Reshaping America in the Early 1800s 6.5 The Abolition Movement

Reshaping America in the Early 1800s Lesson 5 The Abolition Movement

Learning Objectives

• Describe the hardships of the lives of enslaved African Americans and the ways in which they coped.

• Explain the struggles and successes of free African Americans in the mid-1800s.

• Identify the leaders and tactics of the abolition movement.• Summarize the positions and tactics of those opposed to abolition.

Reshaping America in the Early 1800s Lesson 5 The Abolition Movement

Key Terms

• freedman• Nat Turner• abolition movement• William Lloyd Garrison• Frederick Douglass• Gag Rule

Expansion of SlaveryThe Cotton Engine – reduced the

amount of time and labor (cost) of separating the cotton seeds from the valuable white fiber

5 million pounds of cotton – 1793170 million pounds in 1820Invented by Eli WhitneyKing CottonWhy did slavery increase? What other

effect did the cotton gin have on the US?

Life as an Enslaved African American

During the period of reform that swept the United States in the early and middle 1800s, reformers tried to improve life through campaigns to help children, families, and disadvantaged adults. Soon, reformers also set out to help another group of exploited people: enslaved African Americans in the South.

Life as an Enslaved African AmericanSlavery was cruel and evil

◦Threat of separating families a tool Slaves practice family naming

and oral traditionsThey also fought back

Resistance Freedman – former slave Denmark Vessey – freedman who tried a slave revolt in

South Carolina (Charlestown) in 1822. Two slaves turned him in before it started

◦ No deaths◦ Vesey executed by hanging

Nat Turner – slave who heard the voice of God to try to free the slaves.◦ 1831 Richmond Virginia◦ Two day killing spree – killed over 60 whites (all ages) –

spared poor whites◦ Turner was hanged, flayed, quartered, and beheaded◦ At trial, mob turned against AA crowed and killed over

100 innocent blacks.◦ South passed tougher slave laws like forbidding

teaching slaves to read.

Life as an Enslaved African American

Analyze Data Between the years 1820 and 1840, how much was the enslaved population increasing per decade?

Life as an Enslaved African American

Enslaved workers spent long, back-breaking hours stooping to pick cotton in the fields.

Life as an Enslaved African American

Analyze Maps Where did the earliest rebellion take place? Where did most rebellions take place?

Life as an Enslaved African American

Analyze Information Which three states had the largest number of enslaved people during the period shown?

Free African Americans

Not all people of African descent in the United States were held as slaves. Beginning with Massachusetts and Pennsylvania in the 1780s, northern states had gradually outlawed slavery by the 1840s. In Maryland and Virginia, many slaveholders were slowly manumitting, or officially freeing, their slaves. The net result was a large and growing population of free African Americans. Despite their freedom, however, they suffered from persistent racial discrimination.

Free African Americans

Analyze Maps Which regions of the nation had the most and fewest numbers of free African American residents? What factors likely explain these differences?

Free African Americans

A certificate of membership in the American Colonization Society

An attempt to have slaves move back to Africa. It did not work. Why?

The Antislavery Movement Grows

Misgivings about slavery had been spreading across the nation since Revolutionary times. Many northerners objected to it on moral grounds. By 1804, all states north of Maryland had passed legislation to end slavery. In 1807, bringing new slaves to any part of the United States from Africa was banned. Still, slavery was an established institution in the South, where slave labor played an important role in the economy.

The Antislavery Movement GrowsNortherners began to view slavery as

fundamentally incompatible with the religious views they embraced during the Second Great Awakening.

Abolition movement – movement to end or abolish slavery.

William Lloyd Garrison – abolitionist and editor of The Liberator, an antislavery newspaper.

Angelina and Sarah Grimke – sisters, from SC planter, left to become abolitionist. Instrumental in the abolitionist and women’s rights movement.

Fredrick Douglass – escaped slave, speaker, and abolitionist. One of the most influentional African Americans in History.

The Antislavery Movement Grows

Antislavery activists like these in Virginia faced violence from supporters of slavery.

The Backlash Against Abolition

Despite the growing call of abolitionists, most Americans continued to support slavery. The voices against abolition came from both the slave states of the South and the free states of the North.

The Backlash Against Abolition

Slavery necessary for South EconomyNorth benefitted from it in the textile

millsSlave labor better than paid labor –

slaves treated betterBible supported slaveryEnslaved people could not survive

without slaveholdersEnslaving Africans was historically

inevitable

The Backlash Against AbolitionSouthern views of slowly ending slavery died

and they defended it even more.Garrison chased in BostonGrimke-Weld wedding had meeting hall burnt

down (black guests)Elijah Lovejoy printing press destroyed and

Lovejoy murdered (Alton, Il)Northern workers feared blacks taking their

jobsGag rule – passed in 1836 –Congress would

not debate slavery for the next 8 years.Abolition movement small….at first.

The Backlash Against Abolition

Many southerners opposed abolitionism. This illustration shows the burning of abolitionist newspapers by South Carolina slavery supporters in 1835. Infer How did slavery create an atmosphere of violence even for those who were not enslaved?

Quiz: Life as an Enslaved African American

Who was Nat Turner?

A. a freedman who led a successful slave revolt near Charleston, South CarolinaB. a former enslaved African American who became a brutal slaver overseerC. a former enslaved person who organized the Underground RailroadD. an enslaved African American who organized a slave revolt near Richmond, Virginia

Quiz: Free African Americans

What was the main goal of the American Colonization Society?

A. to return all free African Americans to Southern statesB. to return all enslaved people in the South to LiberiaC. to encourage the migration of free African Americans to AfricaD. to establish colonies within Northern states for free African Americans

Quiz: The Antislavery Movement Grows

How did the Second Great Awakening affect the institution of slavery?

A. All the traveling preachers were abolitionists.B. People began opposing slavery on religious grounds.C. Free African Americans began preaching against it.D. More African Americans joined Baptist congregations.

Quiz: The Backlash Against Abolition

What was the Gag Rule?

A. a law which prohibited debate and discussion in Congress on the subject of slaveryB. a rule passed in the South that outlawed African Americans from speaking in publicC. a congressional decision to prohibit abolitionists from publishing antislavery materialsD. a federal law that prohibited arguments in support of slavery's economic benefits