Transcript Slavery - Effingham County Schools

World’s Apart
EQ:
What caused tensions
between the North and
South?
Slavery in the United States

Slavery had a long history in the USA


The 13 colonies had all allowed slavery – there
were more in the South than the North
After the War for Independence, several
Northern states passed laws to abolish slavery –
Southern states chose not to
Slavery in the United States

At the Constitutional Convention, some
delegates tried to stop slavery in all states

One delegate said slavery did not fit in with
“the principles of the Revolution.”
The growth of slavery


Delegates could not agree to end slavery –
many hoped it would just die out
Changes in southern farming caused slavery
to grow in coming years

Invention = cotton gin (made cotton much
easier to produce, so more slaves were needed)
Growth of slavery

By 1840, the south was growing most of the
world’s cotton

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Plantation owners used their profits to buy more
land and more slaves
In 1760 there were about 700,000 enslaved
people
By 1860, there were nearly 4,000,000
Resistance to slavery

Sometimes enslaved people fought against
slave owners

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Nat Turner, a slave, led a rebellion against slave
owners
He and his followers killed 59 people before
being stopped by the local militia
After this rebellion, southern states passed laws
to control both enslaved and free blacks
Resistance to slavery

Slavery became a deep conflict between the
North and the South

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Southerners argued that slavery was too
important to their economy to give up
People in the North argued that slavery kept the
country’s economy from growing faster – also
that slavery was unfair and wrong