Elementary Academics

1. 5th
grade
Social Studies
Time of Slavery

2. Slavery Divides the Country
• Slavery was part of a larger issue---the
economy by the 1850’s.
• The South had slaves to work on the large
plantations, that produced most of South’s
wealth.
• The North saw slavery as an unjust and
terrible cruelty.

3. Resisting Slavery
• Nat Turner led the most serious revolt in
Southampton County, Virginia.
• Turner’s small band of enslaved people killed
nearly 60 men, women, and children from slave-
owning families.
• Frederick Douglass learned how to read by trading
bread for reading lesson. He learned to write by
tracing the letters on the ships in his neighbors
shipyard.

4. Free African Americans
• By 1850 over 430,000 free African Americans
were living in the U.S.
• Northern states ended slavery, but were prejudice.
• Many times they were barred from public places
such as: lecture halls, hotels, and restqurants.
• Free African American found support by building
commnuities and organizations of their own.

5. Words of Freedom
• By 1860 about 17 African
American newspapers
were printed in the U.S.
• They were read by both
blacks and whites.
• Most famous influential
was the North Star, started
by Frederick Douglass.
• Others were Freeman’s
Advocate, Freedom’s
Journal, and The Mirror
of Liberty.
• The North Star was
read by people all over
the country.
• Douglass named the
paper after the star that
many escaping slave
used to guide
themselves to the
North.

6. Fight for Equality
abolitionist Underground
Railroad
Seneca Falls
Convention
Someone
who wanted
to abolish
or end
slavery in
the U.S.
A system of
secret routes
that escaping
captives
followed to
freedom.
More than 240 people
attended. They
approved the
“Declaration of Rights
& Sentiments.

7. U nderground R ailroad
Levi C offin
A quaker from Indiana who
helped slaves to escape.
C athering C offin
Levi's wife
She fed, clothed & hid slaves
in their house.
H arriet Tubm an
Escaped from slavery through
these routes and went back to help m any
others. N icknam e "M oses".
People who helped with
U nderground R ailroad

8. Nation Heads for War
• To maintain a balance between free states
and slave states, Congress passed the
Missouri Compromise in 1820
• This created an imaginary line from east to
west through the Louisiana Territory.
• Slavery would be allowed in all states south
of the line and forbidden in all states north
og the line except for Missouri

9. Congress Compromises
• Fugitive Slave Law of
1850.
• Would require police
in the free states to
help capture slaves
escaping from slave
states.
• Compromise of 1850
• California would be
admitted as a free
state, which would
benefit the North.
• The North would
agreed to obey the
Fugitive Slave Law.

10. A Divided House
• Kansas-Nebraska Act – allowed the Kansas &
Nebraska territories to decide for themselves
whether to allow slavery.
• Dred Scott Decision – stated that slaves were
property.
• States’ Rights – each state should be allowed to
make its own decision about most issues.
• Lincoln wins election- states secede to form a new
country- the Confederate States of America
• They drafted a constitution and elected a president
– John Davis.