Essential to economic development of America
· Mostly from Gulf of Guinea in West Africa
· Brought against their will – involuntary immigrants
· By 1660 they were separated by law
Spanish used slavery in their colonies
English had no tradition of slavery
Indentured Servants
Well suited for plantations who needed labor
· Signed up and passage paid to New World
· Worked for 3-7 years
· Also used convicts
Black Servants
Entered Jamestown in 1619
· Treated as indentured servants
1624 New Amsterdam
· New York high numbers with a few slaves but treated as servants and often gained freedom
Indentured servants cheaper than African slaves
· All newcomers had short life expectancies
The Emergence of Slavery
In Chesapeake and South changing laws:
· Servants for life
· Children had status of mother = enslaved
· 1662 Virginia harsh punishment for sex between blacks and whites
· 1682 Christianity not reason to free black servant
Role of Race
· Could make Africans slaves since not protected by English law
· Harder for Africans to escape than white servants
· In economic interest of tobacco planters to make them permanent slave labor
The African Slave Trade
Some whites captured slaves
· Slaves traded for manufactured goods
· Business transactions; not racially oriented
· British, Swedes, Danes, Germans, Brandenburgers
· Slaving was cooperative between Europeans and African
· Mixed-race intermediaries
· Slaves usually captured by enemy tribes
· Voyage to New World for slaves
· Most inhumane aspect of slave trade
· Crammed into ships
· Preceded and followed by overland marches
· High death rates
10 million slaves taken to New world
· 400 thousand to North America
From lands bordering Gulf of Guinea
· Many different language groups
· Stopped at West Indies first to season
Slavery
Emancipation in early Republic
· North uses gradual emancipation
· South sees some support for emancipation
Southerners on slavery and abolition
· South fears moral consequences
· South sees blacks as inferior
· South fears large black population
· South sees themselves as protectors
American Colonization Society
· Encourages owners to free slaves
· Encourages emigration to Liberia (1821)
· Unrealistic due to numbers
· Little support among African Americans
December 1831
· Virginia considers gradual abolition
· Seriously debates issues
· Loses by fairly close margin
· Last rational southern debate on issue
Fear of rebellion
· Haiti revolt, 1798
Nat Turner’s Rebellion – Virginia 1831
· Turner: literate, religious fanatic, slave
· Turner’s visions inspire revolt
· Rebels kill 60 whites; revolt ends
· South becomes terrified of revolts
South protects “peculiar institution”
· South insulated from outside ideas
· South depicts slavery as a positive good
· South reforms slave codes
Suppression
· Distribution of abolitionist literature forbidden
· Passage of “gag rule” in House of Representatives
Slavery as a “positive good”
· “superior labor system”
· John C. Calhoun: “a positive good”
George Fitzhugh, sociologist
· A Sociology for the South
· Slaves have better life than northern laborers
· Slaves cared for all of their lives
The Bible, the Ancients and Culture
· Stated Bible approved slavery
· Pointed to great Greek and Roman societies having slaves
· More southerners college educated
· Believed descendants of aristocracy
Slave control
· Harder to set slaves free
· Illegal to teach slaves to read
· Slave patrols keep slaves on plantation
· Masters control religious teachings
Conflicting images of slavery
· Romantic view of warmth between master and slave
· Abolitionist view of horrible inhumane acts
Minstrel “blackface” performers
· Provide light entertainment
· Perform songs in dialect
· Project racist stereotypes
· Depict slaves as carefree
Stephen Foster
· Composer, romanticizes slavery in song
· Depicts warm relationships
· Creates nostalgia for Old South
Slave traders
· Slaves chattel property
· Slave trade very ugly
· Slave auctions very crude
· Trade flows from upper to lower South
Life in the quarters
· Slaves have no civil rights
· Cannot own property, marry, learn to read
· Cannot leave plantation, congregate, etc.
· Rights only to life and minimum subsistence
Humans Without Rights
· Master cannot legally kill slave
· Slave dying during punishment not murder
· Whipping most common punishment
· Slaves too expensive to mistreat to point of death
Diverse Institution
· Many owners maintain higher standards of treatment
· Small owners often develop “partnership” with slaves
· Rations tend to be better on large plantations
· Some masters permit slaves more rights
Slaves found ways to protest
· Malingering normal
· Thieving common
Runaways constant problem
· Clear indication of slave discontent
· Success hard outside of border states
· Underground railway
· Harriet Tubman
Most slaves Protestant Christians
· Typically Baptist or Methodist
· Identify with ancient Hebrews
· Express discontent in sermons, spirituals
Protest through folk tales
· Br’er Rabbit stories (Uncle Remus)
· Roots in West African folklore
· Weak outwit the strong
The slave community
· Slave family vital force
· Two-parent families typical
· Slave population grew through reproduction
Slavery and the West
Controversy over slavery
· Moderates try to keep debate at periphery
· Mexican Acquisition intensifies debate
Congress and Slavery
· Extremists push slavery issue
· Constitution makes slavery state issue
· Slave states equal free states
· Constitutional amendment not possible
Dead Letter
· In Washington, D.C.
· Over runaway slaves crossing state lines
· Interstate, international slave trade
· Congress could regulate slavery in territories
· Missouri Compromise limited slavery
· Mexican acquisition reopens question
Wilmot Proviso
· No slavery in territory from Mexico
· Proviso passes House, but not Senate
· Calhoun defends right to take slaves to territories
· Free Soil Party: no slavery in territories
Election of 1848
· Democrats: Lewis Cass
· Whigs: Zachary Taylor
· Free Soil: Martin Van Buren
· Taylor wins
The Crisis of 1850
1848: gold discovered in California
· 1849: gold rush to California
· December 1848: California applies for statehood as free state
· Issue of admitting California creates crisis in Congress
· Pro-slavery forces oppose admitting California as free state
Henry Clay’s Omnibus Bill
· California would be a free state
· Boundary dispute settled between Texas and New Mexico
· No reference to slavery in other new territories
· Fugitive Slave Act
Omnibus Bill fails to pass
· Extremists oppose it
· Clay, Webster speak for it
· Calhoun warns of danger to Union
· Taylor threatens veto
· Taylor dies; Millard Fillmore president
· Fillmore willing to compromise
· Stephen Douglas splits bill into five parts
· Compromise of 1850 passes
Old Guard passes
· Andrew Jackson dies in 1848
· Calhoun dies in 1850
· Clay, Webster die in 1852
· Thomas Hart Benton loses Senate seat
Extremists and Moderates
· Extreme southerners: “fire-eaters”
· Southern Whig party dwindles
· Abolitionists unpopular in north
· Militant antislavery delegation in congress
· Northern Democrats sympathetic to South
President Franklin Pierce
· Relies on southerner Jefferson Davis
· Tries to take Hawaii, Cuba
· South wants transcontinental railroad
· Makes Gadsden Purchase to help South
Kansas-Nebraska Act
North wants transcontinental railroad
· Railroad must pass through unorganized territory
· South will not vote to organize territory
· Douglas proposes Kansas–Nebraska Act
· Allows for “popular sovereignty” to decide slavery
· Douglas hurt by rise of Know-Nothing Party
Immigration
· Many Catholics
· Irish
· Germans
Rise of Know-Nothings
· Immigrants congregating in communities
· Drinking
· Catholicism
· Job competition
· Anti-Catholic riots
· Order of the Star-Spangled Banner or Know-Nothings try to stop immigration
Republican Party
· Whigs decline; parts form Republican Party
· Against slavery in the territories
· Develops comprehensive program
· Only attracts voters in North
Early abolitionists
· Focus on moral, religious issues
· Mostly Quakers
· Usually support gradual emancipation
· Includes educated African-Americans
Black Abolitionists
· Contributed most of money to newspapers and speakers
· Sojourner Truth
· Frederick Douglass
Harriet Beecher Stowe and Uncle Tom
· Great abolitionist propaganda
· Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1852)
· Condemned slavery as institution
· Most readers attracted by lurid descriptions
Kansas
· Slave or free?
· Increases sectional controversy
· Free-soilers and border ruffians
· Anti-slavery groups aid emigration to Kansas
· Fewer southerners emigrate to Kansas
· “Border ruffians” from Missouri worsen crisis
Border ruffians shoot up and burn Lawrence
· John Brown kills group of proslavery settlers
· Extremists on both sides no longer rational
Charles Sumner and Preston Brooks
· Sumner insults South Carolina in Senate
· Congressman Brooks canes Sumner in Senate
· Southerners honor Brooks
· Massachusetts honors Sumner
Fugitive Slave Act angers North
· South pleased with act at first
· Underground Railroad extended to Canada by 1856
· North resistance continued
Election of 1856
· Democrats run James Buchanan
· Buchanan free from taint of Bleeding Kansas
· Republicans choose John C. Frémont
· Buchanan wins, especially in the South
Dred Scott
· Scott a slave who lived in free territory
· Scott sues for freedom
· Dred Scott v. Sanford reaches Supreme Court
· Chief Justice Roger Taney
· Scott not a citizen, could not sue
· Missouri Compromise unconstitutional
· Slavery cannot be forbidden in territories
Republican Panic
· Dred Scott decision outrages Republicans
· Dred Scott decision kills popular sovereignty
· Kansas asks to become a slave state
· Anti-slavery forces gain support
1858 Illinois Senate election
· Democrat Stephen Douglas vs. Republican Abraham Lincoln
· Debate Dred Scott decision; popular sovereignty
· Douglas: territories keep out slavery by not passing slave codes
· Douglas wins the race
John Brown’s Insurrection
· Brown gains support from a few abolitionists
· Plans guerrilla-style slave insurrection
· Plans to begin with attack on Harper’s Ferry
Brown captures Harper’s Ferry arsenal
· Robert E. Lee captures Brown
· Brown tried for treason; hung
· Some abolitionists honor Brown as martyr
· Many Southerners hysterical in reaction