The Crusade Against Slavery

Morgan Buwalda & Devlyn DeAugustine

Slavery and the Nation● Slavery had been

established for at least 200 years entering the Antebellum Era

● By 1860, the slave population had risen to 4 million despite the constitutional ban on the importation of slaves

● Northern states primarily abolished slavery, and the dividing line between the free states and slave states became the Mason-Dixon Line, the result of a border dispute between Pennsylvania and Maryland

● ⅓ of the Southern population was made up of slaves, and in the Deep South the percentage was even higher

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The Slave Economy● Slavery supported the tobacco, rice, sugar, and cotton industries● “King Cotton” grew massively after Eli Whitney’s cotton gin became a

standard for plantations in the South● Crop spread west due to new fertile soil being found west of the

Mississippi ● Cotton cash funded industrial developments in the North and in the West

as well as transportation improvements● Northern factories made their textiles primarily from Southern cotton● Slavery discouraged immigration to the South as there was no need for

unskilled immigrant labor4

Slave Life○ Slaves lacked many of the rights of white Americans

■ Nonetheless, it was illegal to kill a slave● Unless for self defense

■ Contrarily, If accused of a serious crime, had the right to a hearing● Seldom enforced

■ Slaves weren’t allowed to testify against a white person in court■ Couldn’t leave plantation without permission, buy property, nor

own firearms

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Slave Life● Legally were considered property

○ Could be bought and sold at will with no regard for family structures■ Families not kept together for financial/economic reasons

● Some owners tried to keep families together but it often led to bankruptcy or plans were crushed by division of property when a master died

○ Seen as a form of investment for plantation owners■ Somewhat cared for because it was expensive to replace a slave

○ Could be auctioned off■ Often slaves from Virginia and the lower South were sold to farmers in the

lower Mississippi Valley● Prosperous cotton frontier

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Slave Life● Forced to work long hours

○ Had one room cabins with terrible ventilation ■ Led to spread of contagious diseases

● Typhoid fever, malaria and dysentery○ To protect the slaves (in reality protect the master’s investment), the master’s

mistress tended to be in charge of tending to sick slaves○ White overseers common in larger plantation; they were accompanied by...

■ “Slave drivers” were responsible for keeping the slaves working to make sure enough product was produced

○ In South Carolina and Georgia task labor was used■ Task Labor: Slaves assigned daily tasks and allowed to work at their own

pace. Once task was finished they could do as they pleased.

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Slave Culture

● When the Atlantic slave trade was active Africans who arrived in the Americas originated from varying places. Therefore, there was a mix of cultures and traditions

○ Slave trade outlawed in 1808○ Despite different origins, bounds between slaves formed

■ Development of subculture based on family and church

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Slave Culture● Proportion of male to female slaves close to equal in the U.S. by the early 1800s

○ Unlike the West Indies where males dominated○ Survival rates better in North America so more babies born-- both male and

female babies ■ This lower survival rate in the West Indies can be attributed to

tropical diseases■ Also more male slaves were in the West because they were more

productive workers○ Because the male to female slave ratio was close to equal in the U.S.,

family life for slaves became possible ■ Many slaves married although the marriage didn’t have legal backing

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Slave Culture● Kinship ties within slave families were strong

○ Nonetheless, threat of sale, which would separate the families, was an imminent threat

■ Masters used this threat to make slaves obedient○ More cotton plantations in the Southwest attributed to higher risk of sale so more

families were split up● Unlike the family life of the white master and mistress, slave families shared close to

equal roles○ Because slave men couldn’t be independent providers for the family and because

slave women worked alongside their counterpart, both were equally powerless■ This contrasts with the “cult of domesticity” which can be seen in upper

and middle class white families11

Resistance, Runaways and Slave Revolts● From the study “Time on the Cross”, which focused on the Barrow plantation in

Louisiana, stated slaves associated their fortune with that of their masters○ Others disputed this

■ IE: Solomon Northup who said slaves forced to work no matter the cost○ Attitudes varied between slaves about being enslaves

■ Some more strong-willed than others● These slaves were sent to “breakers” and beaten with the lash

○ Despite these attitudes, masters restrained because slavery was necessary to the economy

■ Slaves needed to be “contented enough” to complete their assigned task

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Resistance, Runaways and Slave Revolts● Slaves were not free and were unable to be free unless escaping from the plantation

○ Subtle forms of resistance were common■ Doing poor work, stealing food, breaking tools, or disrupting work at any

chance○ Brazen forms also existed but carried heavier consequences

■ Running away and trying to reach free land in the North● Those in the Upper South had a higher chance of succeeding ● Often headed to New Orleans or Charleston in hopes of blending in

with the free black population● Others headed to swamps or remote areas as so not to be detected● Those who were caught for running away, typically younger single

men, were punished greatly upon capture13

● Activists helped organize the Underground Railroad, which had abolitionists hide runaway slaves in their home until they could move on to the next abolitionist’s house

● Harriet Tubman is most known for her work in the Underground Railroad. She repeatedly returned to the South to help other slaves achieve freedom

● More “freed” slaves arrived in states, but not all whites welcomed them● Fugitive State Law was a consequence. Passed in 1793 and allowed masters to

cross state lines to capture their runaway slave

Resistance, Runaways and Slave Revolts

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Resistance, Runaways and Slave Revolts● Slave revolts were a common fear for slave owners

○ Feared sparked because slaves outnumber whites in many areas○ Not many rebellions occurred○ Most famous slave rebellion was led by Nat Turner a slave from Virginia who

convince fellow rebels to attack whites in 1831■ Turner was literate; his first master supported him learning to read. His

second master was less supportive and inspired Turner to rebel ● Hoped that his rebellion would inspire other slaves● Others didn’t join in large numbers out of fear

■ Turners’ group killed 60 whites; 200 blacks, even those uninvolved, were killed in retaliation

○ A consequence of this rebellion was states placing laws that even further restricted slaves 15

Reform Movements● Hope that Americans could improve their personal lives and society grew (1830s)

○ Inspired by democratic spirit and westward expansion■ Optimism reshaped reform movements about women’s rights, religious

freedom, racism and inequality○ Reformers tended to be Northerners or from the Midwest

■ Were middle-class● Effects of Reformers: Ideas caused debates that influenced the development of the

country

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Abolitionism● The Abolitionist movement was inspired by Enlightenment ideas from the 1700s

○ Ending slavery was the focus of this international movement■ First goal was to stop the slave trade but eventually evolved into

stopping slavery in as many countries as could be possible● In the early 1800s, many Americans were unwilling to challenge slavery

○ Some spoke rose about the issue again after the Missouri conflict, however, after the conflict resolved, it was seldom highlighted again

● But by the 1830s, militant abolitionists were becoming more prominent○ Demanded immediate and complete emancipation of slaves

● Publishing newspapers and books was a key way to be outspoken about slavery

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Abolitionism● Lobbying to legislators was also a tactic to change laws regarding slavery such as

not allowing any new slave states to the union● Congress resisted these attempts of change but often had to resort to at least some

form of compromise to keep peace between the free and slave states○ The Gag Rule adopted in 1836 by the House of Representatives. Tabled

abolitionist petitions. Eventually the rule was repealed in 1844○ Many whites believed blacks were inferior to whites so didn’t deserve to be

included in the rights outlined by the U.S. Constitution

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Early Opposition to Slavery● Early opposers were

peaceful and avoided conflict

● Opposers encouraged colonization & resettlement of other lands by African Americans

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American Colonization Society

American Colonization Society● The American Colonization Society was organized in 1817 by a group of

Virginians● The ACS proposed that slaves would gradually be freed (with masters being

compensated through charity or state funds) and would be resettled in a new society of their own away from the United States

● It wasn’t a huge success, however it received some support and funding primarily from private donors, Congress, and the legislatures of Virginia and Maryland.

● The ACS arranged the shipment of African Americans out of the country to the west coast of Africa.

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American Colonization Society (Continued)● In 1830, these groups established the nation of Liberia, which became a fully

independent republic by 1846.○ The capital, Monrovia, was named after James Monroe, who was President

when the first settlements of Liberia were established

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A map of Liberia published by Albert Finley, showing not only Liberia but the West Coast from Sierra Leone to Cape Palmes

Failure to Colonize● Lack of popular support and funding led to the project being a

failure● In a decade, they managed to settle fewer slaves than the amount

born in a month in the US● Many African Americans had no wishes to return to Africa, as

they were several generations removed and had no ties● By 1830, the antislavery movement was dissipating

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WilliamLloydGarrison

Garrison and Abolitionism● William Lloyd Garrison was born in Massachusetts in 1805● Garrison was an assistant to the New Jersey Quaker Benjamin Lundy, who

published the greatest antislavery paper of the 1820s, called the Genius of Universal Emancipation, which ran primarily in Baltimore

● Garrison was abhorred by slavery and believed that Lundy was too moderate and mild

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Garrison and the Liberator● Garrison returned to Boston in 1831 and founded the Liberator, his own weekly

newspaper● Proposed a different philosophy to anti-slavery than earlier abolitionists

○ Opponents of slavery should view the institution from the point of view of the black man, not the white slave owner, and should not argue about the evils that slavery bring to white society but instead should discuss the damage the system did to Africans.

○ Abolitionists should reject gradualism in favor of the “immediate, unconditional, universal abolition of slavery,” with the full rights of citizenship being extended to African Americans and former slaves.

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The Liberator

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An issue which describes the U.S Constitution as a “Covenant with Death and an Agreement with Hell.”

American Anti-Slavery Society● Garrison founded the New

England Anti-Slavery Society in 1832, and a year later expanded it to be the American Anti-Slavery Society

● By 1835, there were 400 chapters of the society, and by 1838 there were 1350 chapters with more than 250,000 members.

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Black Abolitionists

Black Abolitionists○ In 1850, there were 250,000 free blacks in the North,

primarily concentrated in urban centers○ The relations between the free blacks and regular citizens

were often worse than between a slave and his caretakers○ Most free men worked in low level jobs as domestic

servants or sailors, and as a result they lived in poverty. They also had no access to education and virtually no access to voting.

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Free Blacks’ Commitment to Abolition○ Despite the hardships of freedom, free blacks in the North were

immensely proud of their freedom and fought hard to secure it for the rest of the population who were still enslaved

○ The majority of subscribers to the Liberator were initially African American

○ Many were nonviolent, such as Sojourner Truth, who effectively became a spokeswoman for the abolition movement

○ Some were more militant, such as David Walker, who expressed that slaves should “kill, or be killed!”

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FrederickDouglass

Frederick Douglass● Frederick Douglass was born a slave in Maryland● His birth date is unclear, however he chose to celebrate it as February 14th, 1818● He escaped slavery into Massachusetts in 1838, where he became an outspoken leader for

abolitionism and went on to lecture in England about the antislavery movement● In 1845, he wrote his first autobiography, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass,

which not only provided a terrible picture of slavery but also disproved the idea that African Americans could not be as civilized as white men and could not be integrated into American society

● He returned to the United States in 1847, purchased his freedom from his master in Maryland, and founded his paper, the North Star, in Rochester, New York

● Douglass demanded freedom as well as social and economic equality as well

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“Learning would spoil the best [slave] in the world. Now, said he, if you teach that [slave] (speaking of myself) how to read, there would be no keeping him. It would forever unfit him to be a slave. He would at once become unmanageable, and of no value to his master. As to himself, it could do him no good, but a great deal of harm. It would make him discontented and unhappy.

~ Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass

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Anti-Abolitionism

Anti-Abolitionism○ Anti-abolitionists found abolitionism too demanding and

extreme○ Warnings of both war and of an influx of free blacks into

the North arose (which both came true)○ Threat to all across the board

■ Elite found it a threat to Southern trade■ Common white populace found it as another threat to

social order

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Violent Reprisal● Prudence Crandall

○ Was arrested, had filth thrown in her well and was forced to close her school after she attempted to admit African American girls into her private school

● William Lloyd Garrison○ Was seized by a mob in 1835 and

threatened with lynching, and was saved by being locked in jail

● Elijah Lovejoy○ Was a repeat victim of violence○ His business was invaded several

times and his newspaper presses were destroyed each time, and every time he’d install new machines and print papers again

○ Was finally killed in 1837 after a mob invaded his business for the fourth time, burned down his building, and shot him as he fled

● The Temple of Liberty○ The headquarters for the

abolitionist movement, it was burned down in 1834 with a race riot ensuing

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Abolitionism DividedAbolitionism started facing internal struggles from external issues, as well as ideological differences

The More Moderate Case○ Promoted “immediate abolition gradually accomplished,” with abolition achieved through a long,

patient, peaceful struggle■ Relied heavily on federal action

■ Helped fund the legal battle over the Amistad● The Supreme Court ruled in Prigg v. Pennsylvania (1842) that state officers didn’t

have to aid in returning fugitive slaves● Abolitionists petitioned Congress to abolish slavery in federal territories & to

prohibit interstate slave trade■ Political organization

● The Liberty Party in 1840 was the closest thing to an Anti-Slavery party● Became known as “free soilers”, who wished to keep slavery from expanding into

future territories● Free soil movement attracted a large number of supporters

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The More Extremist Case■ William Lloyd Garrison and his followers isolated themselves due to extreme views

● Claimed the Constitution was “a covenant with death and an agreement with hell.”● Claimed the nation’s churches were the bulwarks of slavery● Insisted that women could partake in the movement and were equal to men● Promoted extreme pacifism that didn’t even allow for defense● Promoted the separation of the North from the South in 1843 to purge the nation of its sins

■ Abolitionists in New England called for violence and funded rebels in Virginia and Kentucky to fight against slavery

■ Other abolitionists used propaganda to stoke anger● Theodore Dwight Weld and Angelina Grimke’s American Slavery As It Is: Testimony of a

Thousand Witnesses was an example of a book which portrayed itself as fact but often too things way out of proportion

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HarrietBeecherStowe

Harriet Beecher Stowe● Wrote Uncle Tom’s Cabin

○ Became a best-selling novel with over 300,000 copies within a year of publication

○ Her book further humanized slaves and villainized owners, and helped to inflame tensions between the North and the South

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The Enduring Influence of Abolitionism● A small movement

launched by Garrison ended up transforming the ideals of a nation, bringing together thousands of men and women to be dedicated to a virtuous cause

○ Brought to light how deeply slavery divided America

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The International Abolition Movement● The institutions of slavery were much stronger in America than in Europe and

other places due to colonial policies● The antislavery response was much stronger as a result● By the 1830s, the international slave trade was effectively ended● Plantation economies in Cuba, Puerto Rico, and Brazil were stimulated by the

sugar and coffee trade, allowing slavery to thrive in Spanish America● The demand for cotton in Europe and in the Northern States for textile industries

kept alive slavery in the South● Slavery was abolished in the Crown and her colonies by 1834, however it wouldn’t

be until 1865 that it was ended in the US● It would take even longer for Spanish America to end slavery, as Puerto Rico

wouldn’t end it until 1873, Cuba until 1886, and Brazil until 1888 48

The Amistad Case○ In 1839, A Spanish ship, the Amistad, captured 53 slaves from Africa to be

brought to Cuba○ The captives seized the ship in transit and made their way up the Atlantic

coast until it was seized by US officials○ President Van Buren argued that the slaves should be returned to Cuba and

sold, whereas John Quincy Adams argued that the slave ship was in violation of international law and as such they should be let free

○ John Quincy Adams won the case, giving the abolitionists an important win

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Defense of the Slave Economy● Slavery described as a “positive good” due to racist beliefs● Slavery viewed as the bedrock of great societies such as Greece and Rome

○ Could not have built grand civilizations without use of extensive slave labor so that the superior classes could pursue the arts and the sciences

● Slaves would not be able to take care of themselves if freed○ From Solon Robinson: “Free them from control, and how soon does poverty

and wretchedness overtake them!”

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Views Of Slavery

Jeffersonian View● Argued that it was a “necessary evil,” that if it were to be

destroyed in America that the economy would be destroyed too● Thomas Jefferson argued as late as 1820 that they had the “wolf

by the ears, and we can neither hold him nor safely let him go. Justice is in one scale, self-preservation is in the other.”

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Calhoun’s Defense● Argued that the Declaration of Independence was flawed in suggesting that all men

are created equal, and that the phrase was “the most false and dangerous of all political errors.”

● In the Senate, John Calhoun affirmed that slavery is “instead of an evil, a good – a positive good.”

● Further explained that slaves received benefits and care like no other○ “In few countries so much is left to the share of the laborer, and so little

exacted from him, or… more kind attention paid to him in sickness or infirmities of age… I fearlessly assert that the existing relation between the two races in the South… forms the most solid and durable foundation on which to rear free and stable institutions.”

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Slavery and Emancipation: The Motives

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○ “Slavery was not born of racism; rather, racism was the consequence of slavery.”

○ Originally born for economic profit, but racism developed as the means to justify the institution.

○ Emancipation arose from the inefficiency of slavery in the industrial world

○ Inconsistency of only applying it to white men exposed because of Enlightenment ideals

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