ONRT 3 Abolition and Antebellum Slavery Part 2

What was the Gullah Dialect?

A Creole language that combined words from English and a variety of African languages in an African grammatical structure. Though it remained widespread in the South Carolina and Georgia lowcountry throughout the nineteenth century and is still spoken in a modified form today, Gullah did not take root in the Cotton South, where lowcountry slaves were far outnumbered (spoken by black people).

What was the Kansas-Nebraska Act?

A controversial 1854 law that divided Indian Territory into Kansas and Nebraska, repealed the Missouri Compromise, and left the new territories to decide the issue of slavery on the basis of popular sovereignty. Far from clarifying the status of slavery in the territories, the act led to violent conflict in "Bleeding Kansas."

What is Black Protestantism?

A form of Protestantism that was devised by Christian slaves in the Chesapeake and spread to the Cotton South as a result of the domestic slave trade. It emphasized the evangelical message of emotional conversion, ritual baptism, communal spirituality, and the idea that blacks were "children of God" and should be treated accordingly.

What was the Free soil movement?

A political movement that opposed the expansion of slavery. In 1848 the free soilers organized the Free Soil Party, which depicted slavery as a threat to republicanism and to the Jeffersonian ideal of a freeholder society, arguments that won broad support among aspiring white farmers.

What is the gag-rule?

A procedure in the House of Representatives from 1836 to 1844 by which antislavery petitions were automatically tabled when they were received so that they could not become the subject of debate.

What is a slave society?

A society in which the institution of slavery affects all aspects of life.

What was the task system?

A system of labor common in the rice-growing regions of South Carolina in which a slave was assigned a daily task to complete and allowed to do as he wished upon its completion.

What is the Great American Desert?

A term coined by Major Stephen H. Long in 1820 to describe the grasslands of the southern plains from the ninety-fifth meridian west to the Rocky Mountains, which he believed was "almost wholly unfit for cultivation."

Was slavery prominent within southern states?

Although slavery was most definitely prominent in these states, the average white land owner did not have any slaves. There were roughly 30% white landowners who also owned slaves in the south. Slave ownership decreased in southern states near the appalachians and increased in the cotton states.

What was the Liberty Party?

An antislavery political party that ran its first presidential candidate in 1844, controversially challenging both the Democrats and Whigs.

What was the Underground Railroad?

An informal network of whites and free blacks in the South that assisted fugitive slaves to reach freedom in the North.

What is the African Methodist Episcopal Church?

Church founded in 1816 by African Americans who were discriminated against by white Protestants. The church spread across the Northeast and Midwest and even founded a few congregations in the slave states of Missouri, Kentucky, Louisiana, and South Carolina.

To keep southerners from seceding from the Union Congress had to promise to do what?

Congress must protect slavery where it existed and grant statehood to any territory that ratified a proslavery constitution.

Who is David Walker and what did he strive to reform?

David Walker was a free black slave from North Carolina that moved to Boston. White northerners at the time refused to see free blacks as their equals and would treat them poorly. He wrote and appeal to the "colored citizens of the world" which stated that the african american community is not afraid to revolt against white antagonists.

What are the Free African Societies?

Free African Societies are schools, mutual-benefit organizations, and fellowship groups that were developed by the Black community. Free African Societies were established so that Africans could be on more equal footing as white people.

How many of the free blacks in the United States lived in the North during 1840?

Half of the free blacks (170,000)

What was Calhoun's reasoning as to why Congress cannot limit slaves in new territories?

His reasoning is that the constitution prohibits Congress from limiting property rights. Slaves were considered property which sparked the question of whether or not Congress had the power to limit slave owners property rights.

What was the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo?

In 1848, Polk signed, and the Senate ratified, the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, in which the United States agreed to pay Mexico $15 million in return for more than one-third of its territory.

What did John C. Calhoun propose about the advancement of slavery in the northwest territories?

John C. Calhoun proposed a constitutional amendment that exempted Congress from deciding whether or not the northwest territories were slave or free states. John C. Calhoun won support in the deep south.

What were personal liberty laws?

Laws enacted in many northern states that guaranteed to all residents, including alleged fugitives, the right to a jury trial.

What was the compromise of 1850?

Laws passed in 1850 that were meant to resolve the dispute over the status of slavery in the territories. Key elements included the admission of California as a free state and a new Fugitive Slave Act.

Why did many free blacks assimilate white culture and values?

Many free blacks assimilated white culture and values and distanced themselves from black slaves. Their assimilation would give them more opportunities as blacks.

How did white antislavery activists do to compromise slavery in the Northern States?

Most of them petitioned for gradual emancipation, an act that meant that former slaves would remain slaves and those born after the passing of the act would, by there labor, be freed from slavery. Gradual emancipation was passed in order to acknowledge slave owners property rights while slowly abolishing slavery.

What was Nat Turner's revolt?

Nat Turner was a deeply religious man that believed that God wanted him to rebel against his slave master. Eventually Nat Turner and a couple of his relatives and friends revolted against their owners and killed 55 white men, women, and children. They used weapons from a small armory near their plantation. By the end of this he gathered a small number (40) more blacks to fight for his cause but in the end many of them died to the white militia and 15 of their heads were stabbed through poles and buried into the ground to make a statement to anymore slaves that wanted to revolt.

When African American's entered the United States as slaves, did they assimilate to white culture and religions?

No, black slaves remained firm believers in their own religions and cultures. Mainly from their homeland, before they were shipped across the Atlantic into US bondage.

Did free blacks live comfortable lives?

No, many of them were tenant farmers and servants who owned no land. There were very few free blacks that owned land.

In Northern states, could free blacks attend public schools or vote.

No, most northern states ratified laws that prohibited free blacks from entering the public school education system and voting - Only in Massachusetts could they testify in court against whites. The federal government did not allow African Americans to work for the postal service, claim public lands, or hold a passport.

What are some of the danger free blacks faced in the south?

One danger of being a free black is that white officials would occasionally charge you for a crime without trial by jury, they will most likely be convicted because of this injustice. Another danger is homelessness. If free blacks were homeless, they could be charged with slavery. The last danger was that many free blacks were kidnapped and sold back into slavery.

Why did free southern blacks live on the coastal cities in the southern states?

Skilled European artisans didn't want to work down south because they thought that they couldn't make as much money in the south as they could in the north. Free blacks were normally skilled artisans and since the artisan workforce was open in the south, they would try to live on coastal cities where they could work.

Who were the small freeholders?

Small freeholders were farmers that owned merely 5 slaves and only a few 100 acres of land. Most of them gained little to no prosperity and were relegated to a class that cannot compete with the planter elite. They would, at many times, work alongside their slaves in order to stay afloat.

What was the "religious dance of the negroes"?

Spaulding described the African-derived "ring shout" this way: "Three or four, standing still, clapping their hands and beating time with their feet, commence singing in unison one of the peculiar shout melodies, while the others walk around in a ring, in single file, joining also in the song." The songs themselves were usually collective creations, devised spontaneously from bits of old hymns and tunes.

Why was it best to "take root" on your plantation?

Taking root means to live the best possible life you could as a slave on a plantation. Trying to escape was very difficult and if you were caught you would be severely punished. If you tried to escape you would also have to leave your family and children behind so most slaves resorted to life on the plantation.

From what time period did the Second Great Awakening surge across the south and what people converted from this awakening?

The 1790s-1840s Both white and black southerners converted to the beliefs preached by methodists and evangelical baptists of the second great awakening.

What was the Wilmot Proviso?

The 1846 proposal by Representative David Wilmot of Pennsylvania to ban slavery in territory acquired from the U.S.-Mexico War.

What was the Dred Scott decision?

The 1857 Supreme Court decision that ruled the Missouri Compromise unconstitutional. The Court ruled against slave Dred Scott, who claimed that travels with his master into free states and territories made him and his family free. The decision also denied the federal government the right to exclude slavery from the territories and declared that African Americans were not citizens.

What did the Fugitive Slave Law of 1793 stipulate?

The Fugitive Slave Law of 1793 stipulated that owners and hired slave catchers had the right to seize suspected runaways and reinstate bondage.

What is the American Anti-Slavery Society?

The first interracial social justice movement in the United States, which advocated the immediate, unconditional end of slavery on the basis of human rights, without compensation to slave masters.

What was the problem with the fugitive slave act of 1850?

The issue was that suspected slaves did not have the right to a trial by jury which meant that most of the time the captured suspect was convicted. This meant that a free black could be reinstated as a slave simply because they suspected he was one.

What Party did the planter elite establish?

The planter elite established the republican aristocracy which was the Old South gentry that built impressive mansions, adopted the manners and values of the English landed gentry, and feared federal government interference with their slave property.

What is the slave power conspiracy?

The political argument, made by abolitionists, free soilers, and Republicans in the pre-Civil War years, that southern slaveholders were using their unfair representative advantage under the three-fifths compromise of the Constitution, as well as their clout within the Democratic Party, to demand extreme federal proslavery policies (such as annexation of Cuba) that the majority of American voters would not support (annex means to add a part of)

Who were the poor freemen?

The poor freemen were small freeholders that couldn't pay off their debts and therefore had to sell their land and work as tenants or servants. They were propertyless and as tenants they would work the farms of their wealthy landlords who would pay them insufficient amounts of money.

The third alternative was popular sovereignty. What was popular sovereignty?

The principle that ultimate power lies in the hands of the electorate. Also a plan, first promoted by Democratic candidate Senator Lewis Cass as "squatter sovereignty," then revised as "popular sovereignty" by fellow Democratic presidential aspirant Stephen Douglas, under which Congress would allow settlers in each territory to determine its status as free or slave. (People of the land or the settlers would vote if their state would be free or slave).

What is abolitionism?

The social reform movement to end slavery immediately and without compensation that began in the United States in the 1830s.

What did the South Neglect that the North did not?

The south neglected innovations in industrial technology which would be the shift of wealth later down the line. The south relied on slave labor for their prosperity and once it gets abolished, farmers in the south are going to fall back into poverty.

who were the southern Planter Elites and what percentage of the population did they make up?

The southern planter elites made up roughly 5% of the white population in the south. They were at the apex of the American economy and owned nearly 50% of the 4,000,000 slaves that lived in the United States at the time.

Did African Americans agree with incest?

Their culture taboos incest which is why many slaves who were related by blood would not marry each other. They would marry someone out of their bloodline on the plantation.

What book was a major factor in growing the abolitionist movement?

Uncle Tom's Cabin demonstrated that cruelties fo slavery and shifted many people's views against slavery. Even a petition was sent from 560,000 English Women to permanently abolish slavery in the U.S.

What is munition?

War equipment such as weapons or ammunition.

Could slaves cultivate a garden and sell it produce for money?

Yes, some slave owners allowed slaves the freedom to cultivate their own crops in a small garden and sell their produce to their master for money to either buy their freedom or buy some basic necessities.

What is a cadre?

a group specifically trained for specific aspects of the armed forces or other large organization.

What does affidavit mean?

a statement sworn under oath, used for evidence in court.

What is a grandee?

an influential person in a high social position.

What does it mean to be sadistic?

deriving gratification through the suffering or humilation of another person.

What does galvanized mean?

evoking excitement, as if by electric shock.

What does it mean to be lynched?

most often regarding hanging, an execution outside of legal terms.

What was the second solution to the conflict of slavery in annexed territory.

southerners favored and suggested that the Missouri Compromise line be stretched all the way to the Pacific and any land that was below 36 30 would be slave territory.

What does abrogate mean?

to cease authoritative power.

What does libel mean?

to discredit a person.

What does accord mean?

to give something to a person.