Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Alessandra Bassani
Mr. Jones
AP US History
15 December 2017
Slavery was the most pressing issue during 1830-1860, causing the North and the South
to split over its expansion into the Western territories. Many Southerners believed this institution
was a positive good, and were influenced by racism to encourage its expansion. Although this
was a common sentiment, the majority of the anti-slavery societies were found in South, causing
conflicting beliefs within the meridional United States. However, the preponderant sentiment in
the North was to stop the expansion of slavery, since they realized the degrading effect this
institution had on families and individuals. Nonetheless, some Northerners felt the issue of
slavery was already settled by the three-fifths compromise and the Constitution, and there was no
reason to revisit it. Due to the opposing views on slavery, many Southerners portrayed the slaves
as necessary elements in society and better off than people living in the North, while many
Northerners protested against the institution itself, and the unfair conditions slaves faced.
With the expanding cotton kingdom, many Southerners saw slavery as a necessity, as the
South was producing half of the world’s supply of cotton. The cotton gin invented by Eli
Whitney in 1793, resulted in the dramatic increase in the demand for slaves. In the picture
“Harvesting Cotton”, it romanticizes slavery by showing a positive image of slaves, as they are
working on a plantation in Mississippi at ease and in harmony (Doc. 5). The slaves were of both
sexes, and they were forced to work long hours, due to the large plantation agriculture that the
South was based upon. Additionally, in the Memoir on Slavery written in 1837 by William
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Harper, it describes how slaves were essential on cotton plantations. Without slaves, “the
cultivation of the great staple crops cannot be carried on in any proportion of our country” and
this is necessary for the economy (Doc. 2). Slaves were the main labor source in the South and
four million of them lived there. If slavery was banned, there would be a labor shortage. The
South would then lose seats in the House of Representatives, since the Three-Fifths Compromise
allowed part of the slave population to count towards the number of seats each state got. In
addition, the South even believed that their slaves were treated better than industrialists and
factory workers in the North. This was the main idea behind the book Cannibals All! by George
Fitzhugh, and it is the central message in the passage that Governor George McDuffie sent to the
South Carolina legislature in 1835. He illustrated how “slaves are greatly superior to those of of
the English [factory] operatives” (Doc. 1). This is due to the fact that they are not “crowded
together in those loathsome receptacles of starving humanity, the public poorhouses” (Doc. 1).
Instead, the slaves enjoyed a better quality of life since their masters took care of them when they
were old. Governor McDuffie delivered this the same year that the post office was burned in
Charleston, South Carolina, which occurred to stop the spread of abolitionist material. This
Many in the North regarded slavery as an evil, and did not want it to expand westward.
However, the majority of Northerners were not abolitionists. In The American Anti-Slavery
Almanac for 1838, it shows a black woman being restricted by an official while her free papers
are being torn (Doc. 3). This was meant to arouse anti-slavery sentiment by illustrating the lack
of rights that African Americans had at this time. Even if they were free, they were in constant
danger of being captured and becoming a slave again, particularly in the wake of the Fugitive
Slave Act of 1850. In addition, in the “Address to the Slaves of the United States of America,”
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slavery at the National Negro Convention in Buffalo, New York in 1843. He mentiones how a lot
of “misery is comprehended in that single word”, and “he who brings his fellow down so low”
by making them a slave “commits the highest crime against God and man” (Doc. 4). Being a
former slave, Garnet wanted fellow abolitionists to understand the struggles and degradation
slaves faced. Also, by framing slavery as totally evil, Garnet was expressing how the institution
forced slaves to comply with the harsh way of life, although it went against God. Harriet Beecher
Stowe, an abolitionist, published Uncle Tom’s Cabin in 1852, and this book describes the torture
slaves faced from the splitting of families. This helped to propagate abolitionist sentiment, and
make a war inevitable. Additionally, Abraham Lincoln, a Republican, gave a speech in Peoria,
Illinois in October 1854, which described how slavery went against the symbolism of the
undermining the principles of progress and fatally violating the noblest political system ever
saw” (Doc. 6). The United States was supposed to represent freedom, however people were
being subject to slavery and losing their liberties. Consequently, Republicans opposed the idea of
popular sovereignty that Louis Cass, the 1848 Democratic candidate, and Stephen Douglas, a
representative from Illinois, promoted. This is due to the fact that there was a chance slavery
could spread westward, since the people were given the power to decide the issue of slavery in
their state. In increasing numbers, Northerners wanted to stop the spread of slavery due to the
The North and the South had different views on slavery due to their geological location
and use for slavery. Although debated, the South needed slaves for cotton plantations, causing
many to support its expansion westward. Many Northerners saw the institution as an evil that
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was destroying mankind, and protested for the creation of more free states. However, most of the
anti-slavery societies were located in the South, and some Northerners still did not believe
slavery was an issue they needed to invest in. These different views would erupt into Civil War,
since the sectional divide would become too strong for the safety of the United States.