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1518
The Middle Passage
The Middle Passage was the forced voyage of slaves across the Atlantic. It was one part of the triangular trade route that took goods from Europe to Africa, slaves from Africa to work in the Americas and West Indies and raw materials back to Europe. Millions of Africans made the 21 to 90 day voyage on overcrowded ships with extremely poor conditions. Many were abused, starved and ill and many did not survive. This lasted from 1518 to the mid-19th century. -
The Underground Railroad
The Underground Railroad was a group of people both African American and white, helping escaped slaves through secret routes and safe houses along the border states to the north and Canada in the early to mid-19th century. People would help the escaped slaves by hiding them in private homes, schoolhouses and churches. They used secret and symbols to let those in need know they were there to help. They ended up helping approximately 100,000 people. -
Fugitive Slave Clause
In the United States Constitution of 1789, the Fugitive Slave Clause requires a slave that flees to another state be returned to their master in the state they escaped from. There was concern that the new free states would become a safe haven for runaways. The Fugitive Slave Clause first appeared in the last article in the Northwest Ordinance. That ordinance was passed on July 14, 1787. -
Missouri Compromise
In order to continue the balance of power in Congress between slave states and free states the Missouri Compromise was passed on March 6, 1820. It was an agreement to admit Maine as a free state and Missouri as a slave state.The compromise also banned slavery from any future territories or states north of Missouri's southern borders. This balanced the states but did nothing to abolish slavery in the slave states. -
Nat Turner's Rebellion
Nat Turner was an enslaved man that led a rebellion of other enslaved people on August 21, 1831. They killed around 60 whites in Virginia. The state executed 56 slaves for their involvement in the rebellion. In the aftermath, some whites called for gradual emancipation to remove slavery. Instead, there were harsher codes for blacks. They weren't allowed jury trials, free blacks found guilty of crimes could be sold into slavery and it became illegal to teach any black to read. -
Compromise of 1850
The Compromise of 1850 consisted of five separate bills passed by Congress in September 1850 to resolve disputes over slavery in new territories added to the United States. California became a free state and Utah and New Mexico were to decide for themselves. A new Texas-New Mexico boundary was defined to make it easier for slave owners to recover runaways under the fugitive slave act of 1850. Senator Henry Clay was responsible for the Compromise of 1850. -
Uncle Tom's Cabin
Uncle Tom's Cabin is an abolitionist novel by Harriet Beecher Stowe. It was very popular among white people in the North by making the experience of slavery dramatic. 300,000 copies were sold the first year in the United States. It was also popular in England. The author made her case against slavery and the suffering they experienced by suggesting the owners were morally broken. It is said that this book helped start the civil war. -
Kansas-Nebraska Act/Bleeding Kansas
The Kansas-Nebraska Act allowed people in Kansas and Nebraska to decide for themselves if they would allow slavery. The Act repealed the Missouri Compromise of 1820. It produced a violent uprising known as "Bleeding Kansas" as both pro-slavery and anti-slavery activists came to the territories to try and sway the vote their way and the death toll rose. Federal troops were sent in to stop the violence. Eventually, anti-slavery settlers outnumbered pro-slavery settlers. Kansas became a free state. -
Dred Scott Case
Dred Scott was an enslaved African American man in the United States that sued for his freedom and that of his wife and two daughters. On March 6, 1857 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that an enslaved person wasn't entitled to freedom simply by living in a free state. It was also argued that as someone's property, he was not a citizen and could not sue. The controversy over this pushed the country closer to Civil War. -
John Brown's Raid
John Brown was an abolitionist that led a small army of men into the small town of Harper's Ferry, Virginia. He wanted to start a major slave rebellion in the South. He would seize the arms and ammunition in the federal arsenal and arm slaves in the area and move south attracting more slaves. He hadn't thought everything through because he had no rations or escape route and would soon fail. It was over in less than 36 hours but he did manage to deepen the divide between the North and the South. -
Emancipation Proclamation
President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863. The proclamation declared that all persons held as slaves within the rebellious states are, and henceforward shall be free. The proclamation announced that blacks would be accepted into the military and almost 200,000 black soldiers and sailors fought for the Union and freedom. Today, the Emancipation Proclamation is one of the great documents of human freedom.