The Civil War The Connecticut Adventure Chapter 8

A Nation Divided By the mid 1800s our country had grown and changed In the North, industry was very important and slavery was against the law. The most powerful people worked in business and industry. In the South, farming was still the most important part of the economy. Slaves did a lot of the hard work. The most powerful people owned plantations (very large farms).

Slavery More and more people in the North criticized the southern states for allowing slavery. Most Northerners felt that slavery was wrong. The Declaration of Independence said that “all men were created equal” yet slaves were treated as property. Southerners felt they needed the slaves to run the plantations and they did not want the system to change.

Slaves at Work Most slaves worked on plantations. Men, women and children over six years of age worked hour days no matter what! Slaves may have also cooked, cleaned and taken care of their owners children. Other slaves learned skilled crafts.

Slave Families Like all people every slave child had parents, but at anytime an owner could sell a slave to someone that lived far away. At slave auctions, slaves were sold to the highest bidders and families were torn apart, many times they never saw each other again.

Slaves Rebel Slaves had no control of their own lives and could not go to school. If a slave did something the owner did not like, the owner would beat the slave. The slaves did not like these conditions. Some slaves rose up in a rebellion while others ran away. Others were afraid to rebel or run away so they decided not to work very hard.

Mutiny on the Amistad A group of Africans were kidnapped from their homes and families. They were chained together and forced into the bottom of a slave ship. The conditions were horrible and many got sick and died. Some were sold to Spanish planters and others were boarded another ship called the Amistad.

Mutiny on the Amistad The Africans made a man named John Cinque their leader. He asked the cook where they were being taken. The cook joked that they were going to be killed and eaten. Cinque and the Africans took over the ship, this is called mutiny. They killed the cook and the captain. They ordered the crew to take them back to Africa. The crew headed towards Africa during the day but at night the secretly tried to sail back to Cuba.

The Amistad is Spotted After many days of zig-zagging through the ocean the Amistad ended up in Long Island Sound. There the Amistad was spotted by an American ship. The Africans were taken to a jail in New Haven. It was a long hard fight for their freedom but they won the trial.

Harriet Beecher Stowe Stowe was born in Litchfield, CT. She was an abolitionist. When she travelled the country she listened to the stories of slaves that had run away. She used her imagination to write Uncle Tom’s Cabin which described the horrors of slavery.

John Brown Brown was born in Torrington, CT. When he was five his family moved to Ohio. He became one of the most famous abolitionists in America. He worked to fight slavery in Kansas but he used violence in his fight. He was arrested and put to death by hanging.

The Underground Railroad The Underground Railroad was not a railroad. It was a secret system to help slaves escape. The people who helped the runaways were called conductors, they hid slaves in their homes, barns or churches. These hiding places were called stations. Many routes went through Connecticut

Things Get Worse The North and South could not agree about slavery and tempers grew hot. Abraham Lincoln was elected president, he wanted the states to solve their problems peacefully. Lincoln was against slavery. The South decided that it did not want to be a part of this country.

The South Leaves the Union One by one the southern states seceded, they said they were no longer part of the Union. The southern states formed their own government called the Confederate States of America or the confederacy. The northern states were called the Union. There were four slave states that did not leave the Union, they were called border states.

War Begins President Lincoln said that states could not secede. He would not allow Americans to break up the country. The Confederacy wanted to be on its own, its men were armed and ready to fight. Soon a civil war began.

Connecticut in the Civil War 10,000 Connecticut men volunteered to fight for the Union. Factories in Connecticut made cannons guns, and uniforms for the war. Connecticut supplied army wagons, buttons for the uniforms, and ships for the Navy.

Boys and Women in the War Most soldiers were at least 18 years old. Boys as young as 9 played drums for the troops. Others went to visit their fathers and stayed on to fight. Many lied about their age. The boys quickly learned the horrors of war and became homesick and scared.

Emancipation Proclamation The Emancipation Proclamation was issued by President Lincoln in the middle of the war. It declared that all slaves in the Confederacy were now free. It did not free the slaves in the border states.

The War Comes to an End After four years of fighting the war ended, the Confederacy lost. Only days after the war ended President Lincoln was assassinated. Soon after the war the Thirteenth Amendment was added to the U.S. Constitution, it abolished slavery forever.

Let’s Review What book did Harriet Beecher Stowe write and why was it famous? Who is Joseph Cinque? What was the main cause of the Civil War? Who was the President of the United States during the Civil War? What were the differences between the North and South?

Let’s Review What was the North’s opinion on slavery? What was the South’s opinion on slavery? Describe the conditions on the Amistad Explain the Amistad’s journey Why was the 15th Amendment important for African Americans? What was the life of a Civil War soldier like? What terrible thing happened after the Civil War ended?