Causes of the civil war Flashcards
How many slaves in 1808 vs 1860 in the USA?
1808 - 1 million
1860 - 4 million
Why was there less slavery in the North?
Geographical / Environmental:
- Northern climate not suitable to plantation agriculture
- Soil exhaustion (Virginia)
Why was there less slavery in the North?
Economical: Adam Smith
Adam Smith: view that slave labour is the most expensive form of labour. Even if work ‘can be squeezed out’ the slave ‘by violence only, and not by any interest of his own’.
Why was there less slavery in the North?
Religious views
Quakers:
Pennsylvania Abolition Society (founded 1775)
Anti-slavery Quaker poet (John Greenleaf Whittier)
‘Clerical Oppressors’ example of poetry
Enlightenment movement
Why was there less slavery in the North?
Political:
1787 Northwest Ordinance (Congress banned slavery)
1807 - Act Prohibiting the Importation of Slaves
Increase in the number of cotton bales produced in the US?
1790: 9000
1830: 2 million
Where was cotton grown?
Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, Texas.
Who invented the cotton gin?
Ely Whitby
1794
When was the 3/5ths rule introduced?
As part of the 1787 Constitutional Convention
What is the 3/5ths rule?
‘All other presons’ count as 3/5ths for the purpose of representation
Consequence of the 3/5ths rule in 1833?
Slave states had 98 out of 240 members (should have had 73)
Why did the south not want to end slavery?
- Haiti 1790s
Slave rebellion. Slave holders massacred.
