1. Slavery and the Prelude to War: Part II
U.S. and Virginia History

2. Slave REsistance 1831 – Southampton, Virginia
Nat Turner, a slave pastor, leads a slave rebellion – resulted in the death of 57 whites (including women and children)
The rebellion is put down, resulting in the punishment of slaves and free blacks throughout the South – led to harsher slave laws

3. Abolitionist Movement
The abolitionist movement continued to grow in the North during the 1800s
Abolitionist – a person who favors the abolishment of slavery
William Lloyd Garrison – a Massachusetts man who owned an abolitionist newspaper called The Liberator
Garrison, like many northern
abolitionists, saw slavery as a
violation of Christian principles

4. Abolitionist movement
New Englander Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote a novel titled Uncle Tom’s Cabin
The novel inflamed and angered abolitionists in the North with its realistic depiction of slavery
Southerners were angered at
the “unfair” representation of
slave owners and began to
fear the growing strength of the
abolitionists

5. Compromise of 1850
New territory is claimed from Mexico after the Mexican-American War – slave or free?
California enters as a free state, but the rest of the territories are free to decide for themselves – called Popular Sovereignty
Strengthened the Fugitive Slave Act – allowing slave owners to pursue runaway slaves in northern states

6. Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854)
Repealed the Missouri Compromise line and gave the people of Kansas and Nebraska the option of popular sovereignty
This produced much fighting between the pro-slavery Kansans and the anti-slavery Nebraskans
The territory became known as “Bleeding Kansas” due to the number of deaths

7. Dred Scott Decision
Ruled that Dred Scott, a slave, could not sue a white person because he was not a citizen
Also said that no black person (free or slave) was a citizen of the United States
Huge loss for northern abolitionists and African-Americans around the country