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Slavery.mp4
Slavery in the early United States
In 1787, there were nearly 700,000 enslaved people in the United States. Almost all of the original 13 states allowed slavery.
Most enslaved people lived in the Southern states. Southern farms called plantations depended on enslaved labor. The Northern states also had slavery. But slavery was disappearing in these states. By the early 1800s, all of the Northern states had plans to end slavery.
At the 1787 Constitutional Convention, the delegates had many disagreements about the issue of slavery. One was whether to make the international slave trade of taking enslaved people from African countries to sell in the United States illegal.
What did the delegates decide about the international slave trade?
The delegates decided that the international slave trade could not be made illegal for 20 years. After that time, Congress did ban the international slave trade. It was made illegal in 1808.
After the international slave trade became illegal, slaveholders could still sell enslaved people in states that allowed slavery. The domestic slave trade was the slave trade within the United States.
According to the Constitution, a state's population determines the number of representatives it gets in Congress. When the Constitution was being written, people debated whether enslaved people would count toward that number.
What did the Constitutional Convention decide about enslaved people and representation?
Northerners didn't want enslaved people to be counted for representation. The delegates at the Constitutional Convention agreed to a deal called the Three-Fifths Compromise. The number of congresspeople for each state would be based on two things:
the total number of free people
three-fifths of the total number of enslaved people
However, the compromise did not mean enslaved people had any political rights. None of the rights protected by the Constitution applied to enslaved people.
In the 1800s, the United States had many pieces of land that weren't actually states but called territories.
What is the difference between a state and a territory?
The federal government has more power over a territory. Territories do not have senators or congresspeople, and its residents do not vote for president. In order to become a state, a territory needs permission from Congress.
Other than the original thirteen colonies, almost all of the states were territories before being admitted as states.
Does the United States still have territories today?
Yes! Here is a list of some of them:
American Samoa
Guam
Northern Mariana Islands
Puerto Rico
U.S. Virgin Islands
By the 1820s, many Americans wanted to have an equal number of senators from the free states and the slave states.
There would need to be an equal number of free states and slave states to keep an equal balance of senators from the two sides.
Each state gets exactly two senators, no matter how many people live in the state. For example, if there were 10 slave states and 10 free states, there would be 20 senators from slave states and 20 senators from free states.
In 1820, Northern and Southern politicians argued about whether Missouri should enter the Union as a slave state. Northern and Southern politicians made a deal called the Missouri Compromise.
In 1836, Texas declared independence from Mexico. For the next ten years, many people debated whether the United States should annex (add) the Republic of Texas to the United States.
Did slavery expand into the new territories?
Yes, slavery expanded to some of the new land.
After annexation, Texas was admitted as a slave state. But the United States gained even more territory at the end of the Mexican-American War. To help deal with the new territories, Congress passed a series of laws called the Compromise of 1850. Here is a list of some of the parts of the compromise:
California was admitted as a free state.
The territories of Utah and New Mexico were opened to slavery.
A new law was passed to help slaveowners recapture escaped enslaved people.
It became illegal to buy or sell enslaved people in Washington, D.C.
Were escaped enslaved people safe anywhere in the United States?
No! With the passage of the Fugitive Slave Act, enslaved people realized that they would need to go to Canada or another country to be safe. Canada was part of the British Empire, so United States laws did not apply there.
From the South, the trip to Canada was much longer than the trip to the Northern states. Despite the distance, thousands of escaped enslaved people made it to Canada.
Before the Fugitive Slave Act, slaveholders had trouble convincing Northern officials to help them catch escaped enslaved people. Now, Northerners could be sent to jail if they didn't help.
How did Northerners react to the Fugitive Slave Act?
The Fugitive Slave Act required that Northerners help capture and return escaped enslaved people. Many Northerners were not against slavery. But they didn't want to help slaveholders find enslaved people. These Northerners were angry about the new law.
In 1854, Congress passed the Kansas-Nebraska Act.
According to the act, the people in the new territories of Kansas and Nebraska would vote on whether or not to allow slavery in their territories. This bill made many Northerners angry.
Throwing out the Missouri Compromise
The 1854 Kansas-Nebraska Act went against the Missouri Compromise. Under the new act, the settlers in these territories would vote to allow slavery or not. Many Northerners were very angry.
Since the settlers in Kansas would be allowed to vote about slavery, many people rushed to the territory to make sure their side won the vote.
Both proslavery and antislavery settlers suffered in Kansas. In one case, proslavery settlers attacked Lawrence, Kansas, a town with many antislavery settlers. In another case, the abolitionist John Brown and his sons killed five proslavery settlers.
Why did settlers care so much about slavery in Kansas?
Both sides cared about slavery's effect on their way of life.
Antislavery settlers believed that small family farmers could not compete against rich slaveholders. They didn't want a small group of slaveholders to have all the economic and political power.
Proslavery settlers wanted to protect their right to own property, including enslaved people.
In 1856, Southern congressman Preston Brooks attacked Northern senator Charles Sumner with a heavy cane on the floor of the Senate.
Why did Preston Brooks attack Charles Sumner?
Charles Sumner insulted a relative of Preston Brooks during a speech about the future of Kansas. In response, Brooks attacked Sumner. He beat Sumner until his heavy cane broke. Sumner needed months of rest to recover from his injuries.
Did Brooks get in trouble for attacking Sumner?
No. Many Southerners saw Brooks as a hero. He received hundreds of new canes in the mail to replace the one that he broke during the attack. One of the new canes had the words "hit him again" on it.
Most Northerners were horrified that a Northern senator had been attacked. One Northern congressman challenged Brooks to a fight with rifles. Brooks did not accept the challenge.
The battle over Kansas helped lead to the creation of a new political party. This political party argued that the federal government should stop the spread of slavery. The Republican Party argued that the federal government should stop the spread of slavery. Republicans believed that slaveholders had too much power in the federal government.
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