The History of Slavery in the United States

Slavery in the ColoniesSlavery had been in North

America since the first black slaves were brought

here in 1619.

As plantations got bigger in the 1700’s, more and

more slaves were needed.

Slaves began to be purchased and brought to

the colonies, and were the property of their

masters.

Slaves were brought over as part of the Triangular

Trade in the 1700’s.

Slaves who were captured or bought by Europeans were taken to be processed in forts

on the African coast.

Here they were branded and loaded onto ships.

The voyage from Africa to the West Indies was known as the Middle Passage.

Chained together, newly purchased slaves were fed little and were given little exercise.

Any slaves who were sick or who had died were thrown overboard. If they refused to eat they

were punished.

About 12 million slaves were brought to North and South America by ships.

When they arrived in the New World, they were auctioned off to plantation owners.

The Middle Passage

Figure 2

Most slaves were laborers who worked in fields, but some worked in the homes of plantation owners.

Bosses known as overseers were in charge of watching the slaves and keeping them working.

Virginia passed slave codes in 1705. These defined what slaves were able to do.

By 1750, slavery was legal in all of the 13 original American colonies.

Some codes didn’t allow slaves to leave plantations. Others forbid reading and writing. Most forbid slaves from forming in large groups.

Families were torn apart by slave owners.

Most Southerners did not own slaves.

Slave labor was needed however to maintain the economic system that was in place in the Southern Colonies.

The debate on the legality and morality of one person owning another would plague America as a continent and a nation until the U.S. Civil War.

Living as a Slave

Slavery in the Early U.S.The Declaration of Independence had said “all men were created equal.” This did not apply to

African slaves.

As the Constitution was written, there were many debates over slavery.

Even in the late 1700’s, northern states did not like slavery and southern states did.

Southern states also wanted their slaves to count in their population to give them more votes in the newly created House of Representatives.

The 3/5’s Compromise was made to allow 3/5’s of slaves to be counted into a state’s population.

It was also agreed as the Constitution was written that no more slaves could be purchased from Africa after 1808. Southern states instead began to breed their own slaves.

Eli Whitney’s invention of the cotton gin allowed cotton to be grown in huge quantities, and further cemented slavery in the South.

Slaves who had received some education or were able to read and/or write began to see the injustices of slavery and started rebellions throughout the early 1800’s.

Slave States and Free StatesFrom 1812 until the Civil War, the U.S. government tried to make sure that there were as many

slave states as free states in the country.

If there were more slave states or more free states, either side could have a majority in Congress and make laws to either keep slavery or ban it for good.

New states that formed out of the territory that was bought from France or won from Mexico were usually admitted in pairs to keep a balance of power.

The Missouri CompromiseThe Missouri Compromise was passed in 1820. It helped to keep North and

South happy in the early 1800’s.

It drew a line at the 36°30’ north line of latitude in the former Louisiana

Territory.

Any states north (except Missouri) of the line would not be allowed to have

slavery.

Maine became a free state at the time.

The North also allowed southerners to chase down runaway slaves in order to

get them to agree to the Missouri Compromise.

The balance of free and slave states remained intact. T h e M i s s o u r i C o m p r o m i s e

The Mexican WarAfter the Mexican War in

the 1840’s, the U.S. acquired a bunch of new

territory.

No one knew how this new land would be set up, and if

slave states or free states would form.

The Wilmot Proviso suggested that all the new

land be free.

Southerners worried the balance of slave and free

states would be destroyed, and refused to let the

Wilmot proviso become law.

Mexican Cession

Gadsden Purchase