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Sectionalism. The Road to War. Regional Differences. North. South. West. A brief history of slavery in the US. Middle Passage: 15 million taken, 3 million died in journey, major part of triangle trade including sugar, rum and slaves. Profits on slaving voyage averaged 30%.
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Sectionalism The Road to War
Regional Differences North South West
A brief history of slavery in the US Middle Passage: 15 million taken, 3 million died in journey, major part of triangle trade including sugar, rum and slaves. Profits on slaving voyage averaged 30%. Slaves captured in Africa…. Legal Development of Slavery Jamestown: arrived 1619 on Dutch ship, indentured, voted, testified in court Virginia Court (1640) – captured 3 escaped indentured servants, Dutch and Scot given 1 year additional service. African given life servitude. 1662 VA law states “Any Christian (white) who shall commit fornication with a Negro shall pay double the usual fine.” By 1691, also true in Maryland.
Slavery in the North • Quakers were first abolitionists • Pennsylvania passed first gradual emancipation law in 1780. • By 1808, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Jersey and New York followed, slave trade had ended and all Northern states had abolished slavery except Delaware.
Free Blacks in the North • Still restricted by laws, varied from state to state • Not allowed to vote or hold public office • Usually excluded from white schools, museums, public restrooms, hotels, theaters, etc • Not allowed to testify in court against a white person • Had to compete against European immigrants for jobs, helped create antagonism between immigrants, especially Irish
Slavery in South • Called “peculiar institution” • Solution to labor supply problem needed to cultivate tobacco, rice, indigo. Later used for sugar cane and cotton. • Became much more important after invention of cotton gin in 1794 • Two separate areas: Upper (or old) South and Lower (or new) South; most slaves preferred to be in old South than new South
Demographics of Slavery in South • Minority of population • South Carolina and Mississippi only states to have slaves outnumber free persons • Between ¼ and 1/3 of Southerners owned slaves • ½ of these held fewer than 5 slaves, 5 % of whites owned 20 or more; fewer than 1% held more than 100 • Most slaves lived in small groups rather than on plantations. Average number of slaves living together was 10 in 1860.
Defense of Slavery Abolitionism Quakers: Slave-owning not consistent with Christian doctrine American Colonization Society – Movement to send “free blacks” back to Africa (Liberia). Monroe, Clay, Webster, Lincoln supportive “Genius of Universal Emancipation” – ntnl gov has sole authority to abolish slavery in terr, no new states, internal slave trade etc William Lloyd Garrison, Wendell Phillips, Theodore Dwight Weld, Grimke sisters Uncle Tom’s Cabin – Harriet Beecher Stowe • Economic system – if value of slaves lost, economy would be ruined. ~ Charles Pinckney • States’ rights – no gov interference in slavery, education, religion etc. No mention in Constitution. ~John Taylor • Biblical defense – slavery sanctified in Bible • Mud-Sill Theory – all great civs have had slavery • Sociology of South – Negroes destined to be slaves by their very nature: infantile and childlike. “white man’s burden” idea. Need to protect them from extermination by superior whites. ~ George Fitzhugh
Slave Uprisings • Stono Rebellion: 1739, South Carolina • Gabriel Prosser: 1800, Virginia • Denmark Vesey: 1822, South Carolina • Nat Turner: 1831, Virginia • John Brown’s Raid: 1859, Virginia, WHITE MALE!!!!
Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo • Mexican Cession – 525,000 square miles for $15 million, plus US takes over $3.25 million in debt from Mex. • American citizenship and property rights for all Mexican citizens who did not wish to keep their Mexican citizenship. • Open to interpretation of courts, so often not respected.
To be (slave) or not to be? VS The wild, wild west….
Compromises/Acts/Cases to Remember • Tallmadge Amendment (failed) • Missouri Compromise (Compromise of 1820) (passed) • Gag rules (1836) (passed) • Wilmot Proviso (1846) (failed) • Compromise of 1850 (passed) • Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854) (passed) • Dred-Scott v Sanford (1857) • Crittenden Compromise (1860) (failed)
Important Terms to Understand • Popular sovereignty • Gradual emancipation • Immediate emancipation • Fugitive slave law • Nullification • States’ rights • Secession • Antebellum