Chapter 5

African Americans

in the New Nation

1783-1820

Northern Emancipation

New England--Slavery collapsed quickly

African Americans refused to remain in bondage

Most white people complied without protest Massachusetts

» African men who paid taxes could vote, 1783» Manumissions – The legal freeing of slaves

Northern Emancipation (cont.)

Mid-Atlantic states--New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania

Investment in slaves greater than in New England

Pennsylvania approved gradual emancipation, 1780; New York, 1799

Slave Populations in the Mid-Atlantic States, 1790–1860

Manumission and Self-Purchase

Looser laws after the Revolution Hundreds of slave holders in Upper South freed

slaves Religious sentiment and natural rights principles

Self-purchase agreements Masters make a profit

Unprofitable investments– Changing crops– Old age

The Emergence of a Free Black Class in the South

Free black class grew in Upper South Self-purchase, and freedom suits Maryland and Virginia had the largest population

Deep South Much smaller group

Generally the illegitimate children of slave holders

North Carolina made manumissions more difficult after 1777

Emancipation and Slavery in the Early Republic

This map indicates the abolition policies adopted by the states of the Northeast between 1777 and 1804, the antislavery impact of the Northwest Ordinance of 1787, and the extent of slavery in the South during the early republic.

The United States Constitution

Slaveholder compromise – to create a more powerful central government

Clauses designed to maintain slavery in the south Continuing the Atlantic Slave Trade for 20 years Fugitive Slave Act Captured slaves in the North must be returned

Three Fifths compromise When counting population of a state, slaves count as three fifths a

person

Cotton Gin – 1793

Cotton is King

Eli Whitney invented cotton gin in 1793 provided an easy and quick way to remove the seeds from cotton

British demand for cotton grows. From 3,000 to 178,000 bales per year between 1790-1810.

Old tobacco growers began to profit from cotton.

Louisiana Purchase

Louisiana Purchase

Doubles the size of the United States.

Would the new territory be free or slave land?

Popular Sovereignty - people on the land decide

Scientific Racism

Belief was blacks were unsuited for freedom so declaration of independence didn’t apply.

1770’s – a study determined that blacks were from a separate species from whites, closer to the great apes then whites.

1780’s Jefferson argued that science proves that blacks are inferior to whites in both body and mind.

Cool Down

What role did the US constitution play in strengthening slavery and supporting the interests of slave owners?