History of the US - The Peculiar Institution and the Civil War

“holy cause“

rationalization of slavery, use of Christianity to justify the institution

15^th -16^th century

 slave trade was not profitable in Europe

1621

Dutch West India Company was established

1672

Royal African Company was chartered (British)

European goods to Africa

 exchange of goods and commodities (cotton textiles, ivory, beads, guns, gunpowder, whiskey, rum, brandy, and food…etc.) for slaves

the price of the slaves depended on factors such as…

• gender

• age

• physical characteristics

the average price for a young and healthy slave

£20 sterling (mid. 18th century)

the “Middle Passage”

voyage to the New World across the Atlantic Ocean + part of the triangle trade

1764 | James Otis

The Rights of the British Colonies —> states the inalienable rights and freedom of Africans

Crispus Attucks

a 47-year-old fugitive slave who ran away from his Framingham master —> was killed during the resistance to British presence = first person killed in the American Revolution (martyrdom)

1774 | Thomas Jefferson

A Summary View of the Rights of British America —> abolition of slavery became an important objective

shifts on the issue of slavery

• the institution of slavery was accepted

• slavery inconsistent with the struggle for independence and freedom

• Britain was responsible for the continuation of slavery

Declaration of Independence

Thomas Jefferson included a passage that addressed the issue of slavery

1775, September – 1776, January

debate over the enlistment of Blacks

colonies adopting more liberalized policy towards the Black population

• both slaves and free men were enlisted

• in some cases, Blacks were substituted for whites who had been drafted

• New York offered freedom to all slaves who served in the army for 3 years, and their owners were compensated

5,000

….Blacks fought for independence in the Revolutionary War —> almost in every military action

1775 | Quakers

first manumission established

plantation system established in…

the agricultural South

industrial revolution

large-scale production ensured by the system of slavery

Cotton Kingdom

a vast expanse of cotton plantations in the states of the Deep South

…%  of the slaves worked on plantations with more than 50 slaves

25

slave codes

a system of laws in the South to control the slave population

contents of slave codes

• slaves were property, not people

• laws to protect ownership of the slaves

• laws to protect whites against the Black population

punishment for minor crimes

whipping

punishment for capital crimes

branding, imprisonment, and even death

slave patrols

free white men whose task was to apprehend and return fugitive slaves

master/planters

owners of the plantation

overseer

supervised the work of the slaves

driver

slaves who assisted the owner or overseer on the plantation, regarded as traitor by the other slaves

slaves

men, women, and children house servants: domestic work, personal servant, cooked, drove carriages, worked in the garden or yard

field hands

slaves who worked in the fields, manual labor, principal group of slaves

fugitive slaves

runaway slaves

slave rebellions

violence towards slave masters

1800, August 30

1,000 slaves marched on the city of Richmond led by Gabriel Prosser (exacuted later with 35 other slaves)

1822

insurrection plotted in Charleston S.C by former slave Denmark Vesey

1860

the election of Abraham Lincoln, 16th president of the USA

1861, April 12-13

Battle of Fort Sumter

contraband of war

“contraband” – term used for escaped enslaved people

relief policy

• required the aid of private organizations and citizens

• collections taken in churches (clothing and food)

May of 1862

Congress established the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands – Freedmen's Bureau

May of 1862

General David Hunter allowed Blacks to serve in the Union Army

Autumn of 1862

President Lincoln permitted the enlistment of Blacks

1849

bill introduced in Congress by Lincoln for the emancipation of slaves

1862, June 19

President Lincoln abolished slavery in the territories

1863, January 1

the Emancipation Proclamation took effect

1862, September 17

Union victory at the Battle of Antietam (stopping the forces led by General Robert E. Lee, the invasion of Maryland)

Blacks fought in

light and heavy artillery, cavalry, infantry regiments, and as engineers

1864, April 12

the massacre at Fort Pillow