Chapter 4 Notes: 1850-1865: Slavery and Civil War

Slavery was present in all of England’s North American colonies and the Caribbean during the colonial era.
The demand for cotton in British and New England textile mills increased cotton's profitability after the invention of Eli Whitney’s cotton gin in 1793.
By 1830, cotton became the dominant crop, with plantations expanding from South Carolina to Texas.
The South's economy became deeply entangled with slavery, contrasting with the North's transformation through commerce and free-labor agriculture.

Enslaved individuals were denied basic humanity and education to prevent unrest.
Most slaves worked as field hands, while some were household servants.
Slave owners encouraged reproduction with little regard for marriage or family ties.
Slave families and communities preserved their culture through religion, songs, and folk tales with allusions to freedom.
Resistance included subtle acts like breaking tools and slowing work, as well as daring escapes via the Underground Railroad.
Open rebellions were infrequent but significant, such as those led by Denmark Vesey in 1822 and Nat Turner in 1831.

Slavery caused legal and political problems, particularly with the admission of new states.
The Missouri Compromise in 1820 admitted Missouri as a slave state while prohibiting slavery in the Louisiana Purchase north of 36°30′.
Slavery increasingly dominated national politics, with events like the gag rule in 1836 and debates over the admission of Texas.
The Compromise of 1850 aimed to defuse the controversy by admitting California as a free state and implementing the Fugitive Slave Law.

The American Colonization Society (ACS) was founded in 1816 to repatriate freed slaves to Africa, leading to the creation of Liberia.
Northern tolerance of slavery waned as it spread, threatening competition with free agriculture.
Antislavery advocates initially favored gradual emancipation, but the 1830s brought demands for immediate abolition, led by figures like William Lloyd Garrison.
Frederick Douglass and other African Americans became influential leaders, advocating for various strategies from "moral suasion" to militant resistance.
Women like the Grimké sisters and Elizabeth Cady Stanton combined antislavery efforts with advocacy for women’s rights.

Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1852) galvanized antislavery sentiments in the North.
The Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854) adopted “popular sovereignty,” leading to violence in “Bleeding Kansas.”
The Republican Party, opposed to slavery expansion, formed in 1854.
The Dred Scott decision (1857) declared slaves were not citizens and deemed the Missouri Compromise unconstitutional.
John Brown’s raid on Harpers Ferry (1859) aimed to trigger a slave uprising.
Abraham Lincoln's election in 1860 led to South Carolina's secession and the formation of the Confederate States of America.
The Civil War began with the attack on Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861.

The North had advantages in technology, transportation, finance, and population.
Early Union defeats led to a stalemate in the East, while Union forces gained key victories in the West.
The Battle of Gettysburg (July 1863) marked the turning point of the war.
Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address (November 1863) honored those who died for the nation’s survival.
Lee surrendered to Grant at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865.
Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth on April 14, 1865.

Lincoln’s initial aim was to save the Union, but emancipation gradually became a war aim.
The Emancipation Proclamation (1862) freed slaves in Confederate-held areas.
African Americans were welcomed into the military, serving in segregated units.

The Thirteenth Amendment (1865) ended slavery.
Southern legislatures enacted “Black Codes” restricting freedmen’s rights.
Republicans in Congress extended the Freedmen’s Bureau, passed a Civil Rights Act, and adopted the Fourteenth Amendment (1868).
Radical Reconstruction involved military rule in the South and efforts to guarantee freedmen’s rights.
The Fifteenth Amendment (1870) forbade denying voting rights based on race.
The Ku Klux Klan and other groups terrorized black voters and Republicans.
The end of Reconstruction in 1877 led to the resurgence of white supremacy and the reversal of many gains.