Summary
Highlights
Slavery in America began in 1619 with the first slave ships arriving in Jamestown. Bacon's Rebellion in 1676 shifted Virginia's labor force from indentured servants to chattel slavery. Key compromises regarding slavery were made at the Constitutional Convention, including the Three-Fifths Compromise and the agreement to end the slave trade by 1808, while also including a fugitive slave law. Many Northern and Middle states gradually abolished slavery after the American Revolution due to economic and ideological reasons. The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 banned slavery north of the Ohio River.
The Southern economy was heavily reliant on cash crops, with cotton becoming "King Cotton" after Eli Whitney's invention of the cotton gin in the 1790s. This made cotton extremely profitable, leading to a huge demand for land and a massive increase in the profitability of slave labor. The Market Revolution and demand from Northern industries and England further fueled this growth. Cotton production expanded westward, creating increased demand for land and an internal slave trade, leading to a high concentration of slaves in the Deep South by 1860. The expansion of slavery led to ongoing conflicts over new territories, as seen in the Missouri Compromise, Compromise of 1850, and Kansas-Nebraska Act, all postponing a definitive resolution.
The antebellum South was primarily agrarian with a lack of industrialization, as capital was invested in slave labor. Only 25% of Southern white families owned slaves, with the majority owning no slaves. Despite this, most Southerners supported slavery due to the hope of owning slaves and the existing racial hierarchy. Southern politics was an oligarchy controlled by wealthy plantation owners who owned over 100 slaves. Southern white society was stratified into plantation owners (the elite), small slaveholders, yeoman farmers (majority, owned no slaves), and poor whites from the pine barrens (owned no slaves or land). The South experienced little immigration and lacked public school reforms due to its economic and social structure.
By 1860, there were approximately 250,000 free African Americans in both the North and the South. In the North, they faced tension with Irish immigrants over low-skill jobs. In the South, free African Americans often gained freedom through mixed parentage, post-Revolutionary freedom, or by buying their freedom. However, they faced significant restrictions, especially after Nat Turner's Rebellion. Slavery varied but was universally based on chattel slavery, treating people as property, leading to the frequent separation of families. Slaves were denied social, political, and civil rights, and it was illegal for them to learn to read or write. Despite these hardships, a blended African and American culture emerged, notably in African American Christianity, which incorporated West African traditions like responsorial preaching, and in slave spirituals.
Resistance to slavery took various forms, from overt acts like work slowdowns, negligence, and breaking equipment, to running away (e.g., Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad). Slave revolts were a more direct form of resistance, though often unsuccessful due to whites' superior weaponry and lack of Southern allies. Notable revolts include the Stono Rebellion (1739), Denmark Vesey's planned revolt (early 19th century), and Nat Turner's Rebellion (1831), the only revolt resulting in the deaths of white Americans. These revolts led to harsher Black Codes and increased slave patrols by Southerners.
Early abolitionists included Quakers and the American Colonization Society, which aimed to send freed slaves to Africa (a largely unsuccessful endeavor). African Americans like David Walker called for violent uprisings, while William Lloyd Garrison founded the American Anti-Slavery Society and published "The Liberator," advocating immediate emancipation. Former slaves like Frederick Douglass and Sojourner Truth became prominent abolitionist speakers. The Liberty Party emerged in 1840, advocating for political action against slavery. In response, Southerners enacted the Gag Resolution (1836-1844) in Congress, banning discussion of anti-slavery petitions. They also banned teaching slaves to read or write, enforced strict slave codes, and prohibited anti-slavery literature. A pro-slavery argument developed, portraying slavery as a paternalistic system superior to Northern "wage slavery" and as a civilizing force for an "inferior" people.