Antebellum Slavery. The Roots of Slavery Slavery was introduced in North America from the Carribean. First Africans arrive in 1619 in Jamestown, Va.

Antebellum Slavery

The Roots of Slavery• Slavery was introduced in North America from

the Carribean.• First “Africans” arrive in 1619 in Jamestown,

Va.• Slavery gradually develops with three defining

characteristics:– Racial– Hereditary– Chattel

• By 1750, all the British North American colonies had legalized slavery.

Defining Slavery– 1641: Massachusetts = first colony to recognize slavery as

a legal status

– 1663: Virginia declares that children of slave mothers are slaves;

– 1690: South Carolina Slave Code adopted – modeled after Barbados Slave Code.

– 1705: Virgina Slave Code adopted• defines all “negro, mulatto, and Indian servants” as property.

Authorizes physical punishments including whipping, branding, cutting off ears, and mutilation.

– 1740: South Carolina “Negro Act” • Response to the Stono Rebellion 1739• Prohibited slaves from learning to read or write, assembling,

dressing in clothing other than an approved list.

Slavery During the Revolutionary Period

• 1750 – 300,000 slaves in America (20% of the total population)

• American Revolution begins a discussion about freedom & the role of slavery in the United States

• Following the Revolution, many northern states began abolishing slavery

• 1787 – Northwest Ordinance bars slavery in the NW Territory

1776 – Declaration of Independence drafted; includes a condemnation of the slave trade.

References to the slave trade are removed at the request of southern delegates.

1773-1777: Free blacks in Massachusetts submit a series of petitions urging an end to slavery.

“they have…with all other men, a natural and unalienable right of freedom”

1777-1783 – Over 5,000 African-American men serve in the Continental Army and Navy

Many receive their freedom in reward for their service.

By 1790, there will be 60,000 free blacks in the US;

250,000 by 1860List of casualties fromLexington & Concord

Slavery and the US Constitution

• 1787 – Constitutional Convention– A new, more powerful gov’t– Southerners demand protections for slavery

• Protections for slavery in the new Constitution– No interference with the slave trade for 20 years;– Fugitive slave law;– Gov’t will help put down “domestic insurrections”

19th Century Slavery• As America

expands, slavery expands.

• US doubles in size from 1800-1831

• Slavery expands west into new territories in the South.

• 1793 – Cotton Gin

PopulationUS Population/ Slave Population

• 1780: 3.5 million / 575,000

• 1800: 5.3 million / 900,000

• 1830: 12.8 million / 2.5 million

Slave Life• Kin to kint• 14 hr days• 4 in 10 live to

60 years• Dehumanizing

slave auctions• Info: WPA

Slave Narratives

Resistance to Slavery• Running away

– 76% under 35; 89% are men

– Underground Railroad• Organized in the early 1800s• By 1850, an estimated

50,000-100,000 escape this way

– Most runaways leave temporarily, hide-out, then are captured or return.

• Harriet Jacobs

• Revolt– The least common form of resistance.– All major slave revolts in American

history are thwarted:• 1739 Stono Rebellion – S.C.• 1800 Prosser’s Plot – Va.• 1822 Denmark Vesey Plot – S.C.• 1831 Nat Turner’s Rebellion – Va.• 1860 John Brown’s Raid – Va.

• Sabotage • Feigning Illnesses• Work slow downs• Cultural Resistance

– Slave songs– Religious practices– Learning to read / write