chapter 14

william lloyd garrison

-editor of "the liberator" the leading abolitionist newspaper -he organized abolitionist societies and published his newspapers for 35 years -espoused northern succession in order to cute of ties with compromises that had kept peace in the south -also preached the breaking of the fugitive slave law -one abe lincoln issued emancipation procl. his rhetoric toned down and he supported the war effort -also supported women's suffrage and the fight to ban alcohol after the war

cotton gin

-eli whitenys invention mas manufactured in various sizes from those that could be hand cranked to those operated by steam engines -because the machine made the separation of cotton much easier, more cotton could be produced for market rather than just for clothing needs of plantation -w/ increased production of cotton came higher demand for cotton cloth and thus for more slaves to pick more cotton to feed the industrial revolution in the north and abroad

peculiar institution

-euphemism for slavery used by calhoun and other southerners who either were proud of the unique nature of american slavery or ashamed of it and wanted to avoid directly naming it for what it was -calhoun and other defenders tried to explain that the institution of slavery was beneficial to the country and to the african american themselves

american colonization society (ACS)

-founded in 1817 and headed by presidents monroe and madison and by other such luminaries as john mashall and henry clay -advocated the the transportation of free blacks to africa -ACS purchased land and established republic of liberia for freed slaves -most emigration from the south was shut down after nat turner rebellion in 1831 -the motives of the society was more to rid the US of what was considered to be an unsolvable problem rather than to elevate blacks and encourage african development

black codes

-laws passed by the states in the slave society to keep slaves "in their place" -to prevent the formation of slave uprisings on the part of free blacks, the black codes forbade meetings after dark, freedom of travel, ownership of guns, and participation in the political process -this institutionalized racism was cause of segregation and other forms of discrimination that lingered through the 20th century civil rights movement and beyond

goerge fitzhugh

-VA lawyer who was one of the most outspoken proponents of the positive good theory -originated the argument that african slaves in the south were better off than wage slaves in the north who never saw the sun because they worked form dawn to after dark in factories -he advocated the expansion of slavery virtually globally as he recognized the fee labor and slave labor systems were incompatible -predicted that if blacks were ever freed by the north they would be unable to function in the free labor system

denmark vesey

-a SC slave who acquired an education as cell as his freedom by purchasing it from his master with 600$ of lottery winnings -he amassed a 9000 charleston slaves ready to rise up, storm arsenals in order to commandeer weapons, and slaughter all whites in the city -a servant divulged the plot and vesey and over 30 other leaders were hanged -modeled his insurrection after the revolution in haiti and it is said john browns later plot was likely to have been inspired by vesey

negro spirituals

-a combination of african and american rhythm and lyrics -many blacks converted to christianity and began singing to pass the time in the fields or to coordinate hauling and other especially difficult labor -slave song leader often sang out calls to the rest of the slave teams who answered in unison -later discovered that negro spirituals were sometimes codes of places and times of fleeing slaves

underground railroad

-a secret series of houses and people supportive of the emancipation of individual slaves had formed in the defiance of federal laws regarding the return of fugitive slaves to the south -assisted and transported escaped slaves to safety in sympathetic communities in the north or to complete freedom from recapture in canada -as many as 50,000 slaves escaped -was a network of quakers and other abolitionists, including senator william h. seward of NY, who actively pursued their principles rather than just reading and writing about them

hinton r. helper

-a southerner and failed gold prospector retuned from cali who took up printing and wiring while living in the north -published the book "the impending crisis of the south" that used stats from the 1850 census to examine the economic weakness of the slaveholding states -book popular in north because it praised the economy of the free states -also blasted the leaders of the slave society for unfairly keeping them not only blacks but lower class whites form rising up -he wanted africans deported to africa

positive good theory

-although men like jefferson referred to slavery as "necessary evil" the next generations of southern leaders developed the notion that slavery was a "positive good" (calhoun said that) -when slavery came under renewed scrutiny in the MS compromise and the nullification crisis, the south developed defenses against the rising abolitionist crusade -argued that slaves had better lives than blacks in africa and even factory workers in north -supporters of slavery maintained that blacks needed the guidance and provisions of their masters to organize their lives

harriet tubman

-became a leading conductor on the underground railroad -she was a guide who helped slaves escarole and make their way north to canada by way of a sierras of safe houses supported by northerners -known as "moses" for her effort before the civil war and she even served as a guide to black soldiers during war

christian paternalism

-second great awakening caused a revival in slave masters and slaves along with the rest of the country -christian masters in the wake of revivals treated their slaves better and saw themselves as having the responsibility to see to the salvation of their own slaves -some churches admitted blacks as members and even to church offices but even paternalistic masters were often against manumission -better treatment of slaves led to more plantation success

frederick douglass

-son of a slave and a white man and rose to become then nations noted black abolitionist, author, and orator -secretly education in bmore he later scared and moved to NY and MA -he began giving abolitionist species in 1841 and wrote his famous "narrative of the life of frederick douglas" -he traveled abroad and returned with enough money to purchase his freedom -stirring oratory moved audiences in the north and edited an abolitionist newspaper called "north star" -adviser to john brown and to abe lincoln; he gathered blacks for the union army during civil war -inspired white abolitionist and sojourner truth

slave society

-the american south under the cotton kingdom was such a society where the laws and custom elevated to power those who held property and acquired wealth through the labor of slaves -the aristocratic planters in the south held political and economic power with roughly 3000 families in the top class with large plantations holding 2-400 slaves -slave possess were dispatched to round up scaled slaves and in the case of slave revolts they formed the nucleus of state militia -although most site people in south owned few or no slaves the entire society was based on not only the acceptance of the peculiar institution but also an aspiration on the part of yeoman farmers to one day acquire enough slaves to join the leisure class

gabriel prosser

-the first leader of a significant slave insurrection since the formation of US -prosser and other leaders plotted and amassed weapons and ammunition and were said to have hundreds if not thousands of slaves ready to rise up -word of the conspiracy was leaked to the gov of VA who mobilized militia forces immediately -prosser and over 30 other conspirators were hanged

manumission

-the legal term for formal freeing of slaves by their master -some founding fathers like GW freed their slaves especially in their wills -other slaves could be freed or were permitted to buy their way out of bondage if they had the means to make and keep money -the age of jackson caused the laws on manumission to be tightened to precent the increase in the free black population n the south -few masters practiced this because they couldn't imagine their plantation without slaves or how free slaves could support themselves

nat turner

-the most successful slave uprising in the history of the US -he was an black slave preacher -he and his followers killed almost 60 white men, women and children -in the move to put down the revolt over 100 blacks were killed and nat turner and 19 other leaders were hanged -increasing slave uprisings caused the south to become more militantly supportive of slavery in political battles and nat turner served to silence all abolition sentiment in the slaveholding states

slave codes

-these laws controlled not only slaves but also their owners -slave masters were forbidden from egregiously abusing slaves because it was thought that if masters were too harsh then slaves would become fugitives and incite an uprising -these codes enforced the white supremacy of the south by considering slaves to be clever subhumans of crimes but not capable of testifying against criminals as witnesses -slaves could not own property or travel freely without permission from their masters -slaves could work for money but the use of the pay was up to the master

cotton kingdom

-title glorified the importance of cotton to the american and world economies -deep south and parts of TX were ideally suited in climate, solid and length of growing reason for the production of cotton -once inventions like cotton gin made the production of cotton lucrative, more and more southerners planted this cash crop -cotton was raw material needed by the british and americans textile factories -cotton made up the bulk of what american exports and what was imported to britain from america