Slavery and the Struggle for Abolition from the Colonial Period to the Civil War

How did legislators, courts, and individuals interact with and interpret the principles of liberty and justice in the quest to end slavery from colonial times to the outbreak of the Civil War?

Objectives:

1. Students will analyze the application of Founding principles of liberty, justice, and equality from colonial times to the outbreak of the Civil War by:
   – Analyzing ideas and actions regarding slavery by examining primary source documents.
   – Examining the ways in which legislation and policy, the courts, and individuals and groups were complementary in the quest to end slavery and the ways in which these methods of change were in conflict.
2. Students will reflect on the ideas, institutions, and individuals in history to understand how we might apply the lessons gleaned from this period to today.

Full Document Set

Abbreviated Document Set

Enactment of Hereditary Slavery Law, Virginia, 1662 Germantown Friends Protest Against Slavery, 1688 An Act for the Better Ordering and Governing of Negroes and Other Slaves, South Carolina, 1740 John Woolman, “Some Considerations on the Keeping of Negroes,” 1754 Thomas Paine, “African Slavery in America,” 1775 Belinda Sutton, Petition to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, 1783 Correspondence between Benjamin Banneker and Thomas Jefferson, August, 1791 Ohio State Constitution, 1803 and Black Code, 1804 U.S. Congress: An Act to Prohibit the Importation of Slaves, 1807 James Forten, from Letter I: Letters from a Man of Color, on a Late Bill before the Senate of Pennsylvania, 1813 U.S. Congress: An Act to Authorize the People of the Missouri Territory to Form a Constitution and State Government (Missouri Compromise), 1820 David Walker, Appeal, in Four Articles, 1829 Maria Stewart Advocates Education for African American Women, 1832 The Underground Railroad and Networks to Freedom William Lloyd Garrison, American Anti-Slavery Society Declaration of Sentiments, 1833 John C. Calhoun, Speech on Abolition Petitions, 1837 U.S. Supreme Court, U.S. v. Amistad 40 US 518, 1841 Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, 1845 Sojourner Truth, “Ain’t I a Woman?”, 1851 Solomon Northup, Twelve Years a Slave, 1853 George Fitzhugh, Sociology for the South, or, The Failure of Free Society, 1854 U.S. Congress, An Act to Organize the Territories of Nebraska and Kansas (Kansas-Nebraska Act), 1854 Abraham Lincoln, Speech on the Repeal of the Missouri Compromise, 1854 U.S. Supreme Court, Dred Scott v. Sandford 60 US 393, 1856 John Brown’s Last Speech, 1859 Harriet Jacobs, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, 1860 Chart: Slave population in 1860

Enactment of Hereditary Slavery Law Virginia, 1662 Thomas Paine, “African Slavery in America,” 1775 Benjamin Banneker’s letter to Thomas Jefferson, 1791 U.S. Congress: An Act to Authorize the People of the Missouri Territory to Form a Constitution and State Government (Missouri Compromise), 1820 The Underground Railroad and Networks to Freedom Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, 1845 Sojourner Truth, Ain’t I a Woman?, 1851 U.S. Congress, An Act to Organize the Territories of Nebraska and Kansas (Kansas-Nebraska Act), 1854 U.S. Supreme Court, Dred Scott v. Sandford 60 US 393, 1856 John Brown’s Last Speech, 1859

 

• Introductory Essay: Slavery and the Struggle for Abolition from the Colonial Period to the Civil War  
• Graphic Organizer: Primary Sources in Lesson 2 
• Concluding Analysis, Lesson 2 
• Appendix, Annotated Founding Documents  
• Answer Key, Lesson 2

The following lesson asks students to consider how Founding principles have or have not been faithfully applied in the quest to end slavery. Students will look at primary source documents as they consider the following question:  How were Founding principles of liberty, equality, and justice invoked or ignored in the quest to end slavery from the colonial era to the outbreak of the Civil War? The documents come from a variety of actors in the American republic: legislators and policy makers, the courts, and individuals and groups. As students go through the documents, encourage them not only to think about the principles of liberty, equality, and justice, but the way in which these groups interact with each other in creating change.  

The main activity in this lesson requires students to conduct primary source analysis as a basis for important conversations. Questions have been provided for each primary source. Teachers may choose to use the provided questions as scaffolds for students or remove them as best suits their teaching situation. Graphic organizers have been provided to use in support.  Students should have the Appendix: Annotated Founding Documents for reference during this lesson.

Cover image used with permission from the National Park Service.