REFORM Day 2 The Abolitionists American History I Mr. Hensley SRMHS
Life Under Slavery Growing: doubling to 2 million from 1810-30 1830: majority of slaves are American-born Most slaves (70%) are on large plantations Slave Codes impose harsh punishments; forbid education
Slave Code Examples "If any slave resists his master...correc:ng such a slave, and shall happen to be killed in such correc:on...the master shall be free of all punishment...as if such accident never happened. "The slave who, having struck his master, his mistress, or the husband of his mistress, or their children, shall have produced a bruise, or the shedding of blood in the face, shall suffer capital punishment. "Any slave who shall write for any other slave, any pass or free-paper, upon convic:on, shall receive, on his or her back, one hundred lashes for the first offence, and seven hundred lashes for every offence thereafer..."
Defending Slavery Justifications Given by Southerners: Bible says it is OK Slavery benefits Africans Slaves are happy Slaves are better off than wage-slaves in the North because they can t be fired
Slave Revolts Turner is a slave in VA, allowed to preach 1831: seventy slaves organize under Turner and revolt, killing 60 whites Militia puts down revolt, hundreds are killed in retaliation Southern response is to make slave codes more harsh Nat Turner
Abolition Movement William Garrison: immediate emancipation David Walker: we must fight for freedom Frederick Douglass: escapes to freedom; founds his own newspaper in 1847 Like civil rights, some abolitionists were nonviolent while some advocated violence Back to Africa movement
Great Aboli:on Newspapers Douglass edits The North Star Garrison runs the Liberator Many Southern states prohibit sending aboli:on literature through the mails It can be a felony to be caught with aboli:onist literature in the South
Meet Free Frank 1777: George McWhorter jumps the fence and Frank is born. 1795: McWhorter family (including Frank) moves to eastern Kentucky. Father hires his son out as a laborer. 1799: Frank marries Lucy, a nearby slave. 1810: Frank starts hiring himself out and starts saltpeter business in Pennyroyal, KY. 1815: George dies without freeing Frank in his will. 1815-1819: Frank buys out his wife and two of his children. 1819: Frank buys his own freedom (from half-brother) for $800 - lists his name as Free Frank
More Free Frank 1819: wife s former master sues Frank for $212 and Frank uses a novel legal defense. 1829: Frank owns 800 acres in KY but deals with constant racism and hostility. 1830: Frank moves to Illinois but has to post a $1,000 security bond with 20 references. 1837: Frank founds New Philadelphia. 1850: Frank buys his oldest son out of slavery. 1854: Aged 77, Free Frank dies.
Second Great Awakening Revivals: everyone responsible for their own salvation (Baptists and Methodists) Reaction against Deism and rationalism Revival Movement brings a segregated Christianity to slaves
1830: Joseph Smith publishes Book of Mormon 1844: Smith killed in Illinois 1847: Mormons led by Brigham Young begin to settle Utah Territory ( Deseret ) 1857: Utah War Mormons
Transcendentalism Intuition is superior to rationality, self-reliance and individualism outweigh blind conformity to custom, tradition, and authority 1840 s: Philosophical movement led by Ralph Waldo Emerson Emphasis on self-reliance, on rejecting organized religion. Truth cannot be found in the physical world Henry David Thoreau: Live the life you have imagined
School Reform Horace Mann of Pennsylvania No comprehensive or uniform system of public education 1834: PA establishes a taxsupported (optional) educational system 1837-49: Mann of MA establishes teacher training programs, increases budget for public education School not compulsory until 20th Century
Prison Reform 1843: Dorothea Dix begins to advocate to remove the mentally ill from prisons 1852: Nine Southern states have set up hospitals for the mentally ill because of Dix s efforts Reformers emphasize rehabilitation and treatment over isolation and punishment Dorothea Dix
American Literature Edgar Allen Poe Margaret Fuller: 1st female foreign correspondent (The Dial) Ralph Waldo Emerson: essayist Henry David Thoreau: On Civil Disobedience Nathaniel Hawthorne: novelist (Scarlet Letter) Herman Melville