Transcript Introduction to Slavery in America

Introduction to Slavery in
America
Slavery Introduced to the Colonies
• Tribal warfare in Africa
• Africans kidnapped forced into slavery either
by other tribes or by European slave traders
• Very profitable
• Slaves brought to the Americas via “the
Middle Passage”
• The Triangular Trade
West Coast of Africa
Conditions of Slave Ships
Slaves in America
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Slaves worked mainly on southern plantations
First in tobacco fields
Then, “cotton becomes king”
Eli Whitney’s Cotton Gin – separate seeds
from cotton quickly – made it very profitable
Slave Trade Banned
• In the early 1800s, the international slave
trade was banned by many countries
• US banned the importation of slaves in 1808
• However, the international slave trade
continued
• Driven by profit
Slavery Grows in the South
Abolitionist Movement
• Many religious groups in Western Europe and in
the United States started to question the morality
of slavery
• Many different ways of fighting slavery
• Tried to change state and federal laws
• Creation of the Underground Railroad
• Lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of
slavery
• As westward expansion continued, the debate
over the future of slavery grew
Underground Railroad
Growing Pains
• Westward Expansion = the debate over slavery
heats up
• Power struggle = free states vs. slave states
• Admit one free state for every slave state
• Missouri Compromise = Southern boundary of
Missouri would be the dividing line
• 1st of many compromises that would try and
hold the US together
United States in 1820
The Amistad Case
Facts of the Case
• Dealt with a slave uprising on the slave trading
ship: La Amistad
• End up off the coast of New England
• Brought in by the US Coast Guard
• What do we do with these “slaves”?
• Are they really slaves born into slavery in the
Americas? Or are they free persons from
Africa who were sold into slavery?
Main Characters
• Djimon Hounsou = Cinque
• Morgan Freeman = Theodore Joadson
(abolitionist)
• Anthony Hopkins = Pres. John Q. Adams
• Matthew McConaughey = Roger Baldwin
(attorney)