Slavery of American Civil War.pptVIP

Slavery of American Civil War Slavery in America Slaves first arrived in America in Virginia in 1619. The Underground Railway was a way by which slaves could find freedom. about 50,000 to 100,000 people used the Underground Railroad to escape to their freedom The Civil War was fought partly over the issue of slavery. Slavery during the Civil War Slavery was not the single cause of the Civil war. Abraham Lincoln was elected as president of the United States in 1860. White Southerners were not convinced by Lincoln’s promise to protect slavery where it existed. December 1861 In February 1861, a month before Lincoln was inaugurated, these states formed a new nation, the Confederate States of America. The main cause of secession for the White South was the right to preserve African American slavery within their borders. In the beginning months of the war, slaves who escaped to Union lines were returned to their masters in conformity with the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. Beginning Lincoln, the Republican, won with a plurality of popular votes and a majority of electoral votes. Many slave owners in the South feared that the real intent of the Republicans was the abolition of slavery in states where it already existed, and that the sudden emancipation of four million slaves would be problematic for the slave owners and for the economy that drew its greatest profits from the labor of people who were not paid. They also argued that banning slavery in new states would upset what they saw as a delicate balance of free states and slave states. They feared that ending this balance could lead to the domination of the industrial North with its preference for high tariffs on imported goods. The combination of these factors led the South to secede from the Union, and thus began the American Civil War. When given the choice, slaves made it very clear that they wanted emancipation. The overwhelming majority of slaves, however, remained on their plantations in the countryside. Even t