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| | == Slavery 1800-1840 == | | == Slavery 1800-1840 == |
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| − | <mention abolition of the importation of slaves in 1808>.
| + | The importation of slaves into the United States was banned by Congress at the first available opportunity allowed by the slavery compromise in the Constitution: 1808. But slavery remained the foundation of the economy of many southern states, particularly South Carolina. The dispute over slavery increasingly divided the North, many of whom opposed it, from the South, many of whom relied on it. |
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| − | Tallmadge Amendment 1820: rejected by Senate; it would have outlawed further slave importation into Missouri and freed older ones | + | An example was the Tallmadge Amendment proposed in the Senate in 1820. It would have outlawed further slave importation into Missouri and also would have freed older slaves. But it was defeated because the South was insistent that slave continued to be allowed and even expanded. |
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| − | <reference Missouri Compromise as discussed above>
| + | Why expanded? One reason is that the South feared being outvoted by the North in the Senate if the states abolishing slavery outnumbered the states using it. Slavery thereby became caught up in politics and many bitter conflicts over it occurred in the early 1800s. The Missouri Compromise of 1820, discussed above, settled some issues but by no means all of them. |
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| − | The Compromise of 1850 allowed slavery to continue in D.C. The dreadful Fugitive Slave Act was passed to appease the Southern slave-owners in D.C. and throughout the South.
| + | In 1831, Nat Turner led slave revolt in Virginia, and 57 whites died. That same year William Lloyd Garrison, a fiery Puritan abolitionist in Massachusetts, started the "Liberator" newspaper to demand an end to slavery. Two years later, he founded the American Antislavery Society along with others who opposed the institution of slavery |
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| − | The Fugitive Slave Act required Americans to assist in the recovery of fugitive slaves and denied them the right to a jury trial. This caused 20,000 blacks to flee to Canada. Even free blacks were reportedly captured and sent to be slaves in the South. The abolitionists redoubled their efforts, through use of the Underground Railroad, the resolution of the Compromise of 1850 proved to be only temporary.
| + | By 1836 it became nearly impossible for Congress to function due to the repeated conflicts that would arise over slavery and many other issues that were related to slavery. Paralyzed, Congress instituted a "gag rule" from 1836 to 1844 to prohibit its members from circulating proposals concerning slavery, especially abolutionism (prohibition on slavery). |
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| | + | Then, in 1837, a horrific murder demonstrated that the continued existence of slavery threatened the constitutional rights of free speech and freedom of the press. Elijah Lovejoy, an antislavery newspaper publisher, was murdered in Alton, Illinois by a pro-slavery mob that had crossed the river from the slave state of Missouri. Lovejoy thereby became the first white martyr for abolitionist movement. |
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| | == References == | | == References == |