(4) ANTEBELLUM AMERICA/COMING WAR

Middle Passage

• Triangular trade

  • U.S. gave sugar, tobacco, and cotton to Europe and Europe manufactured goods to Africa and West Africa gave slaves to the Caribbean, South America, and U.S.

• Jan 1st 1808 - prohibited 

Eli Whitney; cotton gin

• Eli Whitney

  • New Haven CT

  • invented cotton gin

  • saw that slave labor to produce cotton took a long time 

• Cotton gin:

  • a machine that revolutionized the production of cotton by greatly speeding up the process of removing seeds from cotton fiber

John C. Calhoun; nullification theory

• Andrew Jackson’s VP

• Resigns from VP

• Becomes a U.S. Senator from South Carolina

• Primary author of the theory of nullification 

  • believes that a state can reject a federal law 

    • Nullification is a threat to the union

• Tariffs impact South Carolina (have an export economy) and so Calhoun says its not constitutional for the Constitution to place tariffs on S.C.

  • but its “We the people” not “We the states” 

• Sovereignty - the ultimate source of authority is with the people

Abolitionists (gradual emancipation; immediate abolition)

• Vocal minority, against slavery

• James Tallmadge 

  • gradual abolition of slavery (10k slaves laready in MO)

  • Said slaves will become free at age 25

    • will make MO gradually become a free state

• Gradual Emancipation

  • slavery should be phased out over time 

  • Abraham Lincoln (initially)

• Immediate Abolition

  • William Lloyd Garrison, Frederick Douglass

Frederick Douglass; William Lloyd Garrison

• Frederick Douglass

  • abolitionist and former slave

  • "What To The Slave Is The Fourth Of July?" 

  • If you don’t have Dec. of Ind. you are like a ship lost at sea

  • Supports Declaration “saving principles”

  • “ringbolt of your nation’s destiny”

• William Lloyd Garrison

  • Boston, MA

  • Radical abolitionist

  • Mentor to Frederick Douglass

  • Thinks Constitution is a pro-slavery document but advocates for the Declaration of Independence

  • Covenant with death “No Union w/ Slaveholders”

  • Advocates disunion + secession of the South 

  • Believes you should not hold office or vote since it would put you in the system and you’d be part of the problem

  • 1831 - The Liberator

    • North is complicit to slavery

    • Declaration is not being followed

Sojourner Truth; Harriet Beecher Stowe

• Sojourner Truth

  • African American Woman 

  • Born into slavery, emancipated 

  • becomes a leading spokesperson for the abolition of slavery + women’s suffrage 

  • “Ain’t I a Woman?” Is the slave a man?

• Harriet Beecher Stowe

  • “Uncle Tom’s Cabin”

  • 1st time ever people would see/hear the horror of slavery 

  • gave a voice to slaves: very powerful

Missouri Compromise of 1820

• Missouri Compromise 

  • Decision about slavery is made in the Louisiana Purchase territory

  • Missouri wants to become a slave state but many northerners don’t want that to happen

  • Compromise:

    • Missouri enters as a slave state

    • The state of Maine will enter as a free state

      • Every state gets 2 Senators, this makes the balance of power even in the senate

    • 36 30 

      • any state formed north of 36 30 is free, any state south is a slave state 

Compromise of 1850; Fugitive Slave Act

• set of laws aimed at resolving the issue of slavery between free and slave states in newly acquired territories 

  • North

    • 1) California enters as a free state

      • economic reason, w/ the gold rush, nobody could compete w/ slave labor 

    • 2) Washington D.C., slave trade is abolished, not slavery itslef though

  • South

    • 1) Utah, Mexico territory - popular sovereignty decides slavery 

    • 2) Fugitive Slave Act

      • makes it a federal crime for anyone to help/assist fugitive slaves, even if you’re a free state

      • Makes the slavery issue become nationalized + creates a moral issue

      • angered abolitionists 

Dred Scott

• Dred Scott

  • Slave that traveled in free territories with his owner

  • His owner dies, does that make him free?

  • Dred Scott vs. Sanford

    • Taney - tries to settle slavery question 

    • “free or enslaved, blacks have no rights that the whit eman is bound to respect”

    • “the men who framed this declaration… they knew that it would not in any part of the civilized world be supposed to embrace the negro race”

    • 5th amendment - gov cant take away life, liberty, or property w/o due process of law, Taney argues this by saying slaves are property 

    • ​​Ruled that slaves were not considered U.S. citizens

John Brown; Harpers Ferry

• John Brown

  • Harper’s Ferry

    • made it hard for Lincoln to get elected in 1860 bc the reputation of this made it seem like all abolitionists/republicans were crazy 

    • Raid on federal armory 

    • Inspires slave rebellion

    • Moment he breaks in, Virginia militia comes

    • Brown is arrested

    • Found guilty and sentenced to death 

      • becomes a martyr for abolitionists and his effect strikes fear in the South 

      • South says every abolitionist is like John Brown 

Kansas-Nebraska Act; popular sovereignty

• Stephen Douglass 

  • Author of KS-NB Act 

  • Wanted a railroad from Chicago to the Pacific  

  • U.S. Senator + Democratic party 

• Take the Lousiana Territory and split it into Nebraska and Kansas 

• Popular sovereignty 

  • let the people decide slavery, put into both territories 

    • takes it out of the hands of Congress

• Repealed the Missouri Compromise 

• Bleeding Kansas

  • Rush of people (pro-slavery and anti-slavery) moving in which led to a lot of violence 

  • Charles Sumner speaks out and Preston Brooks beats him nearly to death 

Abraham Lincoln

• Republican Party 

  • forms as a response to KN act 

  • Against the extension of slavery into federal territory 

• Lincoln Reaction 

  • Very negative

  • Believes in self-gov. 

  • Thinks not involving the consent of black people (who are men) is not popular sovereignty, it’s despotism