For the many African Americans living in  Slave States prior to and during the American Civil War, the Underground Railroad provided them the opportunity and assistance to escape to freedom. One of the strangest characteristics of the Underground Railroad was its lack of formal organization. No one knows exactly when it started, but there were certainly isolated cases of help given to runaways as early as the 1700s. By the early 19th century, there were organized flights to freedom. Much of the early help was provided by Quaker abolitionists in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.