern states to the South carried the news that Blacks were free in Upper Canada and that their rights were protected by British law.