AAH CH5

In the postrevolutionary North and Chesapeake region, what general trend was strongly evident regarding slavery?

A strong trend toward emancipation

Which of the following was a method African Americans used to take advantage of the trend toward freedom in the postrevolutionary era?

Petitioning state legislatures for equal rights

Why was slavery not considered economically essential in the North following the Revolution?

Farmers could hire hands when needed, and transatlantic immigration brought white laborers

Emancipation in the northern United States began early and was considered exceptional because it did not result from what?

Force or intervention

Which two states enacted immediate abolition, prohibiting slavery in their foundational documents during the 1770s and 1780s?

Vermont and Massachusetts

In the Mid-Atlantic states, emancipation took longer than in New England primarily because:

White people had a vested interest in maintaining slavery

Connecticut and Rhode Island adopted what method of emancipation in 1784?

Gradual abolition

The Northwest Ordinance of 1787, adopted by Congress, applied Thomas Jefferson’s plan to ban slavery immediately in which area?

The Old Northwest/Northwest Territory

What did the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 leave open to the expansion of slavery?

The region south of the Ohio River

What important precedent did the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 set?

Excluding slavery from U.S. territories

Who was the Quaker abolitionist who organized the first antislavery society in the world in 1775?

Anthony Benezet

In the Upper South (Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia), antislavery societies cooperated to focus on what strategy?

Gradual compensated emancipation

The emphasis on gradual abolition by antislavery societies was partly driven by the reluctance of white abolitionists to challenge what aspect of slaveholding?

The masters' property rights

Following the Revolution, how did many southern states (like Virginia in 1782) liberalize manumission laws?

By repealing bans on private manumissions

By 1820, what percentage of African Americans in the North were free, compared to the South?

83.9 percent in the North; 10.6 percent in the South

In the years following the Revolution, the overall national trend concerning African Americans showed that:

Forces favoring slavery were stronger than those favoring emancipation, particularly in the South, where slavery thrived and expanded

Although the U.S. Constitution contained clauses intended to maintain the enslavement of African Americans, the delegates purposefully omitted which terms from the document?

Slave and slavery

To satisfy southern slaveholders, particularly those from South Carolina and Georgia, the Constitutional Convention compromised by agreeing not to end the Atlantic slave trade until what year?

1808

What was a significant result of the Constitutional Convention's compromise allowing the Atlantic slave trade to continue until 1808?

More slaves entered the United States between 1787 and 1808 than in any other 20-year period

The Three-Fifths Clause in the Constitution was a compromise between northern and southern delegates stating that slaves would be counted as three-fifths of a free person for the purpose of:

Determining a state’s representation in the House of Representatives and the Electoral College

A key political advantage gained by slaveholders due to the Three-Fifths Clause was that they:

Gained representation on the basis of the number of slaves owned, despite slaves having no vote

Which invention, created by Eli Whitney, greatly increased the demand for raw cotton from Britain and "reinvigorated the slave-labor system"?

The cotton gin

The increase in cotton production due to mechanization and increased British demand led to which significant development?

The slave system spreading rapidly across Georgia to other southern states and accelerating the westward expansion

The clauses included in the Constitution designed to counteract slave rebellion and escape formed the basis for what subsequent legislation?

The Fugitive Slave Act of 1793

How did the Louisiana Purchase (1803) affect the system of slavery in the United States?

It accelerated the westward expansion of slavery and the domestic slave trade

In the Lower Mississippi Valley between 1770 and 1810, as the demand for sugar and cotton grew, the treatment of slaves:

Grew harsher, and the slave population increased almost sevenfold

The "conservative trend" that strengthened slavery in the 1790s was marked by the waning of revolutionary humanitarianism and:

A rationalist and evangelical acceptance of slavery as suitable for African Americans

To justify slavery, especially in the 1790s, the argument shifted toward using race, leading white people to view black people as:

Unsuited for freedom or citizenship

What concept did scientific racists propose to justify the inferiority of African Americans, suggesting they were a separate species closer to apes than white people?

The chain of being

As racist justifications for slavery spread and became common among white Americans, what legal action did states take?

Laws were passed to exclude African Americans from citizenship

In the post-Revolutionary era, where did free black communities primarily appear?

In the North and Upper South, with smaller communities in the Deep South

One of the main factors driving free African Americans to form their own communities and organizations was the realization that:

They would hold an inferior status in white-dominated organizations.

What were the earliest organizations formed by free black communities primarily known as?

Mutual aid societies

The mutual aid societies organized by free African Americans provided support primarily for which purposes?

Providing for members’ medical and burial expenses and supporting widows and children.

Although most early free black societies initially admitted only men, when did women’s organizations begin to appear?

The 1790s

Free black communities acted as self-improvement societies and also organized resistance against what specific threat?

Kidnappers seeking to recapture fugitive slaves or enslave free African Americans

Which group, claiming origins in ancient Egypt, became a particularly important organization for black men in the emerging communities?

The Black Freemasons

Who was the most famous black Mason, a Revolutionary War veteran and abolitionist, who organized African Lodge No. 1 after being rejected by the local white lodge?

Prince Hall

Independent black churches emerged approximately a decade after black benevolent associations and became what essential component of African-American communities?

The core of the community, with pastors as primary leaders and buildings housing schools and meetings

The formation of separate black congregations was primarily a response to what circumstances within biracial churches spawned by the Great Awakening?

White people denied black people influence and enforced segregation (segregated seating, services, and cemeteries).

Which two former slaves led the movement to establish an independent black church in Philadelphia, beginning their efforts within the white-dominated St. George’s Church?

Richard Allen and Absalom Jones

The black members of St. George’s Church walked out in 1792 after:

White leaders insulted Absalom Jones

Richard Allen led the Mother Bethel congregation, which eventually became the:

African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church

What was the significance of the Mother Bethel Church’s Augustine School?

It was the first school with African-American teachers and administrators.

What concern did white Americans often express regarding the education of free African Americans?

That educated free African Americans would encourage slaves to revolt.

By the 1790s, where did the educated black elite primarily emerge?

The North and the Chesapeake

Which types of professions were prominent among the educated black elite in the North and Chesapeake during the 1790s?

Clergy, entrepreneurs, and scientists

Which of the following leaders was considered a prominent black entrepreneur in this era?

James Forten

Leaders like Richard Allen, Absalom Jones, Prince Hall, and James Forten generally believed that African Americans could achieve liberty if they:

Insisted on the principles of the Revolution

What was the belief held by leaders Jupiter Hammon and John Chavis regarding slavery?

They condemned slavery but were not activists.

As an alternative to slavery, migration from the United States was suggested so that African Americans could:

Establish a society free from white prejudices.

What city was established in Sierra Leone in 1787 as a refuge for former slaves?

Freetown

The American Colonization Society, organized by influential white Americans in 1816, was convinced of what central idea?

That free black people had no place in the United States

Who was a major black advocate of migration to Africa and led the first party of African Americans to the colony of Liberia in 1820?

Daniel Coker

Who was the earlier slave rebel who led enslaved black people to freedom in Saint Domingue (Haiti) in a struggle lasting from 1791 to 1804?

Toussaint Louverture

In the early 1790s, black unrest and plots were detected in which state?

Virginia

The slave insurrection plot in Virginia in August 1800 was prepared by which literate and acculturated blacksmith?

Gabriel

What was the immediate result of Gabriel's planned insurrection?

It was betrayed by two slaves, leading to Gabriel's capture and hanging, along with 26 others.

The Louisiana Rebellion of January 1811 was initiated by Deslondes, who was identified as a:

Haitian and slave driver.

Following the major slave uprisings and plots (like Gabriel's and the Louisiana Rebellion), white southerners reacted by:

Rejecting Enlightenment values and outlawing assemblies of slaves and free black people.

The War of 1812 took place during a larger military and economic struggle between Britain and France for mastery of the Atlantic world that spanned which period?

1793 to 1815

The War of 1812 was regarded by Americans as:

A second war for independence

Which political development immediately following the American Revolution eliminated armed black participation in state militias (with the exception of North Carolina)?

The Militia Act of 1792

Why did Southern states generally refuse to enlist black men at the beginning of the War of 1812?

They feared black men would use guns to aid slave revolts.

In 1813, the British actively sought to recruit enslaved African Americans by doing what?

Invading the Chesapeake and offering freedom for their service.

The British threat to which two cities ultimately led to active black involvement on the American side in the War of 1812?

Philadelphia and New York

When the New York legislature authorized black regiments during the War of 1812, what incentive did they offer to motivate slave enlistment?

Compensation for the masters who agreed to free them.

The Black Brigade, which mobilized to defend American cities during the War of 1812, was notably led by which three prominent African Americans?

James Forten, Richard Allen, and Absalom Jones

African Americans notably fought on the American side in which two important battles of the War of 1812?

Battle of Put-in-Bay on Lake Erie and Battle of New Orleans

Following 1815, the political climate in the United States was marked by the revival of:

Sectionalism

What critical event occurred in 1819 that intensified sectional tensions and threatened the political balance between North and South?

The application of the slaveholding Missouri Territory for statehood.

Northerners largely objected to Missouri entering the Union as a slave state because they feared it would:

Destroy the political balance between the sections.

Who was the political leader who directed the compromise that resolved the Missouri crisis?

Henry Clay of Kentucky

As part of the Missouri Compromise of 1820, Maine was admitted to the Union as a:

Free state

What was the key geographical limit on slavery established by the Missouri Compromise?

Slavery was banned north of the 36°30’ line of latitude.