Slavery and the Middle Passage

• Slavery existed globally before its introduction to the Jamestown colony in 1619.
• Ancient economies such as Greece and Rome relied on slaves.
• The Atlantic slave trade began in the 16th century with Portuguese traders in Africa.
• Spanish colonizers enslaved Native Americans in the Americas, leading to millions of deaths from harsh conditions and European diseases.
• African slaves replaced Native Americans due to their exposure to European diseases.
• The Transatlantic trade network connected Africa, Europe, and the Americas.
• This network involved European goods, African slaves, and American raw materials.

The Middle Passage

• Enslaved Africans were transported to the Americas via the Middle Passage.
• The Middle Passage was the middle leg of the Transatlantic trade network.
• Enslaved Africans were subjected to cramped, unsanitary conditions.
• Process of "seasoning" upon arrival included English lessons, new names, and work expectations.
• Families were disregarded and split up at auctions.
• American slavery differed as children of enslaved people became the legal property of owners.

Plantation Economics

• Southern tobacco and sugar plantations relied on intensive labor which was solved by slavery.
• Africans were chosen over Native Americans due to a perceived lower risk of escape.
• Enslaved Africans from the Caribbean had knowledge of sugar and tobacco cultivation.
• Slave owners often prohibited slaves from using their native languages and customs.

North vs. South

• Sectionalism rose in the 1800s, creating different conditions for black people in the North and South.
• The South's economy depended on agriculture and slave labor.
• Cotton sales in the global market fueled the Southern economy.
• Attempts to establish textile manufacturing in the South failed due to the profitability of slave labor.
• The North's economy was based on industry and mechanized manufacturing.
• Slavery was virtually nonexistent in the North due to opposition and less labor intensive industry.
• Discrimination existed against free blacks in the North, with lower wages and exclusion from white unions.
• The abolitionist movement grew in the North, advocating for the end of slavery.
• Prominent abolitionists included Harriet Beecher Stowe, Frederick Douglass, and William Lloyd Garrison.
• Southerners opposed abolition due to racism and economic interests.
• Abolitionists faced attacks from Southern mobs.
• The agrarian system of the South was dependent on slavery.
• The division over slavery and economic interests led to the Civil War.

Cash Crop

• Southern planters switched from tobacco and sugar to cotton production following the cotton gin invention.
• The cotton gin made cotton processing easier, fueling the demand for slavery.
• Cotton became the United States' most valuable export by 1815.
• The American South produced two-thirds of the world's cotton supply.
• Planters believed slavery's end meant an end to their livelihoods.

Slave Codes

• Slave codes were enacted across the South to prevent slave revolts.
• These laws restricted the freedoms and behaviors of enslaved people.
• Slaves were prevented from reading and writing, and even being legally married.
• Enslaved people were forbidden from gathering in groups, or owning weapons to prevent revolt.
• Slaves could not defend themselves against white people.
• Enslaved people had no right to testify in court if accused of a crime.
• The poor treatment of enslaved Africans and the restriction of lives led to slave revolts.

Rebellions

• Denmark Vesey, who had bought his freedom, planned a slave rebellion in South Carolina.
• Vesey's plan was leaked, leading to his execution.
• Nat Turner's rebellion in 1831 resulted in over 60 white deaths.
• Nat Turner and 55 others were executed for their involvement.