From the “Slavery: Demographics, Economics and the Constitution” Lecture:

What was the “triangle trade”?

Trade route linking Europe Africa America

What were the major destinations of slaves from Africa (roughly how many, where)?

Caribbean 4 million; Brazil 3.6 million; South America 545,000; United States 480,000

In early America, why were there fewer slaves in the North than in the South?

Economics agriculture attitudes Puritan leaders

What were financial incentives for slavery in the South (products, share of global market)?

Tobacco and cotton

What was the cotton gin and how did it transform slavery?

One gin equal 100 workers. Eli Whitney, The seeds out, the cotton gin caught the seeds slave family separated 75% of the world cotton grown in the US

Demographics of slavery (% of whites who had slaves, who had more than 100)

Less than 1% owned more than 100 slaves

What did the Constitution say about slavery (3 things)?

Slaves counted for 3/5 of one person, importation banned after 1808, fugitive slaves

From “Africans in America” Video:

How did the role of Africans evolve in colonial Virginia?

Dutch brought blacks to Virginia to trade for food

Why was racial slavery attractive to colonial Virginia’s leaders?

They didn’t know the land and they were easy to pick out

Loose packers v. tight packers (reasoning, which was more common?)

Tight packers were common you make more money even if some died

Slave mutinies (where most frequent and why?)

Most popular near the shore or coastline and when there were fewer crewmembers. When a slave or delayed at anchor taking on cargo was very dangerous

From “Slavery and the Civil War” Reading Packet:

What were William Lloyd Garrison’s arguments regarding slavery?

Declaration of Independence all men created equal

What was the role of women in the Abolitionist movement?

Had a lot of meetings started in New England first they raise money than they got radical

What was the reaction to their role?

It was okay for them to raise money but not be radical

Who were the Grimke sisters and what role did they play?

They were abolitionist and some of the first feminist they were very religious and held meetings and lectures and wrote

What were Lincoln and Webster’s responses to abolitionism?

Lincoln said it is not the South’s fault it would cost them money and that slaves probably won’t be our equals. Webster was not an abolitionist said the North is causing problems for the South and making it worse and if you set slaves free they’re so stupid they would die

From “The Abolition Movement” Lecture:

What were the ideas and fate of the American Colonization Society?

Founded in Virginia wanted gradual emancipation were going to can’t than sate slaveholders by paying the money and the freed slaves would be taken to Africa it faded away the freed slaves refuse to move

Factors leading to the growth of Abolitionism:

Three factors agitation of abolitionists, the second great awakening inspired reform in the North religious moral slavery is a sin, transcendentalism reaction to rationalism taught about humans in nature

William Lloyd Garrison publisher wrote weekly newspaper the Liberator Declaration of Independence all men created equal mad at South

Frederick Douglass taught people how horrible slavery was worked with underground railroad helped 1000 slaves escape every year

From “The North–South Divide: Differences in Demographics, Economics and Culture” Lecture:

Where was population growing fastest? Why (immigration)?

20% faster population growth in free states

Distribution of African American population in free and slave states:

4 million slaves in slave states. 1% of blacks live North. 95% blacks live South. One third of the entire population of the South is black

What was true of the increase in manufacturing and railroads?

What was true of urbanization between 1820–60?

Towns of 2500 more 1820 north 10 south five, 1860 N. 26 S. 10

What was true about industrialization from 1800–1860?

North advanced industry manufactured its own weaponry had a railway system

Social characteristics of South and North (according to McPherson):

White population more united in South

Attitudes toward and comparative statistics on education

How many free whites were there in slave states and free states in 1860?

21 million in the north 5 million in the South

How many slaves were there in the South in 1860?

4 million

Which slave states remained in the Union?

Missouri, Kentucky, Maryland, Delaware, West Virginia

From “A Nation Divided: Key Political Developments on the Road to Civil War” Lecture:

What was the Missouri Compromise and when was it reached?

1820 main a free state and Missouri a slave state, established a line per slave and non-slave states in the Louisiana purchase balanced Senate key issue

How did the Mexican–American War affect the slavery debate?

Added Southwest US, California gold rush, free soil movement grows

What did the Compromise of 1850 do?

Admit California as a free state, people of New Mexico and Utah would decide for themselves, fugitive slave act,

What did the Kansas–Nebraska Act do and when was it reached?

1854 Kansas had enough people to be a state but under the Missouri compromise it would be a free state but they gave away the opportunity because they wanted a northern route for railroad let people vote on slavery instead,

Why did Stephen Douglas negotiate the compromise?

He wanted the rail road the political result was the collapse of the Whigs party and the creation of the Republican Party

What happened in Kansas as a result and why did it further divide the country?

People moved to Kansas proslavery wins fighting begins 200 people were killed

What were the facts of Dred Scott case and how did the Supreme Court rule?

Supreme Court ruled blacks whether they were free or slaves were not citizens and they had no rights that white man had to respect and that the federal government had no right to restrict slavery and territories

How did the Dred Scott case affect the Missouri Compromise? Why was that important?

What positions did Stephen Douglas and Abraham Lincoln take on slavery in the 1858 Illinois Senate race?

Stephen Douglas slavery should be determined by popular sovereignty, Abraham Lincoln stop the spread of slavery and black should have basic human rights but not a quality

What were John Brown’s views toward slavery and the government?

Believed government needed to abolish slavery and he was going to act in Kansas by killing five proslavery men in a massacre to help

What was Brown’s plan when he raided Harper’s Ferry in 1859?

Wanted to start a slave revolt in the South he seized federal arsenal at the rate they old abolitionist thought Brown was a hero he died a martyr for the cause

What was the outcome? What significant development did it lead to in the South?

John Brown became a martyr for the cause and southern militias formed

What was true of the election of 1860, what was the outcome, and what was the response in the South?

Lincoln wins with less than 40% of the population vote, Lincoln wasn’t even on the ballot in 10 southern states

From “The Civil War Begins: Secession of States, Ft. Sumter, and the Advantages of Each Side” Lecture:

Know the 11 states that formed the Confederate States of America:

South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Texas, Virginia, Arkansas, Tennessee, North Carolina. (So My Father Ate Grapes Last Tuesday, Very Awesome Tart Napas)

What were explanations for the order in which they seceded?

Know the four slave states that remained in the Union:

Missouri, Kentucky, Maryland, Delaware, West Virginia

What were the major advantages that the South had in the war (including psychological)?

Defensive war shorter supply lines, familiarity with the terrain, local people supportive, white people more united in the South, cotton could lead support from Britain and France and the South had better generals

What were the major advantages that the North had (including psychological)?:

North had four times the population, more stable economy, advanced industry, they manufactured their own what weapons, had a railway system, a larger Navy, well-established political institutions and practices, and Abraham Lincoln

Facts regarding armies during the war:

  • Southern militias formed after John Brown’s raid, both sides called for volunteers, North and South volunteer enlistment slowed by the end of 1861, the North and South both drafted men into the Army the North in 1863 and the South in 1862
  • 700,000 in the northern army, 500,000 in the southern army (a lot of people deserted the southern army — there were only 100,000 by the end of the war)
  • The South had trouble paying for their troops
  • 1% of the Northeast population is black but they made up 10% of the Army. 85% of eligible blacks served in the Army
  • Psychological advantages of the South: they had something to lose, the economics of slavery, the Southern way of life traditional and moral, they were unified, they had confidence in their generals and military, they wanted France and Britain to join them
  • Psychological advantages of the North: they had confidence in ultimate victory, strength in numbers and economy, faith in political institutions and government. Their biggest weakness was in the power of the war’s purpose — was the Union worth dying for?

From Ken Burns’ Civil War Documentary:

When and how did the war begin?

April 12, 1861, Fort Sumter — confederates (Beauregard) fired at Union from Charleston bay, Sumter surrendered, no casualties (one horse)

What was true of Lincoln and Jefferson Davis as leaders?

What happened in the First Battle of Bull Run/Manassas in July, 1861?

Union’s aim to cut Manassas, move to Richmond, confeds flanked, Northern Army dismantled in afternoon (confeds had backup from trains), 5,000 casualties for both sides

What was Lee trying to accomplish in the Battle of Antietam? What was the outcome? What did it allow Lincoln to do?

  • Lee was trying to cause damage in the north, lower northern moral, and hopefully be able to attack Washington
  • Union Technically won by stopping the confederates
  • 23,000 casualties in one day (bloodiest battle). No ground was gained or lost
  • Lee lost 1/4 of his army, managed to slip away because Mclellan was resistant to attacking

What was the Emancipation Proclamation? What did it do and what didn’t it do? What was its significance?

  • Freed the slaves in all areas under open rebellion, and blacks could serve in military
  • Lincoln was able to issue it because he was the commander in chief
 

What did General George McClellan accomplish? Why was Lincoln so frustrated with him?

  • Whipped the army into shape, made them good soldiers
  • Lincoln frustrated because got too attached to them, didn’t understand the grim arithmetic of war
  • Didn’t do any attacks if he could help it

What role did General Ulysses S. Grant play during the Civil War? What were his strengths?

  • General, selected by Lincoln, who understood the arithmetic, Vicksburg
  • Well-regarded by his men

What role did General Robert E. Lee play during the war? His strengths? Biggest mistake?

  • Confederate General. Very commanding and respected
  • Aggressive, but successful
  • At Gettysburg Lee was very unsuccessful. South had 28,000 casualties
  • Lee ordered an unsuccessful charge on the third day, entire divisions were wiped
  • Lee wrote to Davis to resign, but Davis didn’t allow him to. All hope of invading north is gone

What was the evolution in the role of African Americans in the war?

  • As war went on, African Americans played larger role in the northern armies
  • 10% army, 85% eligible black men served
  • Confederate Congress authorizes arming slaves — never went into effect though

What happened at the Battle of Gettysburg? What was Lee’s purpose in taking his troops to the North this time? How many casualties were there? What happened during Pickett’s charge? Why significant?

  • Cemetery Ridge — defining area for Union, confeds surprised union with artillery
  • Lee was trying to get to Maryland and Pennsylvania
  • 51,000 casualties
  • Pickett’s charge decimated by Union artillery

Why was Vicksburg, Mississippi so important?

The confederacy split and surrendered. The Mississippi became a union highway

How did the election of 1864 develop (who was running)? What saved it for Lincoln (battle)?

  • Lincoln and George McClellan democratic nominee
  • Battle of Atlanta — destroyed major manufacturing area for South

What event ended any doubt about which side would win the war?

Gettysburg

What happened at Appomattox and why were the ‘theatrics’ important?

Lee surrenders his entire army when confed army was surrounded, outnumbered 5 to 1. Theatrics were important because it virtually marked the end of the war, and the beginning of the unification of the US

How did Lincoln evolve during the war and how did the war’s purpose evolve along with him?

  • Lincoln called for national unity in his 1861 inaugural address after seven states seceded
  • At first Lincoln stressed the Union as a war goal to unite the War Democrats, border states and Republicans
  • In 1862 — Emancipation Proclamation, because it permanently removed the divisive issue of slavery that caused secession, an issue that Lincoln said was “somehow the cause of the war”
  • In his 1863 Gettysburg Address he added preserving democracy to emancipation and the Union as a war goal

From “Aftermath of Civil War” and “Reconstruction” Lectures:

What was the total number of soldiers who served and the total number killed?

  • Served — 3.1 million
  • Killed — 618,000

What were the major stages in the North’s administration of the South after the war?

Andrew Johnson — Southern states added back in if they revoke succession and ratify 13th amendment, Reconstruction Act — 5 military districts, southern states

Why did Reconstruction end?

It did not create full equality for African Americans. After the election in 1876, a deal was struck that the republican Rutherford Hayes would be president and the southern democrats would be able to end the reconstruction

What were the gains for African Americans during Reconstruction?

  • 13th amendment (abolished slavery), 14th amendment (equal protection of laws), 15th amendment (right to vote)
  • Form organizations and churches
  • Attain education
  • Economic independence
  • Gain ownership of land
  • Black political leaders

What were conditions like in the South for African Americans after it ended?

  • Feds had no power to ensure civil rights, voting rights denied
  • Sharecropping
  • South passed laws so blacks couldn’t change employers
  • Local governments arrest blacks on false charges

What were the ideas and fate of the American Colonization Society?

  • Called for gradual emancipation
  • Shareholders to be compensated
  • Free slaves, and relocate them to Liberia
  • Thought that freed blacks could never integrate into American society, and so had to send them elsewhere
  • Objections by free blacks, abolitionists
  • Formally dissolved in 1964
  • Freed slaves refused to leave, increased profit from cotton
  • Involved in Liberia for long, long time

Factors leading to the growth of Abolitionism:

  • Aggregation of abolitionists
  • Second Great Awakening (1801)
  • Transcendentalism

William Lloyd Garrison:

  • White abolitionist journalists
  • Began publishing The Liberator in 1831
  • Promoted immediate emancipation
  • “One does not put a fire out slowly”
  • Founded American anti slavery society
  • Was a member of the ACS for a brief time

Frederick Douglass

  • Escaped from slavery in 1838
  • Author, newspaper publisher (North Star)
  • Worked closely with “radicals,” particularly the Underground Railroad
  • Helped about 1,000 slaves escape each year
  • Master came to get him one time, he fled to europe
  • Powerful friends there negotiated his purchase, and then freed him

What was the Missouri Compromise and when was it reached?

  • Passed in 1820, created a line that prohibited slavery in Louisiana territory above the 36 30 line, except within proposed state of Missouri
  • Maine (free) and Missouri (slave) granted statehood

How did the Mexican–American War affect the slavery debate?

  • Added most of what is now Southwest US
  • Tensions – California Gold Rush, Wilmot Proviso — (resolution: territory will be free states from Mexico, voted down in Senate)
  • Free Soil movement

What did the Compromise of 1850 do?

  • No restrictions on slavery in other lands taken from Mexico (pop. sovereignty)
  • Defused confrontation between free and slave states
  • Stronger fugitive slave act
  • Slave trade banned in DC
  • Utah decided by pop sov, New Mexico decided by pop sov
  • Cali admitted as free state

What did the Kansas–Nebraska Act do and when was it reached?

  • 1854
  • Created territories of Kansas and Nebraska, Kansas not free state (Stephen Douglas)
  • Slavery was to be decided on popular sovereignty
  • Collapse of Whig Party, split of Democrats, creation of Republicans

Why did Stephen Douglas negotiate the compromise?

  • Hoped to alleviate tension
  • In return got to create transcontinental railroad (northern east-west railway)

What happened in Kansas as a result and why did it further divide the country (also covered in “The Unfinished Nation”)?

  • Bleeding Kansas
  • Both abolitionist and pro slavery movements came in to vote for state government
  • Rigged election, slavery wins
  • Pres. Pierce decides “free state government,” fighting begins (200 killed)

What were the facts of Dred Scott case and how did the Supreme Court rule?

Slave got taken into a northern state by master, lived there, and then back south — sued for his freedom, because he was in free state. Supreme court ruled universally — so that there was precedent for other cases, that, first, no black people could be citizens, and that he wouldn’t be freed even if he was one

How did the Dred Scott case affect the Missouri Compromise? Why was that important?

  • It declared the Missouri Compromise unconstitutional under the Fifth Amendment
  • This effectively meant that slavery was legal everywhere in the US, and opened up the prospect of Southerners using the courts to expand slavery into what were Free states in the North

What positions did Stephen Douglas and Abraham Lincoln take on slavery in the 1858 Illinois Senate race?

  • Lincoln tried to stay as moderate as possible — limit spread of slavery, but never decrease where it already existed
  • Douglas — popular sovereignty best way

What were John Brown’s views toward slavery and the government?

  • Vigorous abolitionist
  • Thought only way to overthrow was armed insurrection

What did he do in Kansas?

Led forces in Bleeding Kansas period, killed five supporters in Pottawatomie massacre

What was Brown’s plan when he raided Harper’s Ferry in 1859?

Take the federal arsenal that was located there, and distribute arms to the slaves who would come, and then lead a rebellion throughout the south

What was the outcome? What significant development did it lead to in the South?

  • Raid failed, Brown arrested, charged with insurrection, sentenced to hang
  • Southern militias formed

What was true of the election of 1860, what was the outcome, and what was the response in the South?

  • Democratic party splits, Constitutional Union Party forms
  • Lincoln wins with 40% of votes
  • Lincoln not even on the ballot in 10 southern states