Slavery In The United States

In this essay, the author

• Explains the purpose of the research paper, which will examine the development of slavery in the united states, starting from the 17th century by the colonists of virginia.
• Explains that slavery in america began when european settlers of north america turned to african slaves as an inexpensive, more abundant source for labor than the indentured servants.
• Explains that slaves were treated as savages even before they were brought to america. during the slave trade, people were crowded together and men were chained in pairs.
• Explains that between one and two million slaves had died before reaching the new world over the centuries. those that made it to america were devastated of their lives in africa and encountered new lives as slave
• Describes how eli whitney invented the cotton gin, which could clean fifty pounds of cotton seeds in the time it took to clean one pound by hand.
• Explains that slavery was never widespread in the north. the northern states had all abolished slavery between 1777 and 1804, before congress had even banned the importation of slaves.
• Explains that field slaves worked from sunrise to sunset, and worked eighteen hours a day during harvest. pregnant women worked in the field with the child on their back.
• Explains that house slaves had better living conditions than field workers. they cleaned, cooked, served meals, and took care of the owner’s children.
• Explains that a time for great change in american life came in the first half of the 19th century. the movement to end slavery came to overshadow all others.
• Explains that the abolitionist movement gained strength and public attention during the 1830s to 1860s with the help of free blacks like frederick douglass and white supporters like william lloyd garrison.
• Explains how abolitionists were attacked, burned down, and destroyed as the movement grew. the underground railroad helped runaway slaves escape to the north from the south.
• Explains that sectional differences over slavery had divided the country, but the number of slave states and free states was balanced at eleven each, giving neither north nor south a controlling majority in the senate.
• Describes how the kansas-nebraska act opened kansas and nebraska to settlement under the banner of popular sovereignty, or rule by the people. john brown was an antislavery zealot who met violence with violence.
• Explains that dred scott was a slave in the free territory of wisconsin who tried to win his freedom legally rather than run away.
• Describes how the dred scott decision convinced abolitionists like john brown that slavery could never be terminated by legal means.
• Explains that the civil war began on april 12, 1861 when southern troops opened fire on fort sumter, a federal fort in charleston harbor.
• Explains that lincoln issued his emancipation proclamation on january 1st, 1863, and declared "all persons held as slaves within any state or designated part of a state shall be in rebellion against the united states".
• Explains that lincoln and other republicans set their focus on passing a constitutional amendment to rid slavery once and for all.
• Explains that the fourteenth amendment conferred citizenship to all persons born or naturalized in the united states, including equal civil and legal rights to the former slaves who had recently been freed. the fifty-ninth amendment granted african men the right to vote.
• Concludes that slavery began in the america in 1916 and was abolished in 1865. slaves helped shape the economic foundations of a new nation.
• Cites pbs' "the african slave trade and the middle passage" and oracle foundation's "emancipation proclamation (1863).
• Describes lincoln's emancipation proclamation. council on foreign relations, 1 jan. 1863.