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AP U.S. History: Unit 8.1
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Slavery in Antebellum America
I. The Rise of "King Cotton"
A. Prior to 1793, the Southern economy was weak: depressed prices,
unmarketable products, soil-ravaged lands, and an economically
risky slave system.
Some leaders, such as Jefferson (who freed 10% of his slaves),
believed slavery would gradually die out but it could not be
done immediately. "We have a wolf by the ears."
B. Eli Whitney’s Cotton Gin (1793)
1. Impact: Cotton production now profitable; 50x more effective
than picking cotton by hand.
a. Resulted in an explosion in slavery
b. Cotton came to surpass tobacco, rice, and production
2. Cotton Kingdom developed into a huge agricultural factory
a. Western expansion into lower gulf states: Louisiana,
Mississippi, Alabama
b. Slaves brought into new regions to cultivate cotton.
3. Huge domestic slave trade emerged
-- Importation of slaves from Africa was abolished in 1808
C. Trade
1. Cotton exported to England; revenues from sale of cotton used to
buy northern goods
-- Britain heavily dependent on U.S. cotton for its textile
factories; 80% came from U.S.
2. Prosperity of both North and South rested on slave labor
3. Cotton accounted for 57% of all American exports by 1860.
-- South produced 75% of world’s cotton.
II. The Three Souths
A. Generalizations
1. The further North, the cooler the climate, the fewer the slaves,
and the lower the commitment to maintaining slavery..
2. The further South, the warmer the climate, the more the slaves,
and the higher the commitment to maintaining slavery.
3. Mountain whites along Appalachian Mountains would mostly
side with the Union during the Civil War.
-- W. Virginia, E. Tennessee, NE Kentucky, W. South Carolina,
N. Georgia & Alabama.
4. Southward flow of slaves (from sales) continued from 1790 to
1860
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Unit 8.1: Slavery
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5. Not a unified South except resistance to outside interference
(federal gov’t)
B. Border South: Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky, & Missouri
1. Plantations scarcer; cotton cultivation almost nonexistent;
Tobacco main crop (as in Middle South); More grain production
(as in Middle South)
2. Unionists would overcome Disunionists during and after the Civil
War.
3. 1850, Slaves = 17% of population.; Avg. 5 slaves per slaveholder
4. 1850, over 21% of Border South’s blacks free; 46% of South’s
free blacks
5. 22% of white families owned slaves
6. Those who owned more than 20 slaves in South: 6%; Ultra-
wealthy = 1%
7. Produced over 50% of South’s industrial products
C. Middle South: Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Arkansas.
1. Each state had one section resembling the Border South and
another resembling the Lower South.
-- Some industrial production: Tredegar Iron Works in Virginia
used slave labor
2. Unionists prevailed after Lincoln elected; Disunionists prevailed
after war began
3. Many plantations in eastern Virginia and western Tennessee
4. 1850, slaves = 30% of population; Avg. 8 slaves per slaveholder
5. 36% of white families owned slaves
6. Of all who owned more than 20 slaves in South: 32%; Ultra-
wealthy = 14%
D. Lower South: South Carolina, Florida, Georgia, Alabama,
Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas
1. Most slaves located in the “cotton belt” or "black belt" of Deep
South along river valleys
2. Plantations prevalent; cotton was king; grew 95% of South's
cotton & almost all sugar, rice, and indigo.
3. Disunionists (secessionists) would prevail after Lincoln was
elected
4. 1850, slaves = 47% of population; Avg. 12 slaves per slaveholder
5. Less than 2% of blacks free; only 15% of South’s free blacks
6. 43% of white families owned slaves
7. Of all who owned more than 20 slaves in South: 62%; Ultra-
wealthy = 85%
8. Produced less than 20% of South’s industrial products
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notes:
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Unit 8.1: Slavery
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III. The Slave System in the South (the "Peculiar Institution")
A. The Planter "Aristocracy"
1. South was ruled politically and economically by wealthy
plantation owners
a. 1850, only 1,733 families owned more than 100 slaves; yet
they dominated southern politics.
b. South was the least democratic region of the country.
i. Huge gap between rich & poor existed
ii. Poor public education (planters sent kids to private schools)
2. Planters carried on "cavalier" tradition of early Virginia
a. This was reflected in its military academies.
b. Elite culture included chivalry; landed genteel-class
B. Plantation system
1. Risky: Slaves might die of disease, injure themselves, or escape.
-- System required heavy investment of capital
2. One-crop economy (e.g. cotton, tobacco)
a. Discouraged diversification of agriculture, especially
manufacturing
b. Southerners resented the North’s huge profits at their expense
-- Complained of northern middlemen, bankers, agents, &
shippers
c. Resented being so dependent on northern manufactures &
markets
3. Repelled large-scale European immigration
a. Only 4.4% of foreign-born Americans were part of South’s
population in 1860; 18.7% in the North.
b. Slave labor was far cheaper; fertile land was too expensive for
most immigrants; immigrants not familiar with cotton
production.
c. South most Anglo-Saxon (English) region of nation
C. Plantation slavery
1. Nearly 4 million slaves by 1860; quadrupled in number since
1800
a. Legal imports of slaves ended in 1808
-- Thousands of slaves smuggled in despite death penalty for
slave traders
b. Increase due to natural reproduction
i. Over-breeding of slaves not encouraged
-- Owners still often rewarded slave women for multiple
children
ii. White slave owners often fathered sizable mulatto
population (e.g. Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemmings)
-- Most remained slaves
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Unit 8.1: Slavery
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2. Slaves seen as valuable assets and primary source of wealth
a. Slave auctions one of most revolting aspects of slavery
i. Families often separated: division of property, bankruptcy
ii Slavery’s greatest psychological horror
3. Punishment often brutal to intimidate slaves not to defy master’s
authority
4. New western areas were harshest for slaves: (LA, TX, MS, AL)
5. Slaves were denied education: a literate slave was seen as a
potentially dangerous slave
D. Afro-American slave culture developed
1. Elements of West African culture—such as languages, oral
traditions, music, religious practices and family patterns—
remained part of the American slave community.
2. Family ties were often informal and extended family ties were
important
a. This was the outgrowth of slave families being broken up
regularly due to members being sold
b. “Fictive kin”: members of a community might be considered
“family” even though they were not related by blood.
c. Children were primarily raised by their mothers, who often
dominated the home in slave quarters
-- This pattern continued after slavery was abolished
d. Children were often looked after by many members of the
community
3. Oral traditions were valuable in maintaining the African heritage
a. Teaching slaves to read was illegal in much of the South so
alternate ways of spreading culture was necessary.
b. After the work day was over, slaves would often get together
on large plantations and share stories or their hopes of
eventual liberation.
c. Oral traditions were passed on in several languages including
Gullah, pidgin English, and Creole.
d. Certain stories, such as Br’er rabbit, were popular; they were
instructive on how to survive slavery’s oppressive nature.
4. Religion
a. Call and response tradition from Africa was a strong
component of slave religious meetings.
b. Religion in slave communities was often a blend of various
forms of Christianity mixed with African traditions (such as
voodoo)
c. In some areas, slaves attended segregated white churches.
d. Certain elements of Christianity were very appealing (e.g.
everyone is equal in heaven, Christ ministering to the poor)
e. The book of Exodus in the Bible was particularly popular
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Unit 8.1: Slavery
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(Jews led by Moses had escaped Egypt)
5. Music
a. Rhythmic complexities of Africa were incorporated into
music and drum rhythms played by slaves.
-- Slave owners sometimes banned the use of drums fearing
that slaves were sending subversive messages
-- Clapping and “patting juba” (slapping various parts of the
body along with clapping) was popular
b. The banjo, an African instrument, was used regularly
c. The European violin (fiddle) was adapted by slaves and
became a staple instrument.
d. Call and response singing was a popular element of slave
music
e. Musical elements employed by slaves later influenced the
development of blues, jazz, and rock n’ roll.
E. Burdens of slavery
1. Slaves deprived of dignity and sense of responsibility that free
people have, suffered cruel physical and psychological treatment,
and were ultimately convinced that they were inferior and
deserved their lot in life.
2. Denied education; seen as dangerous to give slaves ideas of
freedom
3. Slaves often insidiously sabotaged their master’s system
-- Poisoned food, supplies often missing, equipment often broken,
slow work.
4. Many attempted to escape
-- Some success in Border South; next to impossible in Lower
South
F. Slave Revolts
1. Stono Rebellion, 1739
a. South Carolina slaves fled toward Florida killing whites on the
way; did not make it.
b. Led to more oppressive slave system in the South during
colonial period
2. Gabriel Prosser, 1800
a. Slave blacksmith in VA who planned a military slave revolt;
recruited 150 men
b. Rebellion did not materialize and Prosser and 26 others were
hanged.
3. Denmark Vesey, a mulatto in Charleston, planned largest ever
revolt in 1822 but it never materialized
a. A slave informer advised his master of the plot
b. Vesey and 30 others publicly hanged
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Unit 8.1: Slavery
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4. Nat Turner’s revolt, 1831 (most significant of 19th
century)
a. Sixty Virginians slaughtered, mostly children and women
i. Wave of killing slowed down revolt’s aim of capturing
armory
ii. Largest slave revolt ever in the South
b. Over 100 slaves were killed in response; Turner was hanged.
c. Significance: Produced a wave of anxiety among southern
plantation owners that resulted in harsh laws clamping down
further on the slave institution.
G. Southern white paranoia
1. Feared more reprisals by slaves (like Nat Turner’s revolt)
2. Infuriated by abolitionist propaganda in the North they saw as
inciting slaves.
3. Saw biological racial superiority as a justification for slavery.
IV. The White Majority
A. By 1860, only 1/4 of white southerners owned slaves or belonged to
slave-owning families
1. Over 2/3 of slave owners owned less than ten slaves each.
2. Small slave owners made up a majority of masters.
B. 75% of white southerners owned no slaves at all.
1. Located in the backcountry and mountain valleys.
2. Mostly subsistence farmers; didn’t participate in market economy.
3. Raised corn, hogs
4. Poorest called "white trash", "hillbillies", "crackers", "clay eaters"
by planters
-- Suffered from malnutrition & parasites especially hookworm.
5. Fiercely defended the slave system as it proved white superiority
a. Poor whites took comfort that they were "equal" to wealthy
neighbors
b. Social status was determined by how many slaves one owned:
poor Southern whites someday hoped to own slaves.
c. Slavery proved effective in controlling blacks; ending slavery
might result in race mixing and blacks competing with whites
for work.
C. Mountain whites
1. Lived in the valleys of the Appalachian Mountain range.
2. Independent small farmers located far from the cotton kingdom.
3. Lived in rough frontier environment
4. Hated wealthy planters and slaves.
5. During Civil War were Unionist; significant in crippling
Confederacy
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Unit 8.1: Slavery
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V. Free African Americans
A. Numbered about 250,000 in the South by 1860
1. In Border South, emancipation increased starting in the late 18th
century.
2. In Lower South, many free blacks were mulattos (white father,
black mother)
3. Some bought their freedom with earnings from labor after hours.
4. Some owned property; New Orleans had large prosperous mulatto
community.
-- A few even owned slaves (although this was rare)
5. Petersburg, Virginia, had the largest free black population in the
South by 1860.
B. Discrimination in the South
1. Prohibited from certain occupations and from testifying against
whites in court.
2. Always in danger of being forced back into slavery by slave
traders.
C. About 250,000 free blacks lived in the North
1. Large communities existed in certain northern cities, especially
Philadelphia
2. Free black communities were often centered around churches
such as the African Methodist Episcopal Church.
D. Discrimination in the North
1. Some states forbade their entrance or denied them public
education
2. Most states denied them suffrage
3. Some states segregated blacks in public facilities.
4. Especially hated by Irish immigrants with whom they competed
for jobs.
5. Much of Northern sentiment against spread of slavery into new
territories due to intense race prejudice, not humanitarianism.
-- Racist feelings often stronger in the North than in the South
VI. Abolitionism
Definition: Abolitionism: Movement in North that demanded immediate
end to slavery
A. First abolitionist movements began during Revolutionary Era;
especially Quakers
B. American colonization Society (founded in 1817)
1. Sought practical solution vis-à-vis free blacks if slavery was
ended.
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Unit 8.1: Slavery
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-- Recolonization: supported by many prominent Northerners and
Southerners who were afraid that manumission (freeing slaves)
would create a surplus of free blacks in the U.S.
2. Liberia created on West African Coast for former slaves in 1822.
a. 15,000 freed blacks were transported over next four decades
b. Most U.S. blacks were not eager to go because they saw
themselves as Americans, not Africans.
i. Believed they were part of America’s growth & culture
ii. By 1860, virtually all southern slaves were native-born
Americans
3. Colonization appealed to most Northerners (including Lincoln)
who felt blacks and whites could not coexist in a free society.
a. Some feared the “mongrelization” of the white race.
b. Others thought blacks were inferior, didn't want them in large
numbers in their states.
C. Abolitionism became the dominant reform movement of the
antebellum period
1. Second Great Awakening convinced abolitionists of the sin of
slavery.
2. Abolitionists inspired that Britain freed their West Indian slaves
in 1833
D. Radical Abolitionism
1. Radical abolitionists sought the immediate and uncompensated
end of slavery
-- Influenced heavily by the perfectionism of the Second Great
Awakening
2. William Lloyd Garrison
a. Published the first issue of his Liberator, a militant antislavery
newspaper, in Boston in1831
-- Symbolized the beginning of the radical abolitionist
movement
b. Demanded the "virtuous" North secede from the "wicked"
South.
-- Yet, offered no practical solutions for ending slavery.
c. Inspired abolitionists to found the American Anti-Slavery
Society
3. American Anti-Slavery Society
a. Founded by radical abolitionists who sought to organize to
achieve more political influence
b. Theodore Dwight Weld
i. Evangelized by Charles Grandison Finney in NY’s “Burned-
Over District” in the 1820s and appealed to rural farmers in
the Ohio Valley.
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ii. American Slavery As It Is (1839): Among most effective
abolitionist works ever written
iii. Married Angelina Grimke, a southern abolitionist.
c. Wendell Phillips -- ostracized Boston patrician; "abolition’s
golden trumpet"
i. Perhaps most important abolitionist; major impact on politics
during the Civil War as he argued for emancipation.
ii. One of the finest orators of the 19th century.
iii. Product the 2nd Great Awakening.
iv. Followed Garrison but was more politically practical in the
1860s
d. Angelina and Sarah Grimke
i. Only white southern women to become leading abolitionists
ii. Also involved in women’s rights.
iii. Angelina married to Theodore Weld; Sarah remained part of
their household
e. Arthur and Lewis Tappan: wealthy New York merchants.
-- Funded the Anti-Slavery Society, and the Liberator
f. Organization would eventually split along gender lines;
women’s rights issues
3. David Walker: Appeal to the Colored Citizens of the World,1829
-- Advocated violence to end slavery.
4. Sojourner Truth: Freed black woman; pro-emancipation and
women’s rights
5. Elijah Lovejoy: Militant editor of antislavery newspaper in
Illinois.
a. Printing press destroyed four times; 4th time it was thrown into
a river and Lovejoy was killed by a mob who promptly burned
his warehouse in 1837
b. He became an abolitionist martyr
c. Also a nativist (may have contributed to his death)
6. Martin Delaney
-- One of few blacks to seriously advocate black mass
recolonization in Africa.
7. Frederick Douglass
a. Greatest of the black abolitionists
-- Published The North Star, his own abolitionist newspaper.
b. Former slave who escaped slavery at age 21.
c. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
-- Depicted his life as a slave, struggle to read & write & his
escape to North.
d. Flexibly practical (in contrast to Garrison who was stubbornly
principled)
e. Looked to politics to end slavery.
-- Backed the Liberty party in 1840 and the Republican party in
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Unit 8.1: Slavery
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the 1850s.
8. Eventually, most abolitionists support the Civil War to end
slavery.
E. Underground Railroad
1. Chain of antislavery homes which harbored hundreds of slaves
escaping to Canada while aided by black & white abolitionists.
2. Harriet Tubman ("Moses") (ex-slave from Maryland who
escaped to Canada)
a. Led 19 expeditions from Canada; rescued 300 slaves
including her parents
b. Served Union army in South Carolina as a spy during the
Civil War.
3. Prigg v. Pennsylvania, 1842
a. Pennsylvania tried to prohibit capture and return of runaway
slaves within its borders
Violated the federal government’s fugitive slave law of
1793
b. Supreme Court ruled the law unconstitutional since it violated
a federal law protecting slave owners’ right to property
c. Personal liberty laws passed by many Northern states which
prohibited state officials from assisting anyone pursuing
runaway slaves.
4. Significance: by 1850 southerners demanded a new, stronger
fugitive-slave law; the existing law dating back to the 1790s
was weak.
a. About 1,000 runaways successfully escaped per year.
Small in number; more slaves bought their freedom than
ran away
Southerners were infuriated in principle as the
Constitution was not being obeyed by the North
b. Some northern states (e.g., Pennsylvania) failed to provide
cooperation.
c. Southerners blamed abolitionists; claimed they operated
outside the law
VII. Southern Responses to Abolitionism
A. In 1820s, southern antislavery societies outnumbered northern ones.
B. After 1830s , white southern abolitionism was silenced
C. Causes of southern concern
1. Nat Turner’s revolt coincided with Garrison's Liberator.
a. South saw a northern abolitionist conspiracy and called
Garrison a terrorist.
b. Georgia offered $5,000 for his arrest and conviction
2. Nullification Crisis of 1832
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Unit 8.1: Slavery
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a. Southerners concerned powerful federal gov't might supported
abolitionism
b. Anti-slavery whites in South were sometimes jailed, whipped,
or lynched
3. Abolitionist literature that flooded the southern mails infuriated
slave owners
D. Abolitionist literature banned in the Southern mails
-- Federal gov't ordered southern postmasters to destroy
abolitionist materials and to arrest federal postmasters who did
not comply.
E. Pro-slavery whites responded by launching a massive defense of
slavery.
1. Slavery supported by the Bible (Genesis) and Aristotle (slavery
existed in ancient Greece).
2. Slavery helped civilize and Christianize Africans
3. Master-slave relationships resembled those of a "family."
4. George Fitzhugh -- most famous pro-slavery apologist
a. Contrasted happiness of slaves with "northern wage slaves."
b. Fresh air in the south as opposed to stuffy factories
c. Full employment for blacks
d. Slaves cared for in sickness and old age unlike northern
workers.
F. "Gag resolution" -- 1836, southerners drove it through Congress
1. All antislavery appeals and petitions in Congress prohibited.
-- Seen by northerners as a threat to the 1st Amendment
2. Rep. John Quincy Adams waged 8-year fight against it; repealed
in 1844
3. (Note: banning of antislavery materials in the mails was a
separate issue)
VIII. Abolitionist impact in the North
A. Abolitionists (e.g. Garrison & Lovejoy) were unpopular in many
parts of the North.
1. Northerners revered the Constitution; slavery was protected by it.
2. Ideal of Union (advocated by Webster & others) had taken deep
root; Garrison's cries to secede from the South was seen as
dangerously radical.
3. Northern industry dependent on the South for economic well-
being
a. Northern bankers owed by southern planters; about $300
million
b. New England mills fed by southern cotton.
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Unit 8.1: Slavery
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B. Mob outbursts occurred in response to extreme abolitionists
1. Lewis Tappan’s NY house ran-sacked in 1834 to a cheering
crowd.
2. 1835, Garrison dragged through streets of Boston with rope tied
around him.
3. Elijah P. Lovejoy killed in Illinois
C. For ambitious politicians, support of abolitionism was political
suicide
D. By 1850, abolitionism significantly influenced the northern mind
1. Many saw slavery as morally evil and undemocratic.
2. Free-soilers opposed extending slavery to remaining Louisiana
Territory and Mexican Cession.
-- "Free-soil" movement grew into the Republican Party in the
1850s.
Terms to Know
“King Cotton” cotton gin, Eli Whitney Border South
Middle South Lower South
“cotton belt” or “black belt” “Peculiar Institution” Stono Rebellion, 1739
Gabriel Prosser Revolt Denmark Vesey Conspiracy
Nat Turner’s Rebellion “Mountain Whites” abolitionism
American Colonization Society
Liberia William Lloyd Garrison The Liberator
American Anti-Slavery Society
Theodore Weld, American
Slavery as It Is Wendell Phillips
Angelina and Sara Grimké Arthur and Lewis Tappan David Walker
Sojourner Truth Elijah Lovejoy
Martin Delaney Frederick Douglass Underground Railroad
Harriet Tubman Prigg v. Pennsylvania
George Fitzhugh “northern wage slaves” Gag Resolution
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Unit 8.1: Slavery
© 2012 HistorySage.com All Rights Reserved
Essay Questions
Note: This sub-unit is a high probability area for the AP exam. In the past 10 years, 4 questions have come wholly or in part from the material in this chapter. Below
are some questions that will help you study the topics
that have appeared on previous exams.
1. Analyze several factors that led to the growth and
maintenance of the slave system in the South between 1800 and 1850.
2. Analyze the effectiveness of the arguments in favor of slavery and the arguments against slavery. What
justifications did each side use to support their respective positions?
3. To what extent was there a unified South politically, economically and socially?
4. Discuss the ways in which a vibrant slave culture emerged
socially, religiously, and musically.
Bibliography: Blassingame, John W., The Slave Community: Plantation Life in the
Antebellum South, New York: Oxford University Press, 1979
College Board, Advanced Placement Course Description: United States
History, College Entrance Examination Board, published yearly
Foner, Eric & Garraty, John A. editors: The Reader’s Companion to
American History, Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1991
Freehling, William, W., The Road to Disunion: Secessionists at Bay,
1776-1854, New York, Oxford University Press, 1990
Gillon, Steven M. & Matson, Cathy D., The American Experiment: A
History of the United States, Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2002
Hofstadter, Richard, The American Political Tradition, New York:
Alfred Knopf, 1948
Kennedy, David M., Cohen, Lizabeth, Bailey, Thomas A., The American
Pageant (AP Edition), 13th
edition, Boston: Houghton Mifflin 2006
McPherson, James, Battle Cry of Freedom, New York: Balantine Books,
1988
Murrin, John, et al, Liberty Equality Power: A History of the American
People, Ft. Worth: Harcourt Brace 1999
Nash, Gary : American Odyssey, Lake Forest, Illinois: Glencoe, 1992
Zinn, Howard, A People’s History of the United States, New York:
Harper and Row, 1980
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