-
Period: to
Triangular Trade- The Middle Passage
The Triangular Trade Route brought firearms and clothing from Europe to Africa, slaves from Africa to the West Indies and the Americas, and then raw items such as sugar and rum from the Americas to Europe. The Middle Passage- the route taken from Africa to the West Indies- was packed densely with Africans. At least 2 million Africans died on this passage.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Cj9OO5p2nsJ1anSZO4kCJQW60UQzrpKiQncMx4oW2-4/edit -
Cotton Gin Invention
Invented by Eli Whitney to remove the seeds from cotton could be hang powered, harnessed to a horse, or powered by water. As the cotton industry grew the demand for slaves grew. The invention of the cotton gin caused the South to go from six slave states to fifteen slave states. By 1860, approximately one in three Southerners were salves. -
African Slave Trade Outlawed
The U.S. Congress passes an act to “prohibit the importation of slaves into any port or place within the jurisdiction of the United States…from any foreign kingdom, place, or country.”
The widespread trade of slaves within the South was not prohibited, however, and children of slaves automatically became slave themselves, thus ensuring a self-sustaining slave population in the South. -
Missouri Compromise
Created a boundary between slave states and free states at the 36th parallel. Missouri was added to the union as a slave state and Maine was added as a free state in order to keep the balance in Congress intact. It was later repealed by the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854. -
Compromise of 1850
This agreement abolished the slave trade in Washington D.C., admitted California as a free state, settled a boundary dispute between Texas and New Mexico, established popular sovereignty in Utah and New Mexico, and also enacted the Fugitive Slave Act. This act permitted northerners to return all "slaves" who had escaped to the north back to the south; however, many free black citizens were mistaken for slaves. -
Harriet Beecher Stowe writes "Uncle Tom's Cabin"
Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote this as an anti-slavery novel. It tells the story of a farmer who lost his farm because of debts and the wife was determined to sell their slaves to make some money. Determined to keep herself and her child safe Eliza, the maid, runs away. They are then hunted down and Tom is sold to another slave owner. This novel brought awareness to the world about the brutality of slavery. It was the best-selling novel of the 18th century and helped fuel the abolitionist cause. -
Kansas Nebraska Act
This act allowed American citizens to decide for themselves by popular sovereignty whether or not to allow slavery within their territory. This served to repeal the Missouri Compromise. -
Dred Scott V. Sandford
Scott, a slave, argued for his freedom because of the time he had spent in a free territory. Judge Taney disagreed and insisted that he was not a citizen and could not petition for his freedom.
