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The South and the Slavery Controversy
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The South and the Slavery Controversy
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Whitney's Cotton Gin revolutionizes the southern economy
Eli Whitney's invention of the cotton gin revolutionized the cotton industry in the United States. Prior to his invention, farming cotton required hundreds of man-hours to separate the cottonseed from the raw cotton fibers. Simple seed-removing devices have been around for centuries, however, Eli Whitney's invention automated the seed separation process. His machine could generate up to fifty pounds of cleaned cotton daily, making cotton production profitable for the southern states. -
Gabriel slave rebellion in Virginia
Gabriel planned the revolt during the spring and summer of 1800. On August 30, 1800, Gabriel intended to lead slaves into Richmond, but the rebellion was postponed because of rain. The slaves' owners had suspicion of the uprising, and two slaves told their owner, Mosby Sheppard, about the plans. He warned Virginia's Governor, James Monroe, who called out the state militia. Gabriel escaped downriver to Norfolk, but he was spotted and betrayed there by another slave for the reward. -
Congress outlaws slave trade
In January 1807, with a self-sustaining population of over four million slaves in the South, some Southern congressmen joined with the North in voting to abolish the African slave trade, an act that became effective January 1, 1808. The widespread trade of slaves within the South was not prohibited, however, and children of slaves automatically became slave themselves, thus ensuring a self-sustaining slave population in the South. -
American Colonization Society formed
On December 21, 1816, a group of exclusively white upper-class males including James Monroe, Bushrod Washington, Andrew Jackson, Francis Scott Key, and Daniel Webster met at the Davis hotel in Washington D.C. with Henry Clay presiding over the meeting. They met one week later and adopted a constitution. During the next three years, the society raised money by selling membership. The Society's members relentlessly pressured Congress and the President for support. -
Missouri Compromise
The Missouri Compromise was passed in 1820 involving primarily the regulation of slavery in the western territories. It prohibited slavery in the former Louisiana Territory north of the parallel 36°30′ north except within the boundaries of the proposed state of Missouri. To balance the number of "slave states" and "free states," the northern region of what was then Massachusetts was admitted into the United States a free state to become Maine. -
Vesey slave rebellion in Charleston
Vesey's slave rebellion, which was to take place on Bastille Day, July 14, 1822, became known to thousands of blacks throughout Charleston and along the Carolina coast. The plot called for Vesey and his group of slaves and free blacks to execute their enslavers and temporarily liberate the city of Charleston. Vesey and his followers planned to sail to Haiti to escape retaliation. Two slaves opposed to Vesey's scheme leaked the plot. Charleston authorities charged 131 men with conspiracy. -
Walker publishes Appeal to the Colored Citizens of the World
In September 1829, Walker published his appeal to black people entitled Walker's Appeal in Four Articles; Together with a Preamble, to the Coloured Citizens of the World, but in Particular and Very Expressly to Those of the United States of America. The purpose of the document was to encourage readers to take an active role in fighting their oppression, regardless of the risk, and to press white Americans to realize the moral and religious failure of slavery. -
Nat Turner slave rebellion in Virginia
Turner started with a few trusted fellow slaves, but the insurgency ultimately numbered more than 70 enslaved and free blacks, some of whom were mounted on horseback. On August 13, 1831, an atmospheric disturbance made the sun appear bluish-green. Turner took this as the final signal, and began the rebellion a week later on August 21. The rebels traveled from house to house, freeing slaves and killing all the white people they encountered. -
Garrison begins publlishing The Liberator
Initial circulation of The Liberator was relatively limited; there were fewer than 400 subscriptions during the paper's second year. However, the publication gained subscribers and influence over the next three decades, until, after the end of the Civil War and the abolition of slavery nation-wide by the Thirteenth Amendment, Garrison published the last issue (number 1,820) on December 29, 1865. -
Virginia legislature debates slavery and emancipation 1831-1832
The Virginia slavery debate and the legislature in 1831-1832 was to decide whether or not to make slavery illegal. The debate happened after the Nat Turner Rebellion. While it did not end slavery altogether, it did tighten up the restriction on what slave owners could demand of their slaves. -
British abolish slavery in the West Indies
With slaves' patience growing thin, and increased uprisings developing within the area, full emancipation became inevitable. 25 years after the slave trade was abolished, slaves in the Caribbean were finally given their freedom through the Slavery Abolition Act of 1833. As of August 1834, all slaves in the British Empire were emancipated. -
American Anti-Slavery Society founded
The American Anti-Slavery Society (AASS) (1833–1870) was an abolitionist society founded by William Lloyd Garrison and Arthur Tappan. Frederick Douglass, an escaped slave, was a key leader of this society and often spoke at its meetings as well. William Wells Brown was a freed slave who often spoke at meetings. By 1838, the society had 1,350 local chapters with around 250,000 members. The society's headquarters was in New York City. From 1840 to 1870 it published a weekly newspaper. -
Abolitionist students expelled from Lane Theological Seminary
Lane Seminary is known primarily for the "debates" held there in 1834 that influenced the nation's thinking about slavery. The event resulted in the dismissal of a group of students, a professor and a trustee and was one of the first significant tests of academic freedom in the United States and the right of students to participate in free discussion. Several of those involved went on to play an important role in the abolitionist movement and the buildup to the American Civil War. -
U.S. Post Office orders destruction of abolitionist mail
This was seen as a violation of the freedom of the press and angered many people in the United States. -
"Broadcloth Mob" attacks Garrison
Because of his radical beliefs, William Lloyd Garrison was tied up by the "Broadcloth Mob" and dragged throught the streets of Boston. -
House of Representatives passes "Gag Resolution"
At the time, large anti-slavery forces and sentiment arose in the United States. People felt they had the right to petition according the the 1st Amendment which granted freedom of speech, press and petition. The Gag Rule meant that Congress refused to hear petitions related to slavery and the slave trade, and all such petitions were tabled for about a decade. The rule or resolution was partly implemented to reduce "junk mail". Americans revolted against the Gag Resolution. -
Mob kills abolitionist Lovejoy in Alton, Illinois
Elijah Parish Lovejoy (November 9, 1802 – November 7, 1837) was an American Presbyterian minister, journalist, newspaper editor and abolitionist. He was murdered by pro-slavery mob in Alton, Illinois, during their attack on his warehouse to destroy his press and abolitionist materials. -
Weld publishes "American Slavery as it is"
From 1836 to 1840, Weld worked as the editor of The Emancipator. He also directed the national campaign for sending antislavery petitions to Congress and assisted John Quincy Adams when Congress tried Adams for reading petitions in violation of the gag rule, which stated that slavery could not be discussed in Congress. In 1839, he and the Grimké sisters co-wrote the pivotal book American Slavery As It Is: Testimony of a Thousand Witnesses. -
Liberty Party organized
The Liberty Party was a minor political party in the United States in the 1840s (with some offshoots surviving into the 1850s and 1860s). The party was an early advocate of the abolitionist cause. It broke away from the American Anti-Slavery Society (AASS) to advocate the view that the Constitution was an anti-slavery document; William Lloyd Garrison, leader of the AASS, held the contrary view that the Constitution should be condemned as an evil pro-slavery document. -
Free Soil Party organized
The Free Soil Party was a short-lived political party in the United States active in the 1848 and 1852 presidential elections, and in some state elections. Founded in Buffalo, New York, it was a third party and a single-issue party that largely appealed to and drew its greatest strength from New York State. The party leadership consisted of former anti-slavery members of the Whig Party and the Democratic Party. Its main purpose was opposing the expansion of slavery into the western territories, -
More than ½ slave owning families in the south owned less than 4 slaves with a major contrast of 2% owning more than 50 slaves
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Ralph Waldo Emerson, New Englander declares, “ I do not see how a barbarous community and a civilized community can constitute a state. I think we must get rid of slavery or we must get ride of freedom.”
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Abraham Lincoln elected president