The over-arching theme of chapter 16 is that antebellum (pre-Civil War) society in the South was built on slave labor.
1. Cotton ran the South before the Civil War— it was "King Cotton." The entire southern economy was based on cotton.
2. The South had developed a pyramid-like social structure. From top-to-bottom: planter aristocrats, small farmers, the white majority (who owned no slaves), free blacks, slaves.
3. Life as a slave could be wildly varied—some slave owners were kind toward their slaves, some were immensely cruel. In all situations, slaves were not free to do as they pleased.
4. Abolition (move to abolish slavery) began with the Quakers. Frederick Douglass became the main spokesman against slavery. And William Lloyd Garrison printed "The Liberator", a radical abolition newspaper.
5. Southerners countered that northern workers were treated even worse than slaves. Slave owners, they said, had a vested interest in their slaves. Northern factory workers exploited then fired their workers.
| 104253857 | Lane Rebels | In 1832 Theodore Dwight Weld went to the Lane Theological Seminary in Cincinnati, Ohio. The Seminary was presided over by Lyman Beecher. Weld and some of his comrades were kicked out for their actions of anti-slavery. The young men were known as the "Lane Rebels." They helped lead and continue the preaching of anti-slavery ideas. | |
| 104253858 | David Walker | He was a black abolitionist who called for the immediate emancipation of slaves. He wrote the "Appeal to the Colored Citizens of the World." It called for a bloody end to white supremacy. He believed that the only way to end slavery was for slaves to physically revolt. | |
| 104253859 | Nat Turner | Black priest; led a revolt in Virginia 1831, killed 60 people(mostly women and children). This scared the Southerners because it was the first really violent action of the slaves. As a result slave codes were made stricter. | |
| 104253860 | Sojourner Truth | Sojourner Truth was a freed slave who lived in America during the late 1800's. She was also known as Isabella. From her home in New York she waged a constant battle for the abolition of slavery. She was also a prominent figure in the fight for women's rights. | |
| 104253861 | Theodore Dwight Weld | Theodore Dwight Weld was a prominent abolitionist in the 1830's. He was self-educated and very outspoken. Weld put together a group called the "Land Rebels." He and his group traveled across the Old Northwest preaching antislavery gospel. Weld also put together a propaganda pamphlet called American Slavery As It Is. | |
| 104253862 | Frederick Douglass | A former slave who was an abolitionist, gifted with eloquent speech and self-educated. In 1838 he was "discovered" as a great abolitionist to give antislavery speeches. He swayed many people to see that slavery was wrong by publishing "Narrative of the Life of Fredrick Douglass" which depicted slavery as being cruel. He also looked for ways politically to end slavery. |
