Early Emancipation in the North

Early Emancipation in the North

US Federal Laws Regarding Slavery U. S. Constitution: 3/5s compromise [I.2] fugitive slave clause [IV.2] slave trade couldn t be outlawed until 1808 [IX.1] 1793 Fugitive Slave Act. 1850 stronger Fugitive Slave Act.

Southern Slavery--> An Aberration? J J J J J J J J J J J 1780s: 1 st antislavery society created in Philadelphia 1803: Haitian Revolution, a slave uprising that overthrew the French, not supported by the U.S. By 1804: slavery eliminated from last northern state. 1807: the legal termination of the international slave trade, enforced by the U.S. Navy. 1820s: newly independent Republics of Central & So. America declared their slaves free. 1833: slavery abolished throughout the British Empire. 1844: slavery abolished in the Fr. colonies. 1861: the serfs of Russia were emancipated. 1863: slaves in rebellious U.S. states emancipated. 1865: 13 th Amendment passed, freeing U.S. slaves 1888: the slaves in Brazil were emancipated.

Free Black Communities Free blacks in the antebellum period were quite outspoken about the injustice of slavery. Their ability to express themselves, however, was determined by whether they lived in the North or the South. Free Southern blacks continued to live under the shadow of slavery, unable to travel or assemble as freely as those in the North.

Free Black Communities A very small number of free blacks owned slaves. The slaves that most free blacks purchased were relatives whom they later manumitted. A few free blacks also owned slave holding plantations in Louisiana, Virginia, and South Carolina.

Free Black Communities Free African American Christians founded their own churches which became the hub of the economic, social, and intellectual lives of blacks in many areas of the nation. Blacks were also outspoken in print. Freedom's Journal, the first blackowned newspaper, appeared in 1827. This paper and other early writings by blacks fueled the attack against slavery and racist conceptions about the intellectual inferiority of African Americans.

Missouri Compromise, 1820

Characteristics of the Primarily agrarian. Antebellum South Economic power shifted from the upper South to the lower South. Cotton Is King! * 1860 5 mil. bales a yr. (57% of total US exports). Very slow development of industrialization. Rudimentary financial system. Inadequate transportation system.

Changes in Cotton Production 1820 to 1860

Southern Society (1850) 6,000,000 Slavocracy [plantation owners] The Plain Folk [white yeoman farmers] Black Freemen 250,000 Black Slaves 3,200,000 Total US Population 23,000,000 [9,250,000 in the South = 40%]

Southern Agriculture

Southern Population

Graniteville Textile Co. Founded in 1845, it was the South s first attempt at industrialization in Richmond, VA

Slaves Picking Cotton on a Mississippi Plantation

Port Royal Island, S.C. Slaves preparing cotton for the gin on Smith's plantation

Slaves Using the Cotton Gin

Hauling the Whole Week s Pickings William Henry Brown, 1842

Slave-Owning Families (1850)

Slaves posing in front of their cabin on a Southern plantation.

Tara Plantation Reality or Myth? Hollywood s Version?

A typical Georgia Plantation

Scarlet and Mammie (Hollywood Again!) A Real Mammie & Her Charge

The Southern Belle

A Slave Family

Slavery Was Less Efficient in the U. S. than Elsewhere J High cost of keeping slaves from escaping. J GOAL raise the exit cost. J Slave patrols (paddy wagon) J Southern Slave Codes J Cut off a toe or a foot.

Slave Accoutrements Slave leg irons Slave tag, SC

Slave Auction Notice, 1823

The auction of the slaves of the estate of Spencer C. Graves at Lexington, KY in April, 1859, brought these prices:

The Culture of Slavery Black Christianity [Baptists or Methodists]: * more emotional worship services. * negro spirituals. Pidgin or Gullah languages. Nuclear family with extended kin links, where possible. Importance of music in their lives. [esp. spirituals].

Southern Defenses of Slavery 1. Slavery was ordained by God, permitted in the Bible (1 Pet. 2: 18- Servants, i.e. slaves, be subject to your masters with all fear) 2. Essential to the Southern economy 3. Beneficial to the blacks who had traded the barbarism of Africa for the blessings of security and Christianity.

Southern Pro-Slavery Propaganda Southern apologist literature

Abolition Abolitionists remained small in number, but their approach to slavery as a political and moral issue kept it in the public's eye

Anti-Slavery Pamphlet

Colonization- 1810-30s Thousands of freed blacks, with the aid of interested whites, returned to Africa with the aid of the American Colonization Society and colonized what eventually became Liberia. While some African Americans chose this option, the vast majority felt themselves to be Americans and focused their efforts on achieving equality within the United States.

Slave Resistance 1. Refusal to work hard. 2. Isolated acts of sabotage. 3. Escape via the Underground Railroad. Harriet Tubman (far left) standing with a group of slaves whose escape she assisted

Runaway Slave Ads

Slave Rebellions Throughout the Americas

Slave Rebellions in the Antebellum South Gabriel Prosser 1800 1822

Slave Rebellions in the Antebellum South: Nat Turner, 1831

Amistad, 1839 Slaves on a Spanish Ship killed all of the crew except for two. The ship was seized in New York but the slaves sued for their freedom Decision of the Court: the said negroes be declared to be free, and be dismissed from the custody of the court, and go without delay.

Compare and contrast the experience of slaves on tobacco plantations in the early 17 th century Chesapeake region with that of slaves on 19 th century cotton plantations in the Deep South. What forces transformed the institution of slavery from the early 17 th century to the 19 th century?

Use TWO of the following categories to analyze the ways in which African Americans created a distinctive culture in slavery: Family, Music, Oral traditions, Religions. Analyze the impact of the American Revolution of the both slavery and the status of women in the period from 1775-1800.

Analyze the ways in which supporters of slavery in the nineteenth century used legal, religious, and economic arguments to defend the institution of slavery. Slavery was the dominating reality of all Southern life. Assess the validity of this generalization for TWO of the following aspects of Southern life from 1840-1860: political, social, economic, and intellectual life.