Amazing Grace

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Amazing Grace lyrics

Slavery

In America

Slavery defined

Slavery is a social-economic system in which people, known as slaves, are owned as property by other people.

The slaves are held against their will and denied their personal freedom.

Enslave = (verb) to make into a slave

Iron collar and chains used by slave traders in the 1800s

Slavery in History

Slavery can be traced to the earliest human civilizations. (For example, there are references to slavery in the Code of Hammurabi– one of the earliest sets of laws in human history from ancient Mesopotamia.)

Slavery existed in these ancient civilizations: Sumer, Egypt, Assyria, China, Greece, Rome and in pre-colonial America (Native Americans: Incas and Aztecs).

People became slaves as a result of being punished for a crime, being captured in war, being a baby left abandoned, or being a child born to a slave.

Slavery in America

Recall that the first permanent English settlement in the New World was at Jamestown, Virginia in 1607

The first African slaves were brought to Jamestown in 1619. These 20 slaves arrived in Jamestown as cargo on a Dutch ship.

Nearly 240 years passed before slavery was abolished in the United States. In 1865, the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution outlawed slavery.

Slavery in the 13 Colonies Massachusetts was the first

colony to pass a law making slavery a legal practice: in 1641.

In 1663, VA passed the first law in the colonies that made Africans slaves for life– and said a baby born to a slave mother was automatically a slave.

In 1750, Georgia became the last colony to legalize slavery.

Slavery existed in all 13 colonies– the greatest number of slaves was in the southern colonies.

In New England & the Middle colonies, slaves worked on small farms, as house servants, and some learned skills like blacksmithing.

In the “Upper South” colonies of MD and VA, slaves worked as field workers on tobacco plantations.

In the “Lower South” colonies of SC & GA, slaves worked as field workers on indigo & rice plantations.

Columbian Exchange & Slavery

Recall that the Columbian Exchange included the transfer of people in addition to plants, animals and diseases (People = slaves)

1400s – European explorers in West Africa traded guns & goods for slaves captured by Africans

1500s – European traders began shipping slaves to the Americas.

Atlantic Slave Trade

The Atlantic Slave Trade began during the Great Convergence (when European nations competed for control of land in the New World)

Native Americans were the first people enslaved by the Portuguese and Spanish in the New World (used to mine gold and silver)

Due to Native Americans’ lack of immunity to European diseases, many died. Therefore the Europeans turned to Africa for a new labor source.

Triangular Trade

The pattern of trade that resulted resembled a triangle on a map and, thus, the Atlantic Slave Trade is often referred to as the Triangular Trade

Generally speaking the Triangular Trade worked like this:

The first leg: Traders from Europe sailed to Africa. There, they traded textiles, manufactured goods and guns for slaves. (Note that Africans captured other Africans to trade to the Europeans.)

Triangular Trade The second leg: From

Africa, the enslaved Africans sailed across the Atlantic Ocean to the Americas where they were sold.

The third leg: ships sailed from the Americas to Europe with products of slave labor: sugar, tobacco, molasses, rum, and later, cotton.

Middle Passage

The second leg of the Triangular Trade is called the Middle Passage– the transport of enslaved Africans across the Atlantic Ocean from Africa to the Americas

Middle Passage

Hundreds of enslaved Africans were forced to endure inhuman conditions on slave ships

Slave ships carried up to 600 slaves each

Slaves were packed tightly on the ships– often packed like spoons with no room to turn

Middle Passage

Men and women were kept separated and below deck

Often enslaved Africans were chained together

Food was plentiful, but not of good quality– one bucket served ten slaves

Water was often available, but it, too, was of poor quality

Due to the poor food and water, many enslaved people became sick

Due to their close quarters, diseases spread easily and rapidly

It is believed that up to 1 million Africans perished on the Middle Passage

Slave Trade in Numbers

Between 1650 and 1860 (a 200 year period) nearly 12 million enslaved people were taken from West Africa and transported to the Americas.

Most of the enslaved people were taken to South America and the Caribbean.

500,000 (half a million) were transported to North America.

http://slaveryinamerica.org/geography/slave_trade.htm

Resources

Informationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery

http://slaveryinamerica.org/history/hs_es_overview.htm

http://www.bartleby.com/61/62/E0156200.html

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/africa/features/storyofafrica/9chapter5.shtml

Pictureshttp://slaveryinamerica.org/geography/

slave_trade.htm

http://hitchcock.itc.virginia.edu/Slavery/Conditions.php

www.historyonthenet.com/.../triangulartrade.gif

webzoom.freewebs.com/.../Slavery.jpg

lcweb.loc.gov/.../archive/01/0120001r.jpgwww.historycooperative.org/journals/wm/images/

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