Resistance to Slavery

1
Resistance to Slavery
2
New Fugitive Slave Act

• VERY harsh!
• Northerners resisted it
• Helped runaway slaves go to Canada
• Tried to free slaves in prisons
• Passed state laws that counteracted the items in
  the Fugitive Slave Act.

3
Underground Railroad

• Abolitionists started the underground railroad to
  help slaves escape North.
• Harriet Tubman was the most famous conductor.
• Made 19 trips and helped 300 slaves escape.

4
Uncle Toms Cabin

• Abolitionist Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote Uncle
  Toms Cabin in 1852.
• Accurately depicted treatment of slaves.
• Opened Northerners eyes to the brutality.
• Sold over 1 million copies by 1853 (total
  population was 23 million).

5
Popular Sovereignty in Territories

• Popular sovereignty for slavery states get to
  choose whether they are free or slave.
• Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 made this a
  possibility.
• Northerners angry.
• Southerners happy.
• Allowed the possibility of slavery in previously
  non-slave states.

6
Kansas Issue

• Missouri slave holders crossed the border into
  Kansas to vote slave state.
• They won.
• Abolitionists in Kansas were angry.
• They set up an anti-slavery town, Lawrence.
• Lawrence was sacked by pro-slavery men.
• Destroyed buildings, looted houses.

7
Abolitionist John Brown

• John Brown was a strong abolitionist.
• He thought 5 men were killed at Lawrence (they
  werent), so he retaliated by killing 5
  pro-slavery men.
• Brown admired the slave rebellion in Haiti.
• Tried to start a similar rebellion w/slaves in
  Harpers Ferry, Virginia.
• Rebellion failed to startBrowns men killed.
• Brown was hanged for treason.