Civil War in the United States Flashcards
Why were there many slaves in the United States?
During the 16th century many African slaves were transported from Africa to the Americas, along one side of the ‘Triangular Trade Route’. Slaves were first brought in 1619 during the early days of British colonisation. Slavery developed quite slowly at first, but by the middle of the 18th century hundreds of thousands of slaves worked the land producing tobacco, then cotton.
How were slaves treated in America?
Many slaves were sold at auction. Higher prices were paid for healthy, young slaves who had been trained by previous owners or those that possessed valuable skills. They were often given European names. Some owners branded them like cattle with their owner’s initials or mark. Not all slaves worked on plantations: skilled slaves often worked at saw mills, mines and fisheries. They also built roads, canals, bridges and railways.
How did some slaves obtain freedom?
Occasionally slaves managed to buy their freedom. If their masters allowed it, they could hire themselves to others for a fee. They could take half of this money and save up to buy liberty. This purchase was called ‘manumission’ and freed slaves were known as ‘free blacks’. Other slaves chose running away. Many slaves headed towards Canada via the ‘Underground Railway’, hiding in places called ‘stations’ and being helped by ‘conductors’. A law passed in 1793 made it illegal to hide runaways.
Why did the slave trade end?
In the late 18th and the early 19th century many people in America and Europe began to call for an end to slavery. They were called ‘abolitionists’. In Britain they found support in parliament and the British Government ended the slave trade in 1807. The USA followed suit, but this did not stop them breeding more slaves at home.
What rebellion took place in the early days of slavery?
On 21st August 1831 Nat Turner and six other slaves in Southampton County, Virginia, attacked their owners in their beds. In the following days over 50 slave owners were killed as others joined the rebellion. Turner and many of his followers were eventually captured and hanged.
What was the the raid on Harper’s Ferry?
On 16th October 1859 a white abolitionist called John Brown attempted to start a slave rebellion in the town of Harper’s Ferry in Virginia. He planned to break into the local arsenal and give captured weapons to slaves so they could join his ‘freedom army’. With 21 followers he captured the arsenal. He took several hostages and weapons. The militia and other townsfolk trapped Brown and his men in the engine house adjacent to the arsenal. It was stormed by US Marines and everyone but one were killed or later hanged. It persuaded many others that slavery had to be abolished, but it convinced many southerners that slavery had to be defended.
How did slavery start to be abolished?
From the mid 1770s individual northern states began to abolish slavery. The ‘Missouri Compromise’ in 1820 banned slavery in Louisiana north of the 36th parallel. By 1827, slavery was banned throughout the north. The abolitionist newspaper the Liberator was set up in 1833. The American Anti-Slavery Society was set up at the same time. Many freed slaves spoke out against slavery.
Why did tensions grow between the North and South over industry, trade and representation?
In the South, farmers made their living off free labour from slaves and claimed without slavery, farming in the South would collapse. In the North they had factories, mills and ironworks. Some factory owners thought that freed slaves would come from the south and provide cheap labour in the North.
The North wanted tariffs to encourage Americans to buy American products. The South depended on trade and was against tariffs. Many southerners claimed taxes levied on export were applied to their produce but not Northern goods of the same value.
In the North the population was rapidly increasing, giving them more control in government, while the South lost political power.
What was ‘states’ rights’?
Many southerners believed they were not being treated fairly and would be better off if they were free of federal authority in Washington. They believed that state laws should carry more weight than federal ones, and that they should follow state regulations first.
What was the Compromise of 1850?
As the USA expanded westward there was disagreement over whether the new territories should allow slavery. The Missouri Compromise of 1820 had already made slavery illegal in the northern territories, but there was disagreement over it.
The Compromise of 1850 was a series of five bills attempting to fairly deal with slavery in the southern territories. In California slavery would be illegal but in New Mexico and Utah people would use popular sovereignty to decide the issue. Slavery would be abolished in Washington D.C.. There was also the Fugitive Slave Act which made any federal official who did not arrest a runaway slave liable to a fine.
What was the Dred Scott decision?
Scott was born a slave and travelled with his master, including to Illinois and the Wisconsin Territory, both of which had abolished slavery. He was allowed to marry but did not claim freedom. Later on, after their owner did, he tried to buy freedom from his owner’s wife. She refused. In 1846, he was helped by abolitionists to sue for his freedom, which went to the Supreme Court. In March 1857, he lost when the Supreme Court declared no slave or descendent of a slave could be a US citizen, so he had no rights. They also said Congress had no right to outlaw slavery in any new territory and declared the Missouri Compromise unconstitutional.
Who was Abraham Lincoln? What happened just after he was elected?
He was a lawyer and Republican politician who had spoken out against slavery. During the 1850s, he spoke frequently of his hatred of slavery, of how it divided the country, and how America could not be strong until everyone agreed to outlaw it. In 1860 he was elected President, winning solely on votes in the North. The lack of southern representation and his views on slavery made some southerners very angry. Immediately there was talk about southern states leaving the union. Lincoln vowed he would not let this happen.
What happened after states began to secede?
In December 1860, South Carolina seceded, followed in February by Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and Texas. They formed the CSA, led by Jefferson Davis. Over the next few weeks the CSA demanded that Union soldiers be removed from forts in their territory. Some were relocated, but those at Fort Sumter were reinforced. Lincoln refused to move them, so Confederate soldiers laid siege to it and forced them to surrender in two days. The next day Lincoln declared war.
What happened at the start of the Civil War?
Some states were unhappy at going to war e.g. Virginia and North Carolina and left the Union for the Confederacy. Along the border some states said they would stay in the Union but not fight. At first, the USA government thought the war would be over quickly. Lincoln soon realised this was not the case. He tried hiring Garibaldi, but he refused, and Ulysses S. Grant became Lincoln’s general. Virginian general Robert E. Lee had turned down Lincoln and became the Confederate general.
What happened in the middle of the Civil War?
In some battles the Union had the advantage, while in others the Confederacy won. Slaves began arriving at Union camps to find freedom. They were declared ‘contraband of war’ and were put to work for the war cause. Others worked in mills and factories, replacing white labourers as they could be hired for less. Some joined the army like in the ‘First Carolina Volunteer Regiment’ and often faced unfair treatment, but fought bravely. Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation to keep morale up and stop other countries joining in on the Confederates’ side. In December 1863 he announced his Reconstruction Plan that said states would be allowed back into the Union if they did certain things, but it was rejected by Congress.
