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Slavery and Rising National Tensions

Explore the beginnings of slavery in the United States, the effects of the American Revolution, and the resistance through slave revolts. Discover the controversial figure of John Brown and his impact on the abolitionist movement.

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Slavery and Rising National Tensions

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  1. Slavery and Rising National Tensions

  2. Capture and the Middle Passage • After capture, Africans were packed tightly into slave ships. • The death rate of the “passengers” was 50%.

  3. The Middle Passage

  4. The Beginnings of Slavery in the United States • The Portuguese and Spanish had already brought Africans to South and Latin America. • In 1619, the first Africans were brought to the colony Jamestown, Virginia by the Dutch. • Anthony Johnson • He was an African brought to the colonies in the 1620s. • He obtained his freedom, and purchased 250 acres of land in Virginia. • He owned at least one slave and white indentured servants. • This shows that blacks were not thought of strictly as slaves until the 1660s.

  5. The Effects of the American Revolution and the Constitution • Gradual abolition of slavery in the northern colonies • End of the Atlantic Slave Trade in 1808 • Entrenchment of slavery in the South with the invention of the cotton gin in 1793 by Eli Whitney

  6. Most slaves had Sundays off and they went to church. Most slaves could not read or write, and it was illegal for them to learn. Slave Codes-They could not: leave their home without a pass, carry a weapon, gather in groups, own property, legally marry, defend themselves against a white person, or speak in court. Life of a Slave

  7. Resistance • Flight-Slaves would runaway. • Truancy-Flight for a short amount of time and then the slave came back. • Refusal to reproduce-Women refused to have children. • Covert Action-Slaves would sometimes kill animals, destroy crops, start fires, steal stuff, break tools, poison food.

  8. 4 major slave revolts- Stono Rebellion-failed revolt in South Carolina in 1739 Gabriel Prosser-led failed revolt in Virginia in 1800 Denmark Vessey-led failed revolt in South Carolina in 1822 Nat Turner-killed 60 white people in Virginia in 1831 Violence

  9. Punishment • Slaves were often brutally punished for misbehaving. • Punishments included: whipping, branding, being sold, gagged (silence), and other torturous methods were used. • Control of the family • Rape

  10. Abolitionism • Spread in North • Frederick Douglass: runaway slave who became abolitionist leader • William Lloyd Garrison: editor of abolitionist newspaper, The Liberator • Underground Railroad: elaborate network of white abolitionists, free blacks and slaves (not only Harriet Tubman) • Total number of fugitives assisted by the UGR 1830-1860 was between 70,000 and 100,000

  11. Compromise of 1850 • California wanted to be a free state • The South had assumed it wouldn’t be and was upset it was • As a compromise, California would enter the Union as a free state with the condition that Utah and New Mexico would vote on slavery • Fugitive Slave Law – meant to appease South, many Northerners felt it turned them into slave-catchers

  12. Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 • Proposed by Stephen Douglas • People in Kansas would vote on whether to have slavery or not (popular sovereignty). • Sounded like a sound compromise, but it upset some anti-slavery forces • Freesoilers (poor farmers who couldn’t compete with slave-owners), and pro-slavery forces streamed in • Mini civil war: “Bleeding Kansas”

  13. Political Cartoon, 1856

  14. Dred Scott was a slave who was taken to a free territory by his owner. He sued for his freedom because he lived in the free territory. His case went all the way to the Supreme Court, where Scott lost because he was not considered a citizen, thus could not sue in federal court. (He was “property” and could be taken anywhere.) The Dred Scott Decision

  15. John Brown • Abolitionist • Involved in the Underground Railroad • Moved to Kansas to support the anti-slavery cause • Responded to violence by pro-slavery men by organizing the murder of 5 proslavery settlers: Pottowatomie Creek Massacre

  16. John Brown’s Raid on Harper’s Ferry • Brown planned a raid on a federal arsenal • He wanted to distribute weapons to slaves • Action failed. Brown and his men were mostly captured or killed within 36 hours • Brown was ultimately hanged

  17. Abraham Lincoln called Brown a “misguided fanatic.” Abraham Lincoln John Brown

  18. Central Historical Question: Was John Brown a“misguided fanatic”?

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