THE HISTORY OF SLAVERY IN AMERICA

1619 - The First African Slaves Are Brought To America

Slavery in the North American colonies begun in an effort to satisfy the labor needs of the rapidly growing colonies. In the early 17th century, white European settlers begun to search for cheaper alternatives to the indentured servants, who were mostly poorer Europeans. In 1619 a Dutch ship brought 20 Africans ashore at the British colony of Jamestown, Virginia, marking the beginning of slavery.

Slavery spread quickly through the American colonies with some historians claiming that about 6 to 7 million slaves were imported to the New World during the 18th century alone! The African continent was soon scavenged for its healthiest and ablest men and women. Africans were violently transported to America were they were purchased like property. Africans spent their lives laboring away without any compensation, while often than not they were abused and ill-treated by their “white” masters.

After the American Revolution, many colonists began to link the oppression of black slaves to their own oppression by the British. Though leaders such as George Washington and Thomas Jefferson—both slaveholders from Virginia—took cautious steps towards limiting slavery in the newly independent nation, the Constitution tacitly acknowledged slavery, guaranteeing the right to possess any “person held to service or labor”.

1793 – Rise Of The Cotton Industry

In the late 18th century, the rural South—the region where slavery had taken the strongest hold in North America—faced an immense economic crisis. The soil used to grow tobacco, which was then the leading cash crop, was exhausted, while products such as rice and indigo failed to generate much profit. As a result, the price of slaves was dropping, and the continued growth of slavery seemed in doubt. Around the same time, the mechanization of spinning and weaving had revolutionized the textile industry in England, and the demand for American cotton soon boomed. The laborious process of removing the seeds from raw cotton fibers had to be done by hand.

The growing southern cotton industry made slavery an ever more vital part of the national economy. Soon the prospect of slave rebellion begun to concern slaveholders who regarded slaves as property. In 1793, Congress passed the Fugitive Slave Act, which made it a federal crime to assist a slave trying to escape. This law helped enshrine and legitimize slavery as an enduring American institution.

1831: Abolitionism and Nat Turner’s Revolt

In August 1831, Nat Turner struck fear into the hearts of white Southerners by leading the only effective slave rebellion in U.S. history. On August 21, 1831, he and a small band of followers murdered their owners and set off toward the town of Jerusalem, where they planned to capture

an armory and gather more recruits. The group of 75 Africans murdered some 60 whites in two days before militia forces overwhelmed them just outside Jerusalem. Some 100 slaves, including innocent bystanders, lost their lives in the struggle. Turner escaped and spent six weeks on the lamb before he was captured, tried and hanged.

The slaves’ efforts to liberate themselves fueled the early abolition movement in North America. In the early 19th century, a new brand of radical abolitionism emerged in the North. One of its most eloquent voices was William Lloyd Garrison, a crusading journalist from Massachusetts, who founded the abolitionist newspaper The Liberator in 1831 and became known as the most radical of America’s antislavery activists.

Antislavery northerners—many of them free blacks—had begun helping fugitive slaves escape from southern plantations to the North via a loose network of safe houses as early as the 1780s. Known as the Underground Railroad, the organization gained real momentum in the 1830s and eventually helped anywhere from 40,000 to 100,000 slaves reach freedom. Harriet Tubman, its most celebrated conductor, was a former slave who married a free black man and escaped from Maryland to Philadelphia in 1849.

John Brown was also one of the most famous supporters Underground Railroad out of Missouri. In 1859, he led a small band of less than 50 men in a raid against the federal arsenal at Harper’s Ferry, Virginia. Their aim was to capture enough ammunition to lead a large operation against Virginia’s slaveholders. Brown’s men, including several blacks, captured and held the arsenal. The government soon sent troops and was able to overpower them. John Brown was hanged on December 2, 1859; his trial riveted the nation, and he emerged as an eloquent voice against the injustice of slavery and a martyr to the abolitionist cause.

1860s The Abolition of Slavery and the Civil War

The election of the anti–slavery Republican Abraham Lincoln as president in 1860 would begin severing ties with the Union, sparking the bloodiest conflict in American history. The Civil War at its outset was not a war to abolish slavery, Lincoln sought first and foremost to preserve the Union, and he knew that few would have supported a war against slavery.

On January 1, 1863, he made it official that slaves within any State, or designated part of a State in rebellion,” shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free”, freeing some 3 million black slaves. His act was seen as a final provocation to the Southerners and a Civil War soon broke out between the

North and the South. Some 186,000 black soldiers joined the Union Army and by the time the war ended in 1865, 38,000 lost their lives. The total number of dead at war’s end was 620,000 (out of a population of some 35 million), making it the costliest conflict in American history!

Exercise 1: Mark the following statements as True or False according to the text: True False

1. In the early 17th century, before slavery, white European settlers used white servants.

2. 1619 a Dutch ship brought 120 Africans ashore Virginia.

3. About 6-7 million slaves were imported to the New World during the 18th century.

4. George Washington and Thomas Jefferson did not own any slaves of their own.

5. Cotton fields helped spread slavery in the South.

6. The Fugitive Slave Act made it a federal crime to assist a slave escape.

7. Nat Turner was a white abolitionist.

8. Antislavery northerners helped slaves escape from southern plantations during the 19 th century.

9. John Brown was buried alive for revolting against the government.

10. Abraham Lincoln abolished slavery in 1863.

Exercise 2: Read the text again and answer the questions below:

1. What was Africa scavenged for during the 18th century?

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2. Why did the tobacco industry fail during the 18th century?

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3. Which event led to an increase in demand for cotton?

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4. What did Nat Turner do in Jerusalem?

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5. Who was William Lloyd Garrison?

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6. What was John Brown’s plan after the raid against the federal arsenal at Harper’s Ferry, Virginia?

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7. How did John Brown die?

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8. Who abolished slavery?

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9. How many slaves did Lincoln free on January 1, 1863 with the official abolition of slavery?

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10. How many people died in the American Civil War?

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Exercise 3: Timeline – put the events below in order of what happened first, second, third, and last. The Abolition of Slavery and the Civil War Rise Of The Cotton Industry The First African Slaves Are Brought To America Abolitionism and Nat Turner’s Revolt

Exercise 4: Match the words to their definitions

a. abolish

b. capture

c. colony

d. export

e. missionary

f. mistreat

g. moral

h. plantation

i. prohibit

j. servitude

1. ______ a country or area controlled in an official, political way by a more powerful country.

2. ______ catch someone and make them your prisoner.3. ______ officially end a system.4. ______ send goods to another country in order to sell

them there.5. ______ to treat a person or animal badly, cruelly or

unfairly.6. ______ someone who travels to another country to

teach people about the Christian religion.7. ______ an area of land in a hot country where a crop is

grown.8. ______ behaving in a way that most people think is

correct and honest.9. ______ to officially forbid something.10. ______ the state of being under the control of

someone else and of having no freedom.

1860s

1831

1793

1619

These are not in order – you have to put them in order!