Slavery Without Submission, Emancipation Without Freedom

The South
1. Central hub for cotton production and slaves
  1. In 1860 there were a million tons of cotton being produced
    1. Therefore more slaves were needed
2. Slavery was such a deeply entrenched system
  1. Needed a full scale slave rebellion or a full scale war to end it
    1. It was Abraham Lincoln who feed the slaves
Abolishment of Slavery
1. Ended by Abraham Lincoln
  1. Order of the government
    1. It's scary to think that people would be in favor of a slave system that exploited people just like ourselves
  2. Combined the needs of businesses, political ambition of new Republican party, and rhetoric of humanitarianism
    1. He kept the abolition of slavery at the top of his priority list
      1. He blended interests of rich and black
    2. Argue passion against slavery morally and do such practically
    3. Tenth amendment -reserving states powers
      1. People in the states change it
  3. Refused to denounce the Fugitive slave law publicly
    1. While he has good intentions it is scary that he won't display his opinions because he is in such a position of power to do so
Plantation system
1. Based on tobacco growing in Virginia, North Carolina, and Kentucky and rice in South Carolina
  1. Expands into new cotton lands in Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi
    1. Need for more slaves,, but slave importation became illegal in 1808
      1. Just because something is illegal does not mean it will not occur
      2. Estimated that 250,000 slaves were imported illegally before the Civil War
      3. The law was unenforced because this market yielded such profit
      4. Profit over human rights?
Inhumane treatment of slaves
1. John Little
  1. Describes the harsh and brutal lashing they received
2. High deaths kept in a plantation journal
  1. Lists causes of death for all those who died on a plantation between 1850 and 1855
    1. Ages of death were incredibly low
      1. Demonstrates extreme mistreatment and abuse
3. Divides families
  1. Tears them apart if the master sold a member of the family
    1. These masters blatantly ignore familial ties for the sake of making a profit
      1. This sickens me
Slave Revolts
1. Not as frequent in the U.S. as in the Caribbean islands or in South America
  1. Largest one in the U.S. took place near New Orleans in 1811
    1. 400-500 slaves gathered after a rising at a plantation
      1. U.S. army and militia forces killed and attacked
2. Nat Turner's Rebellion
  1. Virginia
  2. Threw the slaveholding south into a panic
    1. Turner gathered 70 slaves and murdered at least 55 men, women, and children
  3. Question arises if these type of rebellions set back the cause of emancipation
3. Resistance
  1. Stealing property, sabotage, killing masters, burning down plantations
    1. Running away was more realistic than being armed
      1. I feel for these slaves, but do not agree with the violence
  2. Run away
    1. During 1850s thousands of slaves ran away and escaped into the North, Canada, and Mexico
      1. Unfortunately, some of these run aways were tracked by dogs and violently punished if found
      2. It seems an overexertion of power was displayed
  3. Creole overpowered the crew
Harriet Tubman
1. Born into slavery
2. Made her way into freedom alone as a young woman
  1. Became most famous conductor on the Underground Railroad
    1. Made 19 dangerous trips backs and forth escorting more than 300 slaves to freedom
      1. "You'll be free or die"
"Normal" Slave life
1. Very few whites helped and interacted with blacks
  1. If whites caught helping then there will be serious consequences like having their ammunition taken away or physical punishment
2. Slavery destroyed black family
  1. Black condition blamed on family fraility
    1. In reality we know that it was destroyed by prejudice and poverty
      1. Image of blacks without families and lacking identity
      2. This is definitely a misrepresentation
3. High rates of marriage among slave men and women
  1. Stable marriages
    1. But we classify them as barbaric...
    2. Develops into stable families and kins
    3. Family solidarity
  2. Rich culture among slaves
    1. Mixture of adaptation and rebellion
      1. Sentiments explained through creative works of stories, songs, etc.
      2. How can someone classify this as inferior and barbaric?
    2. In order to maintain identity, slaves utilized music, magic, art, religion, etc.
4. Some black women had triple the struggle
  1. Abolitionists in a slave society, being black among white reformers, and women in a reform controlled by men
    1. This puts them in an extreme underdog position
Slave Control
1. Paying white poor to oversee black labor and fuel black hatred
  1. This is a desperate attempt to maintain control over slaves
2. Religion also used for control
  1. Moral and religious instruction would prove a great aid in bringing a better state among the "negroes''
    1. This is such rhetoric to spew hate
3. Resistance is "pre-poilitical"
Notable "players"
1. David Walker
  1. Belives black slaves must fight for their freedom
  2. Found dead in Boston
2. Frederick Douglass
  1. Slave and sent to Baltimore to work as a servant and laborer in the shipyard
    1. Somehow learns to read and write
  2. Famous black man of his time
    1. Writes autobiography and recalls details of his thoughts on the conditions
  3. Gave Independence day address
    1. Tries to discuss the inequality and injustice towards blacks
3. John Brown
  1. Executed by the State of Virginia because of his support in helping slaves and striking force
Fugitive Slave Act
1. Passed in 1850
  1. Was a concession to the southern states in return for the admission of the Mexican war territories into the Union as nonslave states
  2. Made it easy for slaveowners to recapture ex-slaves or get blacks and claim they were run aways
    1. People will always find loopholes...
Underground Railroad
1. Syracuse became a major hub for it
  1. It was said 1500 slaves passed through on their way to Canada
2. Transportation of slaves to a safe place
  1. This is a wonderful, nonviolent strategy
Tactical differences between Douglass and William Lloyd Garrison-white abolitionist
1. Blacks more willing to engage in armed insurrection
  1. Also more interested in utilizing the Constitution
2. "Garrisons" more moral tactics
  1. White abolitionists did courageous and pioneering work
    1. Lecture, newspapers, Underground railroad
  2. Garrison published The Liberator
Lincoln
1. Elected in 1860, new Republican party
  1. Several southern states seceded from the Union
    1. Slave states did not really agree with Lincoln's principles
      1. The solution is not to secede, but to talk it out
2. First inaugural address
  1. March 1861
    1. It was a conciliatory toward the South and the seceded states
      1. Missouri declared martial law and said slaves of owners resisting the U.S. were to be free
      2. War grew more bitter
      3. Racism in the North grew
      4. NY voting laws included minimum property to own
      5. This obviously is trying to exclude blacks
3. Issued his preliminary Emancipation Proclamation
  1. It was a military move giving the South 4 months to stop rebelling, threatening to emancipate their slaves if they continued to fight, etc.
    1. When is the government going to put an end to this and second chances?
States in chaos
1. Conservatives in Boston upper classes wanted reconciliation with the South
2. Emancipation petitions poured into Congress
  1. Congress passed a Confiscation Act which enabled freeing of the slaves for those fighting the Union
    1. Obviously not enforced
      1. Lincoln ignores it not being enforced
Emancipation Proclamation
1. Issued 1/1/1863
  1. Declares slaves free in those areas still fighting against the Union
2. Spurred antislavery forces
  1. The more whites had to sacrifice, the more resentment built up
Civil War
1. Bloodiest war- 600,000 dead on both sides
2. Black women played an important part in the war
  1. Sojourner Truth
    1. Ex-slave who had been active in the women's rights movement
      1. Became a recruiter of black troops for the Union army
3. Harriet Tubman raided plantations, leading black and white troops
  1. Freed 750 slaves
4. Black acceptance of slavery proved during the Civil war
  1. Opportunities to leave the plantation, but they didn't
Some results of the war
1. No general risings of slaves
  1. Most continued to work, waiting to see what happened
2. Conspiracy of blacks in Arkansas in 1861 to kill their enslavers
3. Robert Smalls and other blacks took over a steamship and sailed it past the Confederate guns to deliver it to the Union navy
4. Confederacy became desperate later on in the war
  1. Suggested the slaves were an obstacle to their cause
5. Call to authorize the Negro soldier law
  1. Authorizing the enlistment of slaves as soldiers, to be freed by consent of their owners and their state governments
    1. Why does the government get involved in all of this?
6. Blacks understood their status after the war would depend on whether they owned the land they worked on or would be forced to semislaves for others
  1. This is just a never ending cycle of inequality
7. Abandoned plantations
  1. Leased to former planters and white men of the north
8. American government set out to fight the slave states in 1861 not to end slavery
  1. Resulted in some blacks voting, black legislatures, racially mixed public education
    1. Of course, we know this would not last or fly for some
    2. Blacks in southern state legislatures
      1. It was rare, but still did occur
    3. Blacks who went to school were encouraged to express themselves freely
9. 13th amendment
  1. Outlaws slavery
10. 14th amendment
  1. repudiated the prewar Dred Scott decision that all persons born or naturalized in the us were citizens
11. 15th amendment
  1. right of citizens of the US to vote shall not be denied
12. 1875, Civil rights act outlawed the exclusion of blacks from hotels, theaters, railroads, etc
  1. All these pieces of legislation have good intentions and I just wish it could have followed through
13. Some black women helped rebuild the postwar south
  1. Certain black women also spoke out on their special situation on equality
14. Ku Klux Klan
  1. Southern white oligarchy group used its economic power
    1. Hateful group that targeted blacks
      1. Violence errupted
      2. They would skin and hang and do horrible things to blacks
15. South lost a lot of its wealth
  1. Time for the South and North to reconcile a solution
  2. Widespread poverty
  3. Negroes flee
  4. Du Bois/ Booker T Washington arose
  5. Capitalism
Intense violence against blacks
1. Escalates and the government wants to pay less attention to it
  1. Shouldn't it be the opposite