Chapter 8 Section 3
Life Under Slavery

 Slavery
 Considered an American institution since colonial
times
 Growth of cotton farming need for slaves grew
 Suffered cruel treatment
 Beatings, whipping, maiming, mental punishment
(humiliation), threat of being separated from family
 Separation from family slaves sold
Separation of Families

Trying to Survive

 Some slaves took their own lives
 Some slaves dealt with pain and suffering daily
 Most slaves maintained their dignity and hope




Keeping ties with family and friends
Family traditions kept alive
Family stories
Took comfort in their religion (mix of traditional
African and Christian beliefs)
Resistance

Sabotage
Breaking tools, outwitting overseers,
escape
Fled to the North or Mexico
Underground Railroad
Revolts
Denmark Vesey

Denmark Vesey, 1822
Freedman
Second-rate citizen Charleston, SC
Eventually hanged
Nat Turner

 Nat Turner, 1831
 Taught himself to read the Bible
 August 1831, near Richmond, VA
 Later executed
 As a result, southerners became fearful
 Stricter laws passed
 Legality of literacy
 Revolts inspired Northerners to work against slavery
Question

 How did enslaved people resist their captivity?
The Lives of Free
African Americans

Northern states had outlawed slavery by the
1840s
ME and VA slowly freeing slaves
Freed slaves still dealt with racial
discrimination
American Colonization Society (ACS)
David Walker (free African American)
Go Down, Moses

Go Down, Moses

 What is the story of Moses?
 How did the African Americans relate to the story of
Moses?
 Who did the Pharaoh represent?
 In what way did African American spirituals
combine African and European influences to create
something new?
 Why do you think few African American spirituals
survive in their original forms?
The Fight Against Slavery

1804, all states north of MD passed
legislation to end slavery
1807, bringing any new slaves from
Africa banned
Abolition Movement

William Lloyd Garrison

Printer in Boston, MA
Began antislavery career working for
Benjamin Lundy
Lundy published 1st antislavery
newspaper
The Liberator Garrison’s newspaper
Moral suasion
In favor of emancipation
1833, American Anti-Slavery Society
William
Lloyd
Garrison
Started The
Liberator
antislavery
newspaper
Abolitionists

Theodore Weld
Lane Theological Seminary in OH
Married Angelina Grimké
Sarah Grimké
Frederick Douglass
David Walker
Abolitionists

Theodore Weld
Angelina Grimké
Abolitionists

Sarah Grimké
Frederick Douglass
Working Against Abolition

Despite abolitionist efforts; most Americans
continued to support slavery
Southerners claim slavery is necessary due to
Southern agricultural economy
 Claim North also dependent due to textile and
shipping industries
 Claim that Christianity supported slavery
(inevitable)
Refusal in south to read abolitionist
newspapers
Northerners Resist Abolition

 Most northerners agreed with southerners about
slavery
 Grimké-Weld wedding
 Tension locals burn down antislavery meeting hall
 Fear that end of slavery would end supply of
southern cotton
 Gag Rule, 1836  renewed annually for 8 years
Slavery Divides Nation

 Abolition movement small and mostly confined to
North
 Vocal and persistent
 Widened regional cultural differences between
largely urban and industrialized North and the
largely rural and agricultural South
 Divided country