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Abolitionists and Civil Rights
Abolitionist movement of slavery in america pre 1830
Abolitionist movement of slavery in america pre 1830
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The Growing Opposition to Slavery 1776-1852 Many Americans’ eyes were opened in 1776, when members of the Continental Congress drafted, signed, and published the famous document “The Declaration of Independence” in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. By declaring their independence, many of the colonists believed that slaves should have the same rights as the whites had. Abolition groups were formed, and the fight to end slavery begins. In 1776, Delaware becomes the first state to prohibit the importation of African slaves. One year later, in 1777, Vermont becomes the first colony to abolish slavery (within Vermont’s boundaries) by state constitution. Ten years later, in 1787, slavery was prohibited in the Northwest Territory by the Northwest Ordinance. The Northwest Territory was the first organized territory of the United States. The states pertaining to the Northwest Territory: Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. The abolition of slavery in the Northwest Territory led to thought held by pro-slavery southerners that the North had the edge in the Senate and The House of representatives. Therefore, in 1787, two delegates by the names of Roger Sherman and James Wilson introduced the Three Fifths compromise in the Philadelphia Convention. The Three Fifths compromise states that a slave be counted as three-fifths of a person. Therefore, the population of the southern states equaled the population of the northern states. Now that the populations were balanced, the south and the north sent the same amount of representatives to The House of Representatives. Pro-slavery southerners felt as if the north still had an advantage, but it was actually the south that had the advantage in the Senate and The House of Rep... ... middle of paper ... ...if they slave were sent back into slavery. The Fugitive Slave law of 1850 was enforced greatly. Harriet Beecher Stowe publishes “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” in 1852. This anti-slavery book was the most popular book of the 19th century, and the 2nd most sold book in the century, following only the Bible. It was said that this novel “led to the civil war”, or “the straw that broke the camel’s back”. After one year, 300,000 copies were sold in the U.S., and over 1 million were sold in Britain. The abolition movement continued to grow, choking the south until they couldn’t breathe. Radical abolitionists begin to lead slave revolts. Slave’s rebel and escape towards the north. The tension between the north and the south intensifies. The civil war erupts across the nation. The north wins, and President Lincoln issues The Emancipation Proclamation. The slaves are finally free.
One agreement the Constitution consisted of was the three-fifths Compromise. Foner states that the Constitution did not allow the national government to meddle with slavery in the states. This meant that three out of every five slaves could be counted as part of the state 's population. The powerpoint mentions that this raised their representation in the House of Representatives. The congress could not mess with the slave trade until
Since the beginning of their new nation, the United States has had many differences between the Northern and Southern states. During the Constitutional Convention they disagreed on how to determine their representation in the house based on population; the Southerners wanted to count their slaves and the Northerners did not, which lead to the three-fifths compromise. Later in the Convention there were concessions given to the South, which left the Northerners feeling uneasy, such as: a guarantee that the slave trade would not be interfered with by Congress until 1808 and slave owners were given the right to recover refugee slaves from anywhere in the United States. While many Northern delegates were disappointed with the rights given to the South, they felt it was necessary for the good of the Nation. This was necessary to form a strong central government and union between the states.
In the early 1800’s slavery was a very big issue. Southern farmers and plantation owners believed it was their right to own slaves. Northern abolitionists felt that slavery should have been illegal everywhere. The North and South fought over if and where slavery should be legal. A man named James Tallmadge proposed an amendment that would have ended slavery. This bill was opposed by the south and ultimately failed. Then a man by the name of John Taylor tried to pass a similar bill to end slavery as a whole only to meet the same result. Both bills failed and with the north and south at each others throats, it looked as if it was going to separate the nation and cause a war between the North and South. But then a senator by the name of Henry Clay thought of an idea. By taking advantage of his position he influenced the house to accept a compromise created by Jesse B. Thomas between what the North and South wanted. This was called the Missouri Compromise. During the late year of 1819, Missouri wanted to be recognized as a state. This however scared the north as they wanted to be a slave state. Missouri becoming a slave state would have disrupted the balance and caused the number of slaves state to be higher than that of the free states. The north feared this because that meant that slaves states would be dominant over free states and give the south the advantage in congress. With the North being represented by senator Rufus King and the South represented by William Pinkney, congress debated from December 1819 to March 1820. Luckily around the same time that Missouri applied for statehood, so did Maine. The north saw this opportunity and quickly used it to keep the balance and please the war ready south. It was implemented in 1...
The south and the north made numerous compromises to create a great nation. The first indirect compromise was when the constitution didn’t mention slavery in the constitution, they left that for the states to deal with. After years after when the congress decide to stop the slave trade in 1808, they gave the south time to adjust to this but they new that by the time the slave trade died line was over the slave would have reproduces and they would have more slaves. Third compromise gave the south more power. They had notice that they had less seats in the house of representative. States with the most slaves, for instance Virginia and Maryland, were get out number in the house of representative, so the compromised to have the slave counted as part of the population. They got three counts for every five slaves. This helped balance the house of representative.
Uncle Tom’s cabin was written by Harriet Beecher Stowe in 1852. It is an anti-slavery book that shows the reader the many sufferings endured by slaves in the period before the civil war. To the people of the modern day generation, these acts of slavery are unbelievable but the reader has to realize the fact that in those years, people suffered, to the point where they were just treated as property, where owners can do whatever they like and be disposed of or traded as if they were just material possessions and not even human. The book talks about the relationship between slaves and their masters as well as the role of women. As slavery was practiced during such times, Stowe tries to expose the difficult life people had in the past and how their faith in God helped them to endure all there hardships.
Mightier than the Sword: Uncle Tom’s Cabin and the Battle for America is written by David S. Reynolds. Reynolds is a Distinguished Professor of English and American Studies at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. In this book, the author analyzes and discusses the effect of Harriet Beecher Stowe’s “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” in society. American history has been influenced through different works. However, as Reynolds claims, Uncle Tom’s Cabin helped shape the world’s public opinion about slavery and religion in more than one way. Therefore, no book could have more powerfully molded American history than Uncle Tom’s Cabin.
The Constitutional Convention of 1787 had two issues that contended into slavery; apportion of congressional representation and how to regulate commerce. Each delegate had the best nation in mind however, when it comes to politics neither side could get what they want. The South wanted to count slave labor for the apportionment of representatives because it strengthens their wealth. But the North had a different viewpoint. Count slaves for representatives would give the South more power than they had and give them more votes. Since neither side could agree, they came to a somewhat rational compromise, three-fifths. Three-fifths persons were to add three-fifths to include to its whole number of free persons. Technically, the Constitution red...
Uncle Tom's Cabin is said to have contributed to the Civil War because it brought the evils of slavery to the attention of Americans more vividly than any other book had done before ("Harriett's Life"). The novel made people who had never really thought about slavery realize how cruel and unjust it was. It also turned many people against slavery so bad that they decided it was a good cause to fight for. For many Northerners who had no personal experience with slavery the novel personalized the evils of slavery for them ("Uncle"). It showed them how slavery actually affected the slaves and how they were treated by their owners. Some Northerners, however, criticized the book, some because they believed it exaggerated slavery's cruelty and others because they thought it downplayed slavery ("Uncle). The novel was so gruesome at times that people could not believe that what had happened in the book could really happen to slaves. The novel outraged the South and they declared the book to be criminal, slanderous and utterly false ("Africans). Obviously the south was for slavery and they did not like the book because they did not want others to know what was happening to their slaves. If people were to find out they knew people would reject to it immediately
Southerner, Charles Pinckney exclaimed, "Blacks ought to stand on an equality with whites," when debating about the issue of how to count slaves in the population. Back in 1787 when the founding fathers sat down to write the U.S Constitution, the issue of how to count slaves in the population when determining how much representation each state would have was a major problem. Naturally, the Southerners wanted more representation and, if the slaves were counted, the Southern states would have more representation than if only white people were counted. However, the North disagreed. To settle this, several delegates proposed a compromise known as the 3/5 Compromise. The 3/5 Compromise was a compromise that involved different delegates, had two
Even though other areas in the country did contain slavery, the south was the only region that maintained plantation slavery. Since the south was so involved and reliant on slavery, it was an area of the country that found its identity on more than just the Constitution and American ideals. At the Constitutional Convention of 1787, delegates, such as James Madison, noted that there was a clear division between the northern and southern states based on whom own slaves. Even in the early nineteenth century, the idea of the south existed in the minds of southerners and their identity was commonly founded in slavery. Since slavery was maintained for a great length of time and southern blood was shed to defend it, it was an identity that was passed down from generation to generation. This passing down of southern values would explain why distinct characteristics rooted in slavery continue to
In 1850, a document called the Fugitive Slave Act was passed. Primarily, this document dealt with the reclaiming of runaway slaves. This law allowed southerners to call upon the federal government to capture runaway slaves who had fled the South and may be living in the North. The Fugitive Slave Act and the laws that went with it only caused controversy in the North. This split the North and South. In reaction to this, some northern states passed laws forbidding state officials to enforce the Fugitive Slave Law, which only angered the southern states. Northerners had become aware of the hypocrisy of slavery and became resolved to end slavery. Many abolitionists started to take action to help slaves escape. This major controversy over the runaway slaves sparked the beginning of the Civil War.
Lastly an Agreement was reached between the States on the Slave trade, The north wanted the Slave Trade to be abolished, and for the central government to Regulate commerce. The South needed the slaves for their plantations and they were afraid if the government regulated commerce then they would be taxed on their exports.
was eventually won by the north, and slaves were set free in America. But people
The book Uncle Tom’s Cabin is considered a classic. Many times classic lose some of their impact as time goes by but that is not the case with Harriet Beecher Stowe’s novel. It can be argued that the story has more meaning and impact now then it even did when it was first published. It is a glimpse into a dark period of American history that people have no actual frame of reference to understand. Books like Stowe’s puts a name and an emotional context to what can otherwise be viewed through a detached lens of indifference.
Rarely is one work of literature so significant that it has the ability to change a society or cascade it down a path of ruinous conflict. Uncle Tom’s Cabin, written by Harriet Beecher Stowe, is a work that provided such a catalytic occurrence. To this day, this work of fiction brilliance is considered one of the most instrumental American works to ever be published. Selling over a million copies in its first two years and being the second bestselling book next to the Bible, what makes this accomplishment even more incredible is the fact that a woman wrote this book during a period in history when women were not granted the ability to have roles of influence or leadership, in any society1. In 1852, when the book was published, women were nonetheless confined to domestic obligations. With the help of the books, Uncle Tom’s Cabin written by Harriet Beecher Stowe and Social Analysis: Linking Faith and Justice written by Joe Holland, one is able to understand how much of an impact Stowe had on America’s history with the way people viewed slavery. The percussion of Uncle Tom’s Cabin caused much conflict between the abolitionists and the antislavery citizens. This work is important to history because it created the idea of finding a place for religion in society, shone a light on how African American slaves were treated, pushed the United States to a realization with the idea of whether slavery could continue to be a cornerstone of American life and how it contributed to the beginning of the Civil War. As Abe Lincoln said of Stowe, “the little woman who started the Great War1.”