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Dutch Man of War
In 1619 a Dutch ship pulls into the Jamestown colony. In need of food and supplies, the Dutch man offers the colonist 20 African American slaves for food and supplies. The colonists then in turn baptized, and gave the Africans christian names. This was the first record of salve trade in the colonies, which in turn would transform the colonies from having indentured servants to owning slaves. -
North America Slave Trade
In 1638 the first American slave carrier is built and luanched out of Massachusetts. The Desire returned from the West Indies with cotton, tobacco, and African Americans. This was the beginning of a slave error in the north. Boston, as well as Rhode Island came to hve major roles in the slave trade. -
Massachusetts Slave Trade
Massachusetts is the first state to legalize slavery in 1641, which lead the way for Virginia, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Maryland, New York, and New Jersey. In 1644 Massachusetts merchants begin importing slaves directly from Africa, they would then sell them to the West Indies and bringing home sugar for rum. This became the triangular trade, this also sparked the British Pariliament to make some changes, which in 1672 the granted the Royal African Company a monoply in the slave trade. -
Mason-DIxon Line
Conflict rose between Pennsylvania and Maryland because of a territorial dispute of the southern boundry of Pennsylvania. Two English surveryors, Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon, decided on the Mason-Dixon line. This line seperates the slave states from the free states. This -
Slavery Becomes Codified
1680 was when slavery was fully established. A salve became labelled as a chattel, which is a piece of property that could be bought, punished, sold, loaned, or used as collateral. Once slavery was codified, slaves were not recognized as people in the view of the law and they had no legal rights. Offsprings of female slaves, were then property of the owner of the mother. -
New York City Slave Revolt
An alleged slave revolt in New York City, 23 slaves rose up against their owners for mistreatment. 12 white people are killed and 21 slaves are excuted for it. The violence of the retribution far exceeded the violence of the rebellion. Slaves were hung, burnt alive and also beheaded. -
Slave Population in Virginia
Slave population is 24% in the Virginia Colony's. This is up from 5% in 1671. This shows the popularity of slaves once the legal notion of slaves. Slaves are important for the economy in this time period. -
Spanish control Florida
The Spanish overthurn a law from 1730 that states slaves fleeing to Florida from South Carolina for freedom will not be sold or returned. This in turn sparks many slaves to run to Florida for freedom. -
Stono Rebellion
Slaves in South Carolina rebel and burn down an armory. 75 Slaves steal weapons after killing many white men, they flee South Carolina and head toward freedom in Florida which is still under Spanish rule. The rebellion comes to a hault when the South Carolina Militia kill 40 slaves and stop them before they reach Florida. -
Georgia Legalizes Slavery
georgia is the last colony to legalize slavery, which means in all 13 British colonies it is legal to own African Americans as slaves. With Slavery legal in all 13 colonies, the rise of "liberty" begins in years to come. -
Declaration of Independence
The Declaration of Indepence of America was seen as a very paradoxical event becuase of the cries for liberty from the British along with the wide spread and acceptence of slavery in America. The declaration was signed in 1776 in Philidelphia, Pennsylvania. It was the worlds most notorious writing for liberty and freedom, yet when Thomas Jefferson wrote he owned roughly 200 slaves. -
Mum Bett Case Cont.
The Photo is the actual verdict from the court case of Brom and Bett vs Ashley. It is dated August 22, 1792. -
Brom and Bett v. Ashley
Mum Bett was a slave in the house of Colonel John Ashley of Sheffield. Mum Bett got the idea to file her freedom suit when she overheard a dinner conversation about the passing of the Declaration of independence as well at the Massachusetts Constitustions that explain the ideas of liberty. She seeked help from a lawyer by the name of Theodore Sedgwick, he presented the case that the Massachusetts Contitution outlawed slavery in Massachusetts and Mum Bett was not Mr, Ashleys property. -
The Cotton Gin
Eli Whitney, a young school teacher, invented the Cotton Gin. It was a simple machine that would remove the seeds from the cotton. The south would make a quick transition from a wide range of tobacco plantations to large-scale production of cotton. This would also develop a dependency on slaves in the south. From 1774 to 1804 the north states would aboloish slavery, but the south was fueled by it. -
Cotton Gin Cont
The Photo is the patent drawing of the Cotton Gin made by Eli Whitney. -
Fugitive Slave Acts
The Fugitive Slave Acts was a federal law that allowed slave owners to recover runaway slaves from free states, it also allowed penalties to be placed on any persons that aided slaves to freedom. The northern states were angered at the idea of turning their states into a battle ground for bounty hunters, this opened up doors for northerners to open safe houses and aid runaway slaves. This law also allowed many free black men to be kidnapped and forced into slavery. -
Slave Importation Abolished
Slave importation is made illegal in the United States in 1808. Illegal importation was still an issues once importation was illegal, it was said that about 250,000 slaves were illegally imported from 1808 to 1860. For slaves, this was seen as a step forward in the fight to freedom and liberty. -
Missouri Compromise
Missouri had applied for statehood in 1819 as a slave state. The balance of free states to slave states during this time was 11 to 11. The north saw this there would ba a political unbalance and had a compromise set to allow Maine in as a state but they would enter as a free state, thus keeping the balance of free to slave states equal. -
Nat Turner Rebellion
Nat Turner was a slave to John Travis in Southhampton County, Virginia. He proclaimed to the slaves on his plantation that he was sent by God to lead them to freedom. The day of August 21st, he and six other slaves killed the Travis family and armed themselves with guns a rode out on horses. They then enlisted 75 other slaves and killed 51 white people. He hid out for 6 weeks until he was captured in Jarusalam, Virginia and hung. This was the most successful rebellion yet among slaves. -
Nat Turner Cont
This rebellion scared the white people in slave states of future rebellions. This led to harsher laws placed on slaves, such as less education, laws preventing so many slaves to gather. In the end 54 blacks were executed and over 200 were beaten because of the rebellion. -
Underground Railroad
Although the Underground Railround was in effect long before 1838. it wasnt very well known until then. Underground railroad was not a railroad nor was it underground, it got its name from the terms that were used when discribing it. The routes were called lines, the stopping points were called stations, and the slaves were known as packages or frieghts. The underground railroad was a way for slaves to escape from captivity and be free in Canada, which slavery was abolished. -
Frederick Douglass Escapes
Frederick Douglass is a slave born in 1818 in Baltimore. At the age of 20 he fled for New York City where he met William Lloyd Garrison's, who started the first abolonist newspaper called The Liberator. Garrison would soon become Douglass' mentor and would help him in his career. Frederick Douglass is pictured here. -
Prigg vs Pennsylvania
A Supreme court ruling in Pennsylvania states that state officials are not required to help in the returning of a runaway slave. The case also said that the Fugative Slave Law of 1793 is constitutional. It overturns a 1826 law that made kidnapping a slave a felony, and a owner cannot be stopped for recovering a slave. -
Compromise of 1850
The Compromise of 1850 was a result of the territory gained from the Mexican-American War. This Compromise would allow California to enter the union as a free state and New Mexico and Utah to be decided based on popular sovereignty. The compromise also ended the slave trade in Washington DC and included the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 which was the revised version and helped southerns recover runaway slaves. -
Fugitive Slave Law 1850
The revised version of the The Fugitive Slave Law , which compelled citizens to aid in the capture and return of runaway slaves. It denied the right for slaves to have a trial by jury but instead these cases were placed in the hands of federal commissioners who were paid more for returning a suspected slave rather than setting them free, which would seem bias towards the southern states. -
Dred Scott vs Sanford
Dred Scott was a slave who lived with his owner, John emerson, in a free state and then returned to the slave state of Missouri. Scott argued in court that his time spent in a free state granted him his freedom. Chief Justice, a strong supporter of slaves, denied him his freedom because a black man could not claim US citizenship which wouldnt allow them to petition for freedom. This case sky rocketed the tensions between the North and South which would start a war just three years later. -
Abraham Lincoln is Elected
Abraham Lincol defeats Stephen A. Douglass in the 1860 presidential race. During the debates Lincoln argued that the seperation of states will not last long and there will ultimately be two outcomes that could happen. The first the the extension of slavery to all states, and the second, in which he supported was the end of all slavery in America. -
South Carolina Secession and the Civil War
In December of 1860 South Carolina is the first state to secede from the Union. More states followe South Carolina's lead the following year and form the Confederate States of America. The Civil War begins the 1861. -
The Emancipation Proclamation
Abraham Licoln issues the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863 freeing all slaves in rebellious states. Although the Emancipation Proclamation didn't actually free any slaves, but used more as a war measure. The Union recruited roughly 180,000 blacks to fight, in a sense, for their own freedom. The war ends in 1865 and soon the 13th amendment is ratified. -
The 13th Amendment
The Thirteenth Amendment officially abolished slavery in all of America and was ratified on December 6th, 1865. The Amendment states “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.”
