civil-war_Ch2_info

=**Slavery and the United States Background Information**=

**History of Slavery:**
In 1619, the first African slaves were brought to Jamestown, VA by Dutch slave traders. They were put to work on the tobacco plantations. The colonies became a stop on the **Atlantic Slave Trade**. It was also called the Triangular Trade or Great Circuit. Slave ship captains would leave Europe and trade manufactured goods for slaves in Africa (or capture slaves). The slaves were then taken across the Atlantic, called the Middle Passage, which was the toughest part of the journey. The slaves were then sold in the "New World" and the slave ship captains would obtain raw materials to take back to Europe to sale.

Slavery and the slave trade had been practiced in Africa (Africans owned other Africans). This institution of slavery was discovered by the Portuguese. The European colonies needed labor help. Furthermore, the Spanish knew that the Arabs were taking part in the slave trade, so they decided to do the same. In the English colonies, John Rolfe had begun the cultivation of tobacco and was in need of low cost labor. An irony in history is that slavery was part of colonial development.

The type of slavery practiced was called **Old World Slavery**. In this system, slavery was considered a misfortune that could happen to anyone. The slave was a person (not property) without liberty. Race had nothing to do with it and the slave wasn't necessarily viewed as inferior. This changed in the colonies. The colonists had indentured servants, whose labor was owned and worked for a certain amount of time. The indenture was a contract. When the first Africans were brought to the colonies, the colonists immediately put them into the indentured servant category. The difference now was that people could visually tell the difference between Africans and other servants because of skin color. This meant that everyone knew that the Africans had to have at one time been a servant even if the African moved to another colony after working out his/her indenture. Due to this, blacks became viewed as slaves, which now made race an implication of slavery and the colonists would now believe the slave was owned, not just the labor.

Slavery would grow in the South and die out in the North. One of the reasons is because cotton became a cash crop (a crop that is mass produced for export). This would lead to the belief in the South that the world needed cotton and no one would ever do anything to threaten the cotton states, which became known as "**King Cotton**." A short fiber cotton is what grows in the South and it has seeds throughout it, which made it difficult to comb out. There are three reasons cotton was able to become a cash crop. One was Eli Whitney's invention of the **Cotton Gin**. It could comb out the cotton seeds and one person using it could separate 50 times as much cotton as someone doing it by hand. Cotton production soared and so did the demand for slaves. A second reason was Francis Lowell developed the factory system in Massachusetts. Instead of weaving cotton into cloth in individual homes, he set up a factory with several looms and could manufacture textiles. This also helped increase the production of cotton and cotton products. The third factor was the Adams-Onis Treaty, which transferred Florida from Spain to the U.S. This is important because there is a band of rich soil in the deep South called the Black Belt and now the U.S. had access to all of the soil and the rivers that empty into the Gulf of Mexico making it quicker and cheaper to ship the cotton to northern factories. There were various attempts by slaves to rise up. The most notorious was the Turner Rebellion, led by Nat Turner in 1831. It was put down, but the slaves began to see that the future was not looking good. Turner claimed to be moved by God. Southerners tried to justify slavery by saying they were trying to Christianize the slaves. However, when the Turner Rebellion was put down, their use of Christianity to justify slavery no longer worked.

**Aspects of Slavery in the U.S.:**
Slave ships brought the slaves to the New World. The trip was usually uneventful, although there was a major slave ship uprising on the **//Amistad//**. The captives took over the ship and it was brought into the New World. John Quincy Adams (lawyer after his presidency) would defend the slaves aboard the ship. The slaves who were on the ship were eventually allowed to return to Africa. Men, women, and children were separated and forced to lie on their backs on a series of platforms for at least 15 hours a day. Each slave had their right leg chained to the left leg of the person beside. Hands were tied as well. They were put below the deck and the hatch closed, which made it tough to breathe. The journey took several days and survival was tough. The slave trade would be outlawed in the 1800s, but the illegal slave trade still went on until slavery ended in the U.S. One famous slave ship captain was John Newton who survived a violent storm on one journey and it led him to Christianity as he wrote //Amazing Grace//.

Slave auctions took place in the U.S. Slaves were sold to the highest bidder. This showed that the South viewed slaves as property. Slave ship captains would advertise their slaves along the Atlantic coast. Slaves who survived were washed in oil to make them look more healthy. Slaves were chained together and marched from the dock to the auction place. Assembled in "pens" and given a clean suit or dress, the slaves were told to "look smart" for the customers. Bidders would check out the slaves and their teeth and bodies as if they were horses. Papers were signed and the slaves were purchased, again equating them as property, oppositive of the Old World Slavery view.

Demand for slaves to work the cotton fields rose after Eli Whitney's cotton gin invention. Price for slaves was $350 in 1790 but $1,500 in 1860. Auctions were devastating to slaves. There was always the possibility of getting sold to a brutal owner. Families were often split up as well. Some Africans in America held the status of Free Negro, which was only one step above slavery. In the South, Free Negroes had to live under the Black Codes, which were established by white leaders and included small harassments such as fines for violating curfew or carrying a firearm. There were more severe punishments for traveling without a pass, trying to attend a white church, or for not working. An African could become free by being born to free parents, buying freedom, being granted freedom from the slavemaster (often in a will), or by running away.

**Underground Railroad:**
The **Underground Railroad** was the movement of slaves from the South to the North to escape slavery. It was an informal network of escape routes that originated in the South and intertwined throughout the North and into Canada. It was mostly run by abolitionists. Southerners viewed it as "organized theft" and a threat to their way of life. In reality, it lacked formal organization, but relied mostly on cooperative efforts to free the slaves. Usually, those who participated hid or destroyed their records to protect themselves and the runaway slaves. They used railroad terminology: conductors were those who helped slaves escape, the freight was the runaway slave, stations were the hiding places, and lines were the routes. Levi Coffin was a famous conductor who was often called the President of the Underground Railroad. He opened a store in Indiana and found that his store was on the main branch of one of the routes. He joined in helping the slaves escape. Harriet Tubman was a former slave who helped others escape. She married a free negro. The owner of her new plantation died, which meant that the slaves would be sold...possibly into the deep South where slaves were treated harshly. She traveled 90 miles to escape. She became good at disguising herself (once her former master didn't recognize her) and went back into the South several times to help other slaves escape. She was called the "Moses of her people." The Underground Railroad was started by Quakers in PA who were against slavery. Frederick Douglass was another runaway slave who became one of the most outspoken abolitionists and became friends with Lincoln during the war and encouraged him into freeing the slaves. An irony in history was that the first slave to permanently own slaves for life was Anthony Johnson, a former slave himself. Overall, slavery grew in the U.S. (for reasons previously discussed) and action on the Underground Railroad would grow too.

Back to Chapter 2 main page