AFAM Chapter 3-4

Negro Election Day

An annual New England celebration in which black communities elected their own kings and governors in elaborate ceremonies that included royal processions, political parades, and inaugural parties

Conjure

to summon or bring into being as if by magic

Gullah

African American dialect that blended English with Yoruba, Ibo, and Hausa

Great Awakening

Religious revival in the American colonies of the eighteenth century during which a number of new Protestant churches were established.

New Lights

Ministers who took part in the revivalist, emotive religious tradition pioneered by George Whitefield during the Great Awakening.

Freedom Suits

legal actions by which slaves sought to achieve freedom in British and American courts

Somerset Case

A slave named James Somerset was purchased in Virginia, then taken to London by his master. In London, he tried to escape. Judge Mansfield ruled that a slave who escaped in England couldn't be extradited to the colonies for trial.

Habeas Corpus

a writ requiring a person under arrest to be brought before a judge or into court, especially to secure the person's release unless lawful grounds are shown for their detention.

Loyalists

American colonists who remained loyal to Britain and opposed the war for independence

Lord Dunmore's Proclamation

An offer by the British governor and military commander in Virginia for freedom to any slave who escaped to his lines and bore arms for the king.

Southern Strategy

British sought to benefit from greater loyalist/tory support in the South.

Northwest Ordinance of 1787

Created the Northwest Territory (area north of the Ohio River and west of Pennsylvania), established conditions for self-government and statehood, included a Bill of Rights, and permanently prohibited slavery

Fugitive slave clause

Allowed runaway slaves or free blacks in the North to be captured and returned to the South, part of the Compromise of 1850

Three-Fifths Compromise

Agreement that each slave counted as three-fifths of a person in determining representation in the House for representation and taxation purposes (negated by the 13th amendment)

Louisiana Purchase

1803 purchase of the Louisiana territory from France. Made by Jefferson, this doubled the size of the US.

Hiring out

the practice of owners contracting out their slaves to work for other employers

Living out

The practice of allowing slaves who were hired out in urban areas to keep part of their wages to pay for their rented lodgings.

Black Laws

requiring all free blacks to supply legal proof of their free status and post a $500 bond to guarantee their good behavior

Naturalization Act of 1790

restricted citizenship to "any alien, being a free white person" who had been in the U.S. for two years. In effect, it left out indentured servants, slaves, and most women.

Mutual-aid society

An urban aid society that served members of an ethnic immigrant group, usually those from a particular province or town. The societies functioned as fraternal clubs that collected dues from members in order to pay support in case of death or disability.

Bobalition

A rendition of the word abolition, based on what whites heard as a mispronunciation by blacks. It was used on broadsides and in newspapers to mock free black celebrations of abolition

Colonization

One country taking over another area to be used for their benefit

In what new occupational sectors did the New England colonies start to use slave labor in the mid-eighteenth century?

urban artisans

Why did settlers expand slavery westward from the Chesapeake into the Virginia Piedmont?

Decades of tobacco production exhausted the soil in the tidewater region.

Why was Phillis Wheatley freed by her owner?

Pressure from British antislavery activists who admired her poetry

Why did African Americans support protests against Great Britain even though most were unaffected by British taxes?

Some patriots compared Britain's new policies as a struggle for freedom over slavery.

How did black northerners help the patriot cause during the Revolution?

Fugitive slaves fought alongside patriot forces.

Approximately how many African Americans fought alongside the American forces during the Revolution?

5,000

Approximately how many African Americans served with the British during the American Revolution?

15,000

Who was the first person killed by British soldiers at what became known as the Boston Massacre?

Crispus Attucks

Why did black northerners rally against the British during the American Revolution?

To encourage the white colonists to reject slavery

Why did many colonists resist the enlistment of black soldiers in the Continental Army during the American Revolution?

Slaveholding colonists feared arming African Americans would lead to slave insurrections.

What did British forces offer to African Americans to convince them to join their side in the Revolution?

Freedom to any slave who served British forces

Why did General George Washington reverse his decision to ban black enlistment in the Continental Army?

African Americans enlisted in British forces in exchange for the promise of freedom.

Approximately how many southern slaves escaped during the American Revolution?

5000-10,000

What happened to most black patriots who served among American forces in the Revolution?

They were not subject to re-enslavement but faced discrimination.

How did most northern states abolish slavery?

Slavery was gradually abolished by the 1820s

What could free African Americans in the North do after the Revolution that they could not do while enslaved?

Form autonomous families and communities

How did Thomas Jefferson reply to Benjamin Banneker's critique of slavery in Notes on the State of Virginia (1785)?

He argued that blacks were naturally inferior to whites.

Why did African Americans believe slavery might collapse as a result of the American Revolution?

Tobacco prices collapsed in the late eighteenth century.

Why did slavery quickly rebound in Georgia and South Carolina after the Revolutionary War?

Planters developed lucrative cash crops.

In one way, the Northwest Ordinance limited the expansion of slavery because it

banned slavery northwest of the Ohio River.

How did the Northwest Ordinance allow slavery to expand?

It lent tacit approval to slavery south of the Ohio River.

The Constitution's framers leave the question of slavery to the jurisdiction of the state legislatures because they

were willing to compromise in order to form a federal union.

How did the Fugitive Slave Act of 1793 make it more difficult for slaves to escape?

all states were forbidden to shelter or emancipate fugitive slaves.

Why did slave owners want slaves counted in their state's population?

Slaves were then counted towards the state's federal representation.

Why did southern congressional representation increase over the antebellum period?

Slave populations grew in the South and were counted towards each state's population

What crops transformed the South's economy and increased the use of slave labor after 1790?

Sugar and cotton

What was the most widely cultivated slave-grown crop?

cotton

What was the impact of the increase in cotton production from 6.5 million pounds annually in 1793 to 100 million pounds by 1815?

Slave owners expanded slavery further south and west.

Why did Napoleon sell Louisiana to the United States?

France was in tremendous debt as a result of the French Revolution.

Why did fugitive slaves migrate to Baltimore, Maryland?

The city's large free black population sheltered runaways.

How did slaves take advantage of the hiring-out system?

They could earn money to purchase their freedom.

Who led a slave rebellion in Richmond, Virginia, in the summer of 1800?

Prosser's Gabriel

Why did Virginia authorities stop executing slaves who participated in Gabriel's rebellion?

A state law required Virginia to compensate the owners of executed slaves.

What is one way Virginia responded to Gabriel's rebellion?

The General Assembly outlawed slave gatherings.

Why did it become increasingly difficult to pass from slavery to freedom in Virginia?

Emancipated slaves were required to leave the state, which often meant leaving their families.

What laws did Ohio pass in order to prevent attracting fugitive slaves?

Black laws/black codes

What law limited black freedom by placing residence and racial requirements for potential citizens?

Naturalization Act of 1790

Why did many slaves in the North not attain freedom even after the passage of emancipation laws?

Many slave owners in the North refused to abide by the new laws

Why did the slave population in the North drop from 50,000 in 1770 to approximately 1,000 by 1840?

Gradual Emancipation

Where did most free blacks live in the new Republic?

The Chesapeake

Why did many African Americans join mutual aid societies in the new Republic?

Members were provided benefits such as insurance and pensions

During the antebellum period, why did black congregants often leave white churches and form their own?

They encountered prejudice and felt unwelcome in predominately White churches.