1. WARM UP – APRIL 19
Everyone take a video questions handout and answer these review questions on the back:
What are at least three differences between rural and urban slaves?
What is an abolitionist?
What were the different methods of fighting slavery that abolitionists used? (Think about how Garrison and Douglass wanted to fight slavery vs. how Walker wanted to fight it)

2. GROUP ASSIGNMENTS – REVIEW PROJECT
1: Exploration, Colonization, and Early Settlements
2: The Road to the Revolution
3: Creating A Nation
4: The Early Presidents
5: Balancing Nationalism and Sectionalism

3. Antebellum Slavery
Antebellum – refers to the time period before the American Civil War By
2 million slaves in US (cotton gin  increase in slave population)
Most slaves were not from Africa or the Caribbean but were born into slavery
Most spoke English
Most were Christian

4. Rural Slavery Rural – countryside, away from cities
Demand for cotton  growth of slavery in south
By 1850 – 2.5 million slaves working on plantations
Men, women, and child slaves worked in fields from sunrise-sunset

5. Urban Slavery Urban – in a city
Demand for cotton  more Southern whites went into farming  Created a shortage in white workers in the textile and lumber industries
Urban slaves
~400,000 in US
Worked in mills or on ships doing unskilled labor – slaveowners collected the wages
Skilled slaves could be blacksmiths or carpenters
Generally led better lives than plantation/rural slaves because they spent more time away from owners

6. Free Blacks in the North
Many joined anti-slavery societies
Not all agreed with Garrison or Walker
Worked in low-paying jobs, usually for a white person
Drove carriage
Carried baskets/bags
Brushed shoes
Cleaned the house

7. Call for Abolition Abolition – the banning/outlawing of slavery
Abolitionist – a person who fought to end slavery
Emancipation – the freeing of slaves
Abolitionists were white and black, men and women.
Not all abolitionists agreed with the same plan to emancipation.

8. William Lloyd Garrison
Radical white abolitionist
Published the newspaper, The Liberator
Called for immediate emancipation and no payment to slaveholders
Very influenced by Christian values
1833 – American Anti-Slavery Society
White and black abolitionists
3 of 4 members were black abolitionists
Many hated Garrison
Some whites that were pro-abolition were also anti-Garrison because he attacked churches and the government for allowing slavery
Some abolitionists disliked Garrison because he supported David Walker

9. David Walker Free black abolitionist
Wrote Appeal to the Colored Citizens of the World
Encouraged blacks to fight for freedom rather than wait for slave holders to end slavery
“The man who would not fight… ought to be kept with all of his children or family, in slavery, or in chains, to be butchered by his cruel enemies!”
- David Walker

10. Frederick Douglass Former slave, abolitionist
Taught to read and write by his owner’s wife
Ran away to New York by taking the identity of a free black sailor and the official papers
Skilled speaker  Garrison invited him to speak at Anti-Slavery Society meetings
Later split with Garrison because he was too radical
Douglass believed freedom could be gained by political means instead of violence or rebelling
Established the anti-slavery newspaper called “The North Star”
Named after the star that guided runaway slaves to freedom in the north

11. Slavery and Abolition
1. Use the internet to briefly describe what each reformer listed did
2. When you are finished, turn it in the bin and work on finishing the Sectionalism Web Quest you started the day the sub was here (IF YOU NEED A COPY ITS ON THE FRONT TABLE)

12. Nat Turner’s Rebellion
Born into slavery in Virginia
Preacher – believed he had been chosen by God to lead his people out of bondage (being held against your will as a slave)
1831 – Nat Turner’s Rebellion
Turner led 80 followers to attack 4 plantations
Killed almost 60 whites in several weeks
Captured by state and federal troopers
Tried for murders and hanged (56 conspirators also executed)

13. Nat Turner’s Rebellion
Nat Turner’s Rebellion caused a debate over slavery in Virginia
Some called for emancipation to prevent future revolts
Some called for tighter restrictions on all blacks (free or slave)
Virginia governor called for a law to gradually abolish slavery in the state  the law did not pass
73-58
More representatives from the eastern slave-holding part of the state compare to those from the western non-slave-holding areas

14. Backlash from Revolts
White southerners feared more revolts  pushed for tighter restrictions on blacks
Slave Codes or Black Codes were passed in southern states to restrict rights of free blacks.
Free blacks could not vote, own guns, buy alcohol, assemble in public, testify in court, own property, learn to read/write, or work independently as a carpenter or blacksmith.

15. Proslavery Defenses
Some proslavery Southerners used Christianity as a defense.
Cited the Bible – servants should obey their masters
Slavery benefited blacks – making them part of a prosperous and Christian civilization
Southern white ministers believed slavery and Christianity could coexist.

16. Proslavery Defenses Myth of the “happy slave”
Lived happy and comfortable lives on a plantation
Food and shelter provided
No need for money
Sang in the fields

17. Gag Rule on Slavery
Debates over slavery led to a large number of anti-slavery petitions being sent to Congress in DC.
Congress (mostly the Southern representatives) passed a gag rule on slavery ( )
Gag rule – a rule limiting or preventing debate on an issue in Congress
Citizens who submitted anti-slavery petitions were not allowed to be heard in Congress
The debate over slavery was at a gridlock – neither side willing to back down.