<span> The </span>Underground Railroad<span> was a network of secret routes and safe houses used by 19th-century enslaved people of African descent in the United States in efforts to escape to free states and Canada with the aid of abolitionists and allies who were sympathetic to their cause.</span>
Two inventors that were the most influential toward the rise of the railroad industry are Andrew Carnegie and Thomas Edison. Hope this helps! :)
<span>"It caused enormous hardship for tens of millions of people and the failure of a large fraction of the nation’s banks, businesses, and farms."</span>