The Civil War and Reconstruction

American Slavery - Definition: social death, reduction of a person to property, Etymology

: Originally 'slav' - - Freedom as a common right of humans is a relatively new concept- "By the 16th Century the color of slaves changed from white to black"- American colonies in the 17th century existed as an avenue to produce

food for the sugar industry in the Caribbean- Aspects of American Slavery:

- Racial slavery (Slavery became an inherent quality)- Plantation slavery vs Household slavery: Slave society vs a so

ciety with slaves - Ira Berlin- Self-reproducing slave population - Outside the zone of tropic

al diseases- Bacon Rebellion in Virginia - ex-indentured servants take over the loc

al government (Early slaves were not well policed)- Mason Dixon Line: Both slaves and abolitionists had more leeway in the

North - Clauses concerning slavery prior to the Civil War:

- Three-Fifths Clause: A compromise concerning the allocation of Representatives in Congress by population: Whites vs Other persons

- Slave trade is not to be abolished for 20 years: South Carolina and Georgia had lost a large amount of slaves to the British during the Revolution

- Fugitive slave clause: Persons held to labor in one state escaping to another shall be returned (as opposed to England's Freedom Principle)

States which have abolished slavery cannot be extricated from the responsibility of apprehending and returning fugitive slaves

- Contradiction between a revolution for liberty and existence of slavery greatly strengthened racist ideology

- "All men are created equal, all men are entitled to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" - slaves are inherently incapable of exercising these rights because they are of an inferior race

- Slavery does not violate the principle of equality anymore than the denial of certain rights to children

- By the 1830s, race has replaced class as the line of division to voting (i.e property ownership vs white male suffrage)

- The North was complicitous in slavery due to the prevalence of the cotton industry in the US's economy - Cotton is King