1. African Americans in the New Nation
1783–1820

2. Slave quarters on Boone Hall Plantation, South Carolina
This recent photograph portrays one of several buildings used as slave quarters on Boone Hall Plantation, South Carolina. Built during the mid-seventeenth century, the small brick building housed two African-American families into the Civil War years.

3. Thousands of African Americans won their own freedom by escaping to the North before the Civil War.

4. Forces for Freedom
In postrevolutionary North, slavery not economically essential
Immigration bought cheap, white laborers
Natural rights doctrines, religious morality flourished

5. Northern Emancipation
New England states moved quickly to emancipation
African refused to stay in servitude, whites acquiesced
Struggle against slavery harder in middle states
Massachusetts had “free and equal” clause in constitution
Black men had right to vote
Other middle states’ legislatures took initiative against slavery
Emancipation slow in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania

6. Antislavery Societies in the North and Upper South
Only whites participated in Quaker-dominated organizations
Abolitionists feared immediate emancipation
Elderly slaves would be abandoned
Slaves would require training before freedom
Many slaveholders opposed slavery in abstract, not practice
Antislavery societies in Upper South small, short lived

7. The U.S. Constitution
Constitution major force in favor of continued slavery
Constitution prevented abolishment of slavery until 1808
Gave masters power to pursue escaped slaves
Southern slaveholders given more representation
Fugitive Slave Act of 1793
An act of Congress permitting masters to recapture escaped slaves who had reached the free states and, with the authorization of local courts, return with the slave or slaves to their home state

8. The U.S. Constitution (cont'd)
Three-Fifths Clause
A clause in the U.S. Constitution providing that a slave be counted as three-fifths of a free person in determining a state’s representation in Congress and the electoral college and three-fifths of a free person in regard to per capita taxes levied by Congress on the states

9.
Let’s listen to the struggle over slavery and the creation of the Constitution along with Ben Franklin’s personal struggle with this peculiar institution

10. Conservatism and Racism
Increasing proslavery sentiment among white Americans
Response to radicalism of French Revolution
American valued property rights, including human property
Race used to justify slavery
Laws implied blacks only place was as slaves

11. The First Black Schools
Blacks found own schools
Schools faced great difficulties
Blacks couldn’t afford fees
Some blacks thought education pointless
Whites feared educated blacks would encourage slave revolt
Threats of violence against black schools common

12. This lithograph, c. 1887, portrays the New York African Free School, No. 2
This lithograph, c. 1887, portrays the New York African Free School, No. 2. The New York Manumission Society established the original school in 1787, at 137 Mulberry Street in New York City. Men who later became prominent black abolitionists, such as Henry Highland Garnet and James McCune Smith, attended the school during the 1820s.

13. Slave Uprisings
Some slaves joined revolutionary movements to destroy slavery
Louverture led Haitian uprising, inspired African Americans
In Virginia, Gabriel prepared massive slave insurrection
Gabriel caught before uprising, convicted and hanged

14. Toussaint Louverture (1744–1803)
Toussaint Louverture (1744–1803) led the black rebellion in the French colony of St. Domingue on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola that led to the creation of the independent black republic of Haiti in Louverture became an inspiration for black rebels in the United States.

15. The White Southern Reaction
Fearing race war, whites make black bondage stronger
Southern states outlaw assemblies, increase patrols
Whites assume local free blacks involved in uprisings
Whites advocate forcing blacks to leave U.S.

16. Question
How was the U.S. Constitution, as it was drafted in 1781, proslavery? How was it antislavery?