Slavery in America Quiz

The fight against slavery took many forms: there were efforts on the ground to help get slaves to personal freedom and abolitionists worked tirelessly to help raise awareness of slavery’s horrors.

Farming in the 1800s was primarily a “by hand” enterprise, reliant upon human labor. While the majority of Southern farms did not use slave labor, slaves were essential parts of the large southern plantations that spanned hundreds of acres.

Though the exact numbers are unknown, it is estimated that the Underground Railroad successfully helped over 100,000 slaves escape slavery in the South over a 40-year period.

Although slavery was a major part of the Southern economy, an overwhelming majority of farmers did not own any slaves at all. While large plantations relied upon slave labor to maximize their agricultural output, the smaller farms that made up a large portion of the South were worked mainly by a combination of tenant farmers and paid laborers.

Slave marriages were purely symbolic bonds that were not recognized in the eyes of the law. While many slaves chose to marry, owner-arranged marriages were not uncommon. In the end, the slave owner even had the right to break up married couples by selling a partner to another owner.

Despite the fact that new African slaves could not be imported into the United States from 1808 onward, slavery remained a powerful economic force in the American South for decades. Slaveholders were able to maintain their slave labor force by enslaving the children born to their slaves. As a result, the majority of the slave population in the 1860s was slaves who had been born in the United States as opposed to Africa.

The “slave codes” were a series of laws created to help reduce the risk of a slave uprisings in the South. Slaves were barred from learning to read or write, prevented from leaving the property of their owners without legal documentation, and prohibited from assembling in large groups.

Nat Turner’s Rebellion further enhanced the fears of many Southern whites that slave uprisings were a growing threat. As a result, more “slave codes” were passed through Southern legislatures and the treatment of African-Americans in the South continued to worsen. In the North, Nat Turner’s rebellion helped to strengthen the abolitionists’ case that the institution of slavery needed to end.

Southern slave owners were frustrated by the growing number of runaway slaves that were eating into their profits. A runaway was seen as a loss of property, and just as with any other property, the owners expected to have the legal right to recover their losses. The Fugitive Slave Act was a federal law which meant that it applied even to states where slavery had been outlawed. As a result, slave catchers were dispersed into Northern states to try and return fugitive slaves back to their owners.

The resistance to the Fugitive Slave Act was viewed by many in the South as a core reason to consider secession from the Union. If Northern states were unwilling to comply with federal law, what was the point for Southern states to remain part of that same federal government?

Dred Scott had sued for his freedom on the basis that he had lived legally on free soil and, therefore, could not be returned to a life of slavery. The verdict, written by Chief Justice Roger B. Taney, set a much larger precedent by equating the prohibition of slavery to the government taking away someone’s legal property. This argument helped bolster the Southern cause for slavery remaining in place and potentially spreading into more American territories.

The American Colonization Society was founded in 1816. By 1867 the organization had assisted more than 13,000 blacks in moving to the colony of Liberia, on the west coast of Africa. The ACS included abolitionists who felt that blacks would have a better chance for freedom in Africa, and it also included some slave owners who felt that the repatriation of free blacks would help prevent slave rebellions. Some members were openly racist in arguing that free blacks would not be capable of assimilating in America. Others were worried that blacks would undercut the wages of whites.

Garrison’s paper became a strong and galvanizing voice in the American abolitionist movement. Its message would help lead to the foundation of antislavery societies across the country throughout the mid-1800s.

The Grimké sisters had a unique perspective on slavery thanks to their upbringing as white children on a South Carolina plantation. Their 1839 book, American Slavery as It Is, opened the eyes of outsiders and gave a chilling glimpse into the realities of slave life.

Frederick Douglass was able to use his experience as a runaway slave to articulate how awful life under slavery truly was. He used his newspaper, The North Star, as well as his rising international fame to spread the abolitionist cause. As a fugitive slave, Douglass was risking his freedom and his life to communicate his message that all African Americans deserved not only freedom, but total equality.

The South had built its economic power upon the labor-intensive cash crops of cotton, sugar, and tobacco. As a result, little attention was paid to developing an industrial economy like the Northern states had done. Most Southerners believed that if the slave labor force was set free, the Southern economy would surely crumble.

Most Northerners were either against or ambivalent to the abolitionist movement. National unity, especially in an era of such rapid expansion, was seen as being especially important. Many Northerners felt that the abolitionist movement had the potential to divide the nation and threaten the Union’s future. As a result, there were numerous instances of both vocal and violent opposition to the abolitionist movement in the North.

African American slaves used music in a multitude of ways to help improve their poor living conditions. Music provided a way to openly communicate messages, beliefs, and feelings in ways that were not easily discernible to the white slave masters.

Stowe’s famous work sold hundreds of thousands of copies when it was first published in 1852. The novel would prove to be one of the most influential pieces in spreading the abolitionist message to both an American and international audience.

Brown became a martyr of the abolitionist cause following his roles in the “Bleeding Kansas” revolts and the raid on Harper’s Ferry. Brown and his supporters believed in using violence and terror to fight against the institution of slavery and those who supported it.