Decline of Slavery in Washington D.C.

1191 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Questions bout underground railroad

Throughout the 18th and 19th century, slavery was an important aspect of daily life in America. In the South, slaves were used to work in the fields to grow and harvest raw materials such as cotton, sugar, and tobacco. These materials, especially cotton, were used in Northern factories to create manufactured goods, for example clothing. By the end of the 19th century abolitionists started speaking out against slavery, which had become a huge topic of discussion in Washington D.C., the capitol of America. Acts were being passed in Congress to try to eradicate slavery in America, and while they were eventually successful, it took a very long time. A couple of influential acts that were passed are The Slavery Code of District of Columbia, An Act for the Release of Certain Persons Held to Service or Labor in the District of Columbia, and An Act to Suppress the Slave Trade in the District of Columbia. With the approvals of these acts and passage time, the amount of slavery slowly decreased in the District of Columbia and the surrounding regions.
“Slavery existed in the nation’s capital from the very beginning of the city’s history in 1790 when Congress created the federal territory from land that was formerly held by Virginia and Maryland [which were slave states].” It was an accepted part of the life, but with each new year, people were getting more restless and started movements to abolish it in the nation. For instance, there was the formation of the Underground Railroad, which was a “secret organization that helped slaves from the South escape from slavery by providing shelter, transportation, forged documents, and other materials. It was illegal to do so, but it existed everywhere that there was slavery.” Members of the Under...

... middle of paper ...

...ld to Service or Labor in the District of Columbia." Featured Documents. Accessed November 10, 2013. http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/featured_documents/dc_emancipation_act/transcription.html.

Russel, Hillary. "Underground Railroad Activists in Washington D.C." Washington History 13, no. 2: 29-49. Accessed October 24, 2013. http://www.jstor.org/stable/40073373?seq=2&Search=yes&searchText=washington&searchText=d.c.&searchText=slavery&list=hide&searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoBasicResults%3Fhp%3D25%26la%3D%26wc%3Don%26fc%3Doff%26acc%3Don%26acc%3Don%26bk%3Doff%26pm%3Doff%26jo%3Doff%26ar%3Doff%26re%3Doff%26ms%3Doff%26gw%3Djtx%26Query%3Dslavery%2Bin%2Bwashington%2Bd.c.%26sbq%3Dslavery%2Bin%2Bwashington%2Bd.c.%26prq%3Dslave%2Btrade%2Bin%2Bwashington%2Bd.c.%26mxpg%3D722%26aori%3Da%26vf%3Djo&prevSearch=&item=3&ttl=18029&returnArticleService=showFullText&resultsServiceName=null.

Show More
Related

  • Slavery and Freedom: The American Paradox by Edmund Morgan

    1667 Words  | 4 Pages

    The use of labor came in two forms; indenture servitude and Slavery used on plantations in the south particularly in Virginia. The southern colonies such as Virginia were based on a plantation economy due to factors such as fertile soil and arable land that can be used to grow important crops, the plantations in the south demanded rigorous amounts of labor and required large amounts of time, the plantation owners had to employ laborers in order to grow crops and sell them to make a profit. Labor had become needed on the plantation system and in order to extract cheap labor slaves were brought to the south in order to work on the plantations. The shift from indentured servitude to slavery was an important time as well as the factors that contributed to that shift, this shift affected the future generations of African American descent. The history of colonial settlements involved altercations and many compromises, such as Bacons Rebellion, and slavery one of the most debated topics in the history of the United States of America. The different problems that occurred in the past has molded into what is the United States of America, the reflection in the past provides the vast amount of effort made by the settlers to make a place that was worth living on and worth exploring.

    Read More

  • 18th Century Slavery Dbq

    942 Words  | 2 Pages

    During the 17th and early 18th century, slavery in the United States grew from being a small addition to the labor force to a huge institution that would persist for more than a century. Much of the development of slavery occurred in the Middle and Southern colonies, especially Virginia. Without the events that occurred and the policies established in Virginia during this time period, slavery would never have become what it did today. The decrease in indentured labor coming from England led to an increase in slave labor in the colonies, and the introductions of the concepts of hereditary slavery and chattel slavery transformed slavery into the binding institution it became in the 18th century.

    Read More

  • Manifest Destiny: The Abolitionist Movement

    747 Words  | 2 Pages

    Abolitionists thoughts became progressively conspicuous in Northern places of worship and politics in the 1830’s which contributed to the territorial ill will amongst the North and South, essentially dividing the nation in two. The southern economy grew increasingly dependent on “king cotton” and the system of slaves that sustained it.

    Read More

  • Slavery in America between 1800 and 1860

    724 Words  | 2 Pages

    Between 1800 and 1860 slavery in the American South had become a ‘peculiar institution’ during these times. Although it may have seemed that the worst was over when it came to slavery, it had just begun. The time gap within 1800 and 1860 had slavery at an all time high from what it looks like. As soon as the cotton production had become a long staple trade source it gave more reason for slavery to exist. Varieties of slavery were instituted as well, especially once international slave trading was banned in America after 1808, they had to think of a way to keep it going – which they did. Nonetheless, slavery in the American South had never declined; it may have just come to a halt for a long while, but during this time between 1800 and 1860, it shows it could have been at an all time high.

    Read More

  • The Growing Opposition to Slavery

    1222 Words  | 3 Pages

    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 began. In 1776, Delaware became the first state to prohibit the importation of African slaves. One year later, in 1777, Vermont became the first colony to abolish slavery (within Vermont’s boundaries) by state constitution.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of John Blackmon's Slavery By Another Name

    1272 Words  | 3 Pages

    In Blackmon 's book "Slavery by Another Name," he argues the existence of slavery after it was outlawed in 1865. This continued presence of slavery contributes to the existing racial problems faced in this day and age. On April 8, 1865, the Thirteenth Amendment was passed, by Congress and The House, outlawing slavery. Although this amendment was passed as Blackmon points out there were ways around this amendment. Blackmon addresses four of the many ways that people would enslave blacks after the amendment was passed, those being convict leasing, sharecropping, chain gangs and peonage. This essay will go into depth on these four points and will tell a personal critic on Blackmon 's work.

    Read More

  • Harriet Tubman's Life and Accomplishments

    917 Words  | 2 Pages

    Biography Underground Railroad Kate Clifford Larson. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Mar. 2014. Ripley, C. Peter et al., eds., The Black Abolitionist Papers, vol. 5, The United States, 1859-1865

    Read More

  • How Slavery Affected Colonial America

    998 Words  | 2 Pages

    Slavery was a practice in many countries in the 17th and 18th centuries, but its effects in human history was unique to the United States. Many factors played a part in the existence of slavery in colonial America; the most noticeable was the effect that it had on the personal and financial growth of the people and the nation. Capitalism, individualism and racism were the utmost noticeable factors during this most controversial period in American history. Other factors, although less discussed throughout history, also contributed to the economic rise of early American economy, such as, plantationism and urbanization. Individually, these factors led to an enormous economic growth for the early American colonies, but collectively, it left a social gap that we are still trying to bridge today.

    Read More

  • The River Flows On: Black Resistance, Culture, and Identity Formation in Early America

    929 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution officially prohibited slavery and all its forms on the 6th December 1865. The United States will soon mark 150 years since the abolishment of its “peculiar institution”, and yet, historians are still struggling to establish a collective version of the events that led to its development and continued significance throughout the 18th and 19th centuries . As a result of this, the study of slavery has produced one of the richest and most varied historiographies in all of American history. Walter Rucker’s The River Flows On: Black Resistance, Culture, and Identity Formation in Early America’s unique contribution to this existing literature, in my opinion, means it should be widely read by scholars and students alike.

    Read More

  • Slavery In Colonial America Essay

    791 Words  | 2 Pages

    Before the American Revolution, slavery existed in every one of the colonies. But by the last quarter of the 18th century, slavery was eventually abandoned in the North mainly because it was not as profitable as it was to the South (where it was becoming even more prevalent). Slavery was an extremely important element in America's economy because of the expanding tobacco and cotton plantations in the Southern states that were in need of more and more cheap labor. At one point America was a land of 113, 000 slaveholders controlling twenty million slaves.

    Read More

  • Slavery During the 1800s

    481 Words  | 1 Pages

    Slavery in the eighteenth century was worst for African Americans. Observers of slaves suggested that slave characteristics like: clumsiness, untidiness, littleness, destructiveness, and inability to learn the white people were “better.” Despite white society's belief that slaves were nothing more than laborers when in fact they were a part of an elaborate and well defined social structure that gave them identity and sustained them in their silent protest.

    Read More

  • the development of slavery in America

    1202 Words  | 3 Pages

    Slavery was the main resource used in the Chesapeake tobacco plantations. The conditions in the Chesapeake region were difficult, which lead to malnutrition, disease, and even death. Slaves were a cheap and an abundant resource, which could be easily replaced at any time. The Chesapeake region’s tobacco industries grew and flourished on the intolerable and inhumane acts of slavery.

    Read More

  • The Impact of the Fugitive Slave Law on Abolitionism

    1112 Words  | 3 Pages

    One of the larger abolitionist groups, The American Anti-Slavery Society, opposed the Acts of 1793, claiming them to be unconstitutional. They, like many, believed that each state had the right to legislate in regards to its policies on abolition and aimed to convince the South that slaveholding was a heinous crime in the sight of God. The Society...

    Read More

  • How Revolutionary Was The American Revolution?

    886 Words  | 2 Pages

    The American Revolution was a “light at the end of the tunnel” for slaves, or at least some. African Americans played a huge part in the war for both sides. Lord Dunmore, a governor of Virginia, promised freedom to any slave that enlisted into the British army. Colonists’ previously denied enlistment to African American’s because of the response of the South, but hesitantly changed their minds in fear of slaves rebelling against them. The north had become to despise slavery and wanted it gone. On the contrary, the booming cash crops of the south were making huge profits for landowners, making slavery widely popular. After the war, slaves began to petition the government for their freedom using the ideas of the Declaration of Independence,” including the idea of natural rights and the notion that government rested on the consent of the governed.” (Keene 122). The north began to fr...

    Read More

  • Slavery and Abolition

    1581 Words  | 4 Pages

    Knowles, H. J. (2007). The Constitution and Slavery: A Special Relationship. Slavery & Abolition, 28(3), 309-328. doi:10.1080/01440390701685514

    Read More

More about Decline of Slavery in Washington D.C.

Open Document