Free+African+Americans-Slave+Resistance+1800-1860

 ​ **__Free African Americans__​**


**Debates & Raids** 
 * **250,000** free African Americans lived in slaveholding states at the start of the civil war.
 * Slaves could earn their freedom through purchasing it from their "masters" better known as slave holders. Purchasing their freedom was a difficult task becuase the slaves had to develop a skill seperate from their "masters."
 * An example of a slave buying their freedom was __Elizabeth Keckley__, who obtained freedom for her and her son by sewing. She eventually would work for Mary Todd Lincoln in the White House.
 * [[image:ek.jpg width="214" height="280"]]
 * Some slaves were released because of moral standards that their masters had, or were released when their masters passed away.
 * In **1833**, when __John Randolph__ passed away, his 400 slaves were freed.
 * [[image:john_randolph.jpg width="200" height="254"]]
 * In reality, many slave holders did not want to lose their slaves, so the purchasing of freedom or the release of slaves was minimal.
 * In the **1830's** laws about slavery became stricter. This was due to...
 * <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">__Nat Turner's Revolt__ (see Slave Resistance 1800-1860 for more information). Whites began to think that free blacks would make create more violence and rebellions than slaves would.
 * <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">More communities of free blacks became predominant; this scared whites because it gave slaves an example of the outcome of freedom.
 * <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">The North pushed an abolitionist agitation, which they thought would inspire slaves to rebel.
 * <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">These new laws made it nearly impossible for slaves to become free. These laws also made it so Southern States could not allow free blacks in, and Arkansas made free blacks leave the state.
 * <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">For Free African Americans it limited them in obtaining new jobs, they were not allowed to congragate unless there was a white present, and many more restrictions were enforced.
 * <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">Some free African Americans, mainly in the North, gained wealth and prosperity. They even owned their own slaves, who were mainly family members, so these family members could be freed.
 * <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">Cities such as New Orleans, Natchez, and Charlestown had free black communites which maintained economic stability, untouched by whites.
 * <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">Unfortunetly, it was not the case for most free African Americans who often lived in poverty.
 * <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">[[image:free_african_americans.jpg width="512" height="306"]]
 * <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">Although free African Americans had the burdens of freedom such as supporting themselves, housing, and taxes. They prefered these burdens over slavery.
 * <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">The question of Congress' power to ablosih slavery arose in **1857** with the Dred Scott Decision.
 * <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">He sued for his freedom because he believed he was a free slave due to his residence in the free territory.
 * <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">The case was a triumph for the South.
 * <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">The court determined that Scott was never free. The Missouri Compromise had violated the Constitution, and it was annulled.
 * <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">Overall, it was determined that **Congress had no power to abolish slavery**.

<span style="color: #6d2222; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 190%;">__Slave Resistance__

 * <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">The most **effective** method of resistance was simply refusing to work.
 * <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">Other effective methods were...
 * <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">__stealing__,
 * <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">__sabotage__ by breaking tools or losing them,
 * <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">and __preforming tasks wrong__.
 * <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">An important thing to know is that the issue of the effect of slavery on African Americans is a still a very contraversal debate.
 * <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">On one side, slaves holders argued that slaves we're happy in their condition.
 * <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">The other side, and the more accurate side, is that slaves desired freedom. This is shown when slaves earned their emancipation, practically all slaves reacted in joyous celebration.
 * <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">The reaction of African Americans to slavery was a mixture of both adaptation and resistance. These reactions were shown in two different forms.
 * <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">The first was __"Sambo."__ This reaction was that the slave would act exactly how a white thought a slave acted. For many slaves this was nearly a charade that was acted only when a white was around.
 * <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">The second was a __slave rebel__. These slaves would not accept nor accommadate what they were, instead they rebelled.
 * <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">Slave rebellions were very rare, but just the possiblity of rebellions drove fear deep into white southerners' hearts.
 * <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">In **1800**, __Gabriel Prosser__ rose a rebellion of 1,000 slaves, but it was put down by the Virginia Militia before it began. Prosser and 35 African Slaves were excecuted.
 * [[image:a99d7fbc927724d7e85c5ef0e83d2429.jpg width="338" height="317"]]
 * In **1822**, 9,000 slaves and free africans were planning to revolt, led by the __Charlestown Free Black Denmark Vesey__, but like Prossers Rebellion, it was put down even before it started.
 * In **1833**, in Southampton County, Virginia, __Nat Turner__ led some Africans Americans armed with axes and guns, to white peoples houses. They killed 60 men women and children before they were stopped by the state and federal armies. 100 blacks were excecuted.
 * [[image:nat_turner.jpg width="647" height="345"]]
 * __Nat Turner's Rebellion was the only major rebellion during the 1800's__.
 * As rebellions were going on, some slaves managed to escape to the North or even to Canada.
 * This was due to **underground railroad**, which was assisted by northern whites and free blacks.
 * [[image:underground_railroad1.jpg]] [[image:http://www.blackloyalist.com/canadiandigitalcollection/pics/escape.jpg width="243" height="421"]]
 * The most famous underground railroad was led by __Harriet Tubman__. She rescued around 70 slaves in 13 expeditions.
 * The odds were **high** for a successful escape.
 * The reasons for an unsuccesful escape was becuase of the __distance__, the slaves __ignorance__ of geography, and the __"slave patrols."__
 * __Slave Patrols__- white southerns that stopped wandering africans any where in the South asking for a travel permit. They often had dogs, mainly blood hounds, with them to help track down africans.
 * Althought many were caught and servely punished slaves kept trying to escape. The desire for freedom drove them to run away multiple times.

__ The Sources: __
[|Notes On Dred Scott Decision] [|Information on Harriet Tubman] [|Notes On Slavery During the 1800's] [|Picture of Underground Railroad Routes] [|Picture/Information on the Nat Turner Rebellion] [|Information/Picture of Gabriel Prosser] [|Picture of Dred Scott] [|Picture of Randolph's Slaves] [|Picture of Congress in 1800s] [|Picture Free Slave]