Transcript Slavery , the Civil War, and Reconstruction

Slavery , the Civil War, and
Reconstruction
By : Emma La Rocca
Slavery Divides The Country
 Slavery is part of a larger
issue – the economy. The
south uses slave labor to
help grow most of the
crops they sell. The work
in Northern factories is
done largely by
immigrants.
THE ABOLITION MOVEMENT
 Newspapers and books
play an important role in
getting people to join the
movement to end slavery.
Yet their fight is not easy.
THE ELECTION OF 1860
 Abraham Lincoln
promises to end the
spread of slavery . When
Lincoln wins the election
of 1860, one by one
Southern states gradually
leave the Union to form
their own country, the
Confederate States of
America.
“KING COTTON” AND THE SPREAD
OF SLAVERY
 In 1854 , there were more
than 400,000 immigrants
in the United States.
 It was cotton grown on
large plantations that
produced most of the
South’s wealth.
 Some supporters of
slavery argued that
enslaved people In the
South were better off
than immigrants and
other workers in the
North.
 In 1808, Congress made it
illegal to import slaves from
Africa.
 One of the most serious
slave rebellions took place
on August 21, 1831. Nat
Turner led a small band of
enslaved people in
Southampton County. For 2
days they went from farm to
farm and killed more than
60 people.
 Some states passed laws
forbidding Africans from
gathering in public places
and holding religious
services.
 One of the people who
spoke out against slavery
was Frederick Douglass.
Free Blacks
 There were free blacks in
both the North and the
South, especially in the cities
where their were more
chances of finding work.
 In the South they had to
carry certificates of
freedom, register with the
police, and sometimes pay a
tax.
 They were forced to sit in
separate sections in white
churches. And they were
still denied equal legal and
voting rights.
 On July 16, 1854, Elizabeth
Jennings climbed aboard a
white only streetcar in New
York. After a struggle, a
police officer removed her.
 In the early 1800s, New
York became a center for
the movement to end
slavery.
 By 1825 Seneca Village
was a fairly large
community of black
property owners.
 Weeksville was
established in Brooklyn in
1838, as a home to
ministers , teachers , and
other black professionals.
Speaking Out Against Slavery
 An abolitionist was
someone who wanted to
end, or abolish slavery in
the United States.
 By 1860 about 17
newspapers for black
readers were printed in
the United States.
 In some places of The
Liberator were burned
and mail carriers refused
to deliver it.
 William Lloyd Garrison
demanded that blacks
have the rights as whites.
 The most famous
abolitionist newspaper grew
to be The North Star,
started by Frederick
Douglass in 1847.
 Harriet Beecher Stowe
wrote a novel called Uncle
Tom’s Cabin. It described
the lives of the enslaved.
 Angelina Grimke and Sara
Grimke daughters of a
wealthy South Carolina
judge and plantation
owner.
Escaping Slavery
 Many African Americans
risked their lives to escape
to the free Northern states.
 Neither underground nor a
railroad, the Underground
Railroad was a system of
secret routes that escaping
captives followed to
freedom.
 Songs were often used
to signal their plan to
escape.
 A Quaker from Indiana,
Levi Coffin, was known as
the president of the
Underground Railroad.
 One of the best known
volunteers on the
Underground Railroad
was Harriet Tubman.
 Tubman fled from the
plantation in the middle
of the night.
 Tubman returned 19 times
to guide her family and
many others to freedom.
Abolition and Women’s Rights
 In 1848, abolitionists
Lucretia Mott, Elizabeth
Cady Stanton, and three
other women met in
Seneca Falls, New York.
 On July 19, 1848, more
than 240 people attended
the Seneca Falls
Convention.
 Throughout the 1840s
and 1850s Sojourner Truth
gave speeches around
the country about
abolition and women’s
rights
Heading Toward War
 In 1850 the United States
had 15 free states and 15
slave states. Then
California asked to join
the United States as a
free state.
 Henry Clay came up with a
solution, known as the
Compromise of 1850. It
allowed California into the
Union as a free state. The
North agreed to allow the
territories of New Mexico
and Utah to decide for
themselves whether or not
to allow slavery.