End of Slavery

It started around the 1800s; slavery was viewed as being wrong.  The people who worked to abolish slavery were called abolitionists. There were several disagreement on slavery. In 1861, the civil war broke out , the North won and slavery became illegal in 1865. This was done of course thanks to President Abraham Lincoln which created the statement that freed slaves called the Emancipation Proclamation. The U.S constitution was changed, and the 13^th Amendment declared that slavery would always be illegal in the United States. Even though the slave owners didn’t agree with slavery being abolished the North were able to make it illegal. Slave owners depended on slave work for money.  Although many Northerners wanted the South to change, they were going to enforce it.  So that’s when the two side decided to fight which settled this issue permanently. During the war President Abraham Lincoln took the time to risk telling the South what to do and he wrote the Emancipation Proclamation in 1862. Emancipation means freedom and Proclamation is a statement made by a ruler like the president. It freed slaves in the South, the looks in their faces must have been full of joy and happiness. They were no longer anyone’s property.. they were FREE at last! 

A Difficult Escape

Escaping wasn’t easy. Slave owners observed every move, every motion slaves made. Slaves had a way of getting their freedom, which was using the Underground Railroad. This wasn’t an actual railroad and it did not travel underground.  It was a secret pathway and safe houses slaves used to escape from the South, where slavery was legal, to the north, where they could be free. However slaves knew they were risking their lives, and running away was a crime. A slave who ran away once would receive a terrible beating, punishment by their slave owners. They did this to remind other slaves to not attempt to leave the South. The second or third time a slave would be punished with death. The South was full of security, it was watched by police and slave catchers. They wanted to make sure their slaves weren’t trying to escape; they had to secure the area, and look out for any slaves. A slave that had no idea of where he was going, or didn’t have the right place to hide were usually caught within a day or two of running away from their plantations. It was difficult to escape, and the consequences they will have to face if caught by one of the slave catchers were terrible.


http://www.misterteacher.com/american%20slavery/introduction.html

Why Africans !?

The first slave owners were not Europeans but several native American tribes including the Klamath, Pawnee, Yurok, Creek, Mandan and Comance all of them had small numbers of slaves. However white European Americans were the ones to create the institution of slavery that we are all familiar with.  People from northern states profited from the slave trade by shipping the African American to the Americas as slaves. This is were it all started and the history of slavery basically began. By 1860, there were about four million slaves in the country. We ask ourselves why Africans out of all people. Well Europeans began enslaving Africans in the 1400’s.  African slaves and European indentured servants lived similar lives however the servants were able to get their freedom. African Americans were forced into a life of servitude. Slaves began loosing their rights once they became property. Laws gave masters power over many slaves, which included the right to kill and mistreat them. White slave owners began to think that they were superior than the blacks. This increased the gap between slaves and freedom. The American Civil War was fought, over slavery. President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation which freed all the slaves. The North won in 1865, and it brought an end of slavery in the United States. 

http://school.discoveryeducation.com/schooladventures/slavery/world.html