Laws and Slavery

Rules vs. Laws

• Rule: something that says how to act or behave

• Laws: a group of rules that are controlled by authority (government)

• Can you break a rule? Can you break the law? What is the difference?

Legal vs. Illegal

• Legal and illegal are 2 words used when talking about laws.

• Legal: the law says it is okay

• Illegal: the laws says it is not okay

• What happens if you do something illegal?

In the beginning…

• 1619: The first slaves arrived in Virginia from Africa.

• 168 YEARS later in 1787, slavery was made illegal in the Northwest Territory.

• This territory made up only 5 states: Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio.

Federal Fugitive Slave Law

• 1793: fugitive slave laws are passed.

• If slaves escape, they are returned back to their slave owners even if they had crossed into a different (or free) state.

A poster warning “colored” people in Boston, Massachusetts.

The poster tells them to be careful because there are “kidnappers” and “slave catchers” collecting them for money.

Posters for Runaway Slaves

• In 1808, Congress bans slaves coming in (imported) from Africa.

• In 1820, the Missouri Compromise is passed.

• This law made slavery illegal north of the southern boundary of Missouri.

Famous African-Americans

• In 1822, a man named Denmark Vesey planned a slave revolt.

• Vesey was a carpenter who had bought his freedom.

• He planned for a group of slaves to fight and escape from Charleston, South Carolina.

• His plan was discovered and he was hanged along with 34 other slaves.

• Nat Turner was an African-American slave and preacher.

• In 1831, he leads the most important fight for slaves in Virginia.

• The U.S. military quiets the fight and Nat Turner is hanged.

• Also, Virginia has much stronger laws for slaves.

More laws on slavery…

• The Compromise of 1850: California becomes a free state and the slave trade is made illegal in Washington D.C.

• The Dred Scott Case in 1857 says that Congress cannot ban slavery in states and that slaves are not citizens.

• In 1861, the Confederacy starts and separates from the rest of the United States. The Civil War also begins.

• In 1863, President Abraham Lincoln gives the Emancipation Proclamation that all slaves are freed in Confederate states.

• In 1865, the Civil War ends. • President Lincoln is

assassinated. • The 13th Amendment

abolishes slavery in the U.S.• On June 19th 1865, slavery

officially ends as 250,000 slaves in Texas get the news about the 13th Amendment.