Ethics Curriculum Project

Scenarios about slavery in the 18th and 19th century are described below for use in American history, world history, civics and law courses to draw students into the complexity of the policies and practices related to slavery in relationship to geography, economics and social issues in America and the world. Choose the ones that best fit your curriculum. Scenario topics include the development of slave trade in Rhode Island and Massachusetts, the triangle of trade and the middle passage, the African slave ports and European involvement and laws about slavery.

Activity #1: Dirty Family Secrets: How northern families got rich on the slave trade and textile industry

Background for the teacher: The story of the DeWolf Family of Bristol, RI is used to have students consider the personal moral issues of being involved in the slave trade. The concepts of slavery, justification of it and the growth of slavery will be developed as students struggle with how they would feel if this were their family’s history. They will learn about the mechanics of the slave trade, its place in the fabric of the society northern society, the experience of the slaves, the slave traders, the slave owners and the duplicity of others not directly involved.

Standards addressed in Activity #1: Dirty Family Secrets
National History Standard 2A - The student understands how the factory system and the transportation and market revolutions shaped regional patterns of economic development. Explain how the major technological developments that revolutionized land and water transportation arose and analyze how they transformed the economy, created international markets, and affected the environment. [Analyze cause-and-effect relationships]

Florida State Sunshine Standard 2: The student understands the interactions of people and the physical environment.
2.6. Understands the relationships between resources and the exploration, colonization, and settlement of different regions of the world.

Activity #1, Part I: Information on why the slave trade developed, the triangle trade and middle passage, a timeline of events, who was involved and ship-building is provided for you to discuss in class or have students read to develop their background on the topic.

You could divide the class into five groups with each group studying the background information provided and presenting it to the class.

After each group has presented a summary of the background information they have studied to the whole class, review the information by asking the class to answer the following questions for discussion:

Why the slave trade developed:
Slavery in the U.S. is mainly seen as a Southern issue. The truth is that most Northern states, especially Rhode Island and Massachusetts, had slaves and owned the ships that brought slaves from Africa. In the 1800’s, 100% of the Northern textile industry used cotton grown by slaves . Sugar and tobacco also drove the U.S. market for slaves, but eventually tobacco prices fell, making cotton an even more valuable crop. Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin in 1793. It automatically separated the sticky green seeds from the fluffy white cotton. Why didn’t this reduce the need for slave labor? Because it meant that even more cotton could be produced for sale so the demand for slaves to plant, tend and harvest the cotton actually increased.

New Englanders had limited options for making money. The soil was poor and the growing season was short. The coastline is dotted with protected harbors. In the 1700s and 1800s, it was often easier to travel by boat than by land. Ship building grew because people needed boats to travel and to trade. Advances in water transportation meant New England could bring in sugar, molasses, cotton and other goods. They could make rum, textiles and iron bars to buy slaves in Africa that they could sell in Cuba, and later Brazil and other parts of Spanish America. Their lack of other ways to make money, and their skill in the ways of the sea fueled their ambitions so the slave trade grew quickly.

In 1709 the first Rhode Island ship sailed to Africa to trade for slaves. By 1740, there were 150 slave ships in Newport alone. In 1791, a merchant in Newport, Rhode Island named William Ellery, wrote: “An Ethiopian could as soon change his skin as a Newport merchant could be induced to change so lucrative a trade as that in slaves for the slow profits of any manufactory.”

It is reported that a merchant in Newport complained because of the blood spattered on his store when slaves were beaten at a nearby whipping post. Slaves worked as servants in the homes of rich people, in factories and on farms, building stone walls. How could New Englanders, who came here to be free, be so heavily invested in slavery?

The Triangle of Trade and Middle Passage:
The slave trade grew quickly in Rhode Island. Following the American Revolution in 1776, Rhode Islanders controlled 60-90% of the slave trade. They could build ships, outfit them with sailors, provisions and goods, make the rum and cotton cloth to trade for slaves, make the voyage to Africa, complete the “middle passage” from Africa to the slave markets in places like Cuba and Haiti and sail home with sugar, molasses and big profits to prepare to repeat the journey. This “triangle of trade” supplied Spanish America, and the American South with slaves. From the 17th to 19th centuries, it is estimated that 12 million Africans were brought to the Americas. More than a million may have died on the middle passage. Only about 5.4%, or 645,000, were shipped to what is now the United States. By 1860, the census listed 4 million slaves. Even after importing slaves became illegal in 1808, New Englanders continued to supply the international market with slaves.

The “triangle of trade” was very profitable. By the early 1800’s, the DeWolf family (of Bristol, Rhode Island) were going to west Africa to places like Ghana to trade the rum they made in their distilleries for slaves. The rum may have been made for as little as 5½ pence a gallon (11 cents in 2008 U.S. money). For £4 (USD $7.90/2008) or £5 (USD $9.87/2008) in rum or bar iron, they could buy a slave that would sell for anywhere from £30 (USD $59.27/2008) to £80 (USD $158/2008) in the West Indies. They had plantations in Cuba to grow the sugar to make the rum back in Rhode Island. They built ships with as little room as possible, lining the slaves up, like spoons in slots, in which they could hardly move so they could carry more slaves in each trip.

Most of the imported Africans lived in the South (95%) and made up about a third of the population. Slaves were only 1% of the population of the North, but the slave trade fueled the economy in the North, and indeed the whole country. Slave trading, slave labor, making cotton cloth , making rum to trade for slaves, and taxes on slaves created a lot of wealth in the early 1800’s.

It was called the triangle of trade because of the triangular shape that the three legs of the journey made. The first leg was the journey from Europe to Africa where goods were exchanged for slaves. The second, or middle, leg of the journey was the transportation of slaves to the Americas. It was called the 'middle passage.' The third and final leg of the journey was the transport of goods from the Americas back to Europe. Source: African Cultural Center

Who was involved in slave trading?
The effects of the New England slave trade were momentous. It was one of the foundations of New England's economic structure; it created a wealthy class of slave-trading merchants, while the profits derived from this commerce stimulated cultural development and philanthropy.
--Lorenzo Johnston Greene, “The Negro in Colonial New England, 1620-1776,” p.319.

The most famous family names in New England were involved in the slave trade and became wealthy as a result. These families built schools, churches, and libraries. Their many businesses had hundreds of employees. Almost everyone during that time was either directly or indirectly involved in the slave trade. Ship builders, sail makers, ironsmiths, leather tanners, textile weavers, lawyers, and bankers all made money by producing goods or providing services that pertained to the success of slavery. The slave trade produced work for many people, but its monetary success was based on buying and selling human beings.

New England's manufacturing success was based on money made in shipping related to the slave trade. Africans were imported to the Americas and slave-grown cotton was exported to England. Pennsylvania wheat and Rhode Island rum supplied the slave-labor colonies in the Caribbean.

James DeWolf of Bristol, Rhode Island became the largest slave trader in the United States, and his son and grandson continued in the trade throughout the 1800’s, even after importing slaves was banned. Thomas Jefferson, among others, looked the other way as they built slave ships and kept the triangle of trade going.

The Slave Ships:
Most wealth in early New England was based on ship building. Shipyards built solid, seaworthy vessels carrying enough sail to make good time. The triangle trade route was supported by the prevailing winds from the west to make the voyage to Europe and from the east to make the voyage from Africa. The triangle trade voyage could take anywhere from 40 to 150 days. There was no typical size of ship used to transport slaves. A small ship could hold 200 and a large ship up to 600 men, women and child slaves.

The slave ships were specially designed with two or three times the number of decks below as a normal ship. Each deck was outfitted with cells, only 3 feet 3 inches high and 13 inches wide. Except when they were allowed to come up on deck once a day, the Africans spent all of their time in these cells. Many died, became very sick or jumped overboard rather than go below again. The New Englanders, known for being thrifty, wanted to fit as many people onto each ship as possible. “The human cargo was laid in carefully like spoons in a silverware case.” Photo Source: AfricanHistory.com

When the British (in 1763) proposed a tax on sugar and molasses, Massachusetts merchants pointed out that these items were staples of the slave trade, and that the loss of them would throw 5,000 seamen out of work in the colony and idle almost 700 ships.

When it became illegal to import slaves in 1808, New Englanders transported slaves along the coast of the country, such as from Baltimore to New Orleans and continued to import slaves for the slave markets in the Caribbean and South America. William Lloyd Garrison made his first mark as an anti-slavery man by printing attacks on New England merchants who shipped slaves from Baltimore to New Orleans.

Timeline – Slave Trading:
What does this timeline tell you about slave trading? What patterns do you see? What is the story it tells about slavery?

Activity #1, Part II: Give the students a copy of the following scenario to read. Ask them to pretend that they are a direct descendant of Captain James DeWolf. If they had the opportunity to write him a letter telling him what they think of the “family business,” what would they write? In a short letter, have them describe their feelings about what they think would have been the ethical thing for the family to do and explain why to DeWolf.

For the Students
Scenario: Your grandmother just sent you a history of your family - the DeWolfs of Bristol, Rhode Island. In it, she refers to the “despicable slave trade” of Captain James DeWolf. Horrified, you start to ask questions of other family members and are told to “let sleeping dogs lie.” As you start to investigate, you discover that your ancestors may have been the largest slave traders in American in the 1800’s, even after the 1808 ban on importing slaves! You find out that they were well known to the European and African slave traders in Ghana where their rum and textiles were highly valued. They had plantations in Cuba to grow sugar to make the rum. The family involved people throughout the region in making textiles, rum and even manacles for the slaves. Why haven’t you know heard about this before? What do you do with this information? How did these people justify what they did in a country founded on the idea that “all men are created equal?”

Digital History, 12-Dec-07

Hugh Thomas, “The Slave Trade,” N.Y.: Simon & Schuster, 1997, p.519.

Ronald Segal (1995). The Black Diaspora: Five Centuries of the Black Experience Outside Africa. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, p. 4. ISBN 0-374-11396-3. “It is now estimated that 11,863,000 slaves were shipped across the Atlantic. [Note in original: Paul E. Lovejoy, "The Impact of the Atlantic Slave Trade on Africa: A Review of the Literature," in Journal of African History 30 (1989), p. 368.] ... It is widely conceded that further revisions are more likely to be upward than downward.”

Quick guide: The slave trade. bbc.co.uk (March 15, 2007).

Stephen D. Behrendt, David Richardson, and David Eltis, W. E. B. Du Bois Institute for African and African-American Research, Harvard University. Based on "records for 27,233 voyages that set out to obtain slaves for the Americas". Stephen Behrendt (1999). "Transatlantic Slave Trade", Africana: The Encyclopedia of the African and African American Experience. New York: Basic Civitas Books. ISBN 0-465-00071-1.

Introduction - Social Aspects of the Civil War

James M. McPherson (1996). Drawn with the Sword: Reflections on the American Civil War. New York: Oxford University Press, p. 15. ISBN 0-19-509679-7.

Digital History, 12-Dec-07

SlaveNorth.com

Additional resources:
Traces of the Trade – book and movie that profiles the successful slave trading DeWolf Family of Rhode Island
African Cultural Center – Excellent map of the triangle trade routes
Slavery in the North – Comprehensive website on the Northern States involvement, lots of resources
Animated maps and images of the Underground Railroad – produced by the National Park Service
The Underground Railroad – an interactive and animated website by National Geographic that explains the movement of slaves in North America.
African American History – Thirty-three slavery photographs and images
Son of the South – Rare images of slaves and slave life, as well as extensive resources on the slave trade.
Slavery In America – A wealth of grade appropriate lesson plans to supplement the module
The Slave Narratives. (1999). Film, 22 minutes, color. Produced by ABC News. Distributed by Films for the Humanities and Sciences.
Flight to Freedom: The Underground Railroad. (1995). 120 minutes, color. Produced and directed by John Overlan and Ann Spurling. Distributed by Films for the Humanities and Sciences.
A Forgotten History: The Slave Trade and Slavery in New England. Explores the nature of the triangular trade and the extent of slavery in New England. It discusses the effects of the trade in slaves and of slavery itself for the new Americans of the time and helps students to understand how history, and the telling of history, affects us today. $16 downloaded teacher set. High School Level. Produced by The Watson Institute of International Studies, Brown University.

You may also be able to get the documentary, “Traces of the Trade” about a descendant of James DeWolf who traced her family’s involvement in the slave trade with visits to Rhode Island, Africa and the Caribbean. For more information, go to http://www.tracesofthetrade.org/

Activity #2: Brother Against Brother: The arguments for and against slavery

Background for the teacher: Although slavery was not invented by Americans in the 18th century, the number of Africans bought and sold during the slave trade made it one of the greatest human disasters in history. Both the Northern and Southern states depended on slavery to make money. While very few people in the North were against slavery, even fewer people in the South were against slavery.

Throughout history people have fought against humans being treated unkindly, disrespectfully and unfairly. Slavery, no matter what form it takes is a harsh system. Yet it grew rapidly in the United States because it made money for a lot of people. According to the 1856 Reynolds Political Map of the United States, before the Civil War our country was about fifty percent free and fifty percent slave.

The arguments against slavery included: the dangerous and poor working conditions, low pay, long hours, it was morally wrong, and that it was dehumanizing to treat people as though they were property. Animals were considered property without rights, and could be bought, sold and even killed by their owners, but people were considered to be responsible for treating each other fairly.
Image Source: Library of Congress

Arguments for slavery were based on non-African people saying that Africans were not human in the same way, that they enjoyed the captivity, and that if there were not slaves then the whole economic system would collapse.

In this activity, students are asked to consider the real case of the Brown family in which brothers disagreed about the issue of slavery—an issue which divided many families. Disagreements about ethical issues may happen in your students’ families as well, so this is an opportunity for them to learn to think through an issue and to develop a position they can support with reason as an alternative to fighting or walking away from disagreements.

In later classes you may wish to show the movie Amazing Grace, a 2006 film (118 minutes) that is based on a true story about a member of the English Parliament, William Wilberforce and his efforts to end the English slave trade. The title comes from the well known song that was written by a minister during this time. There are interactive discussion tools in the “extras” section.”

Standards addressed in this lesson:
National History Standard 3B: The student understands how the debates over slavery influenced politics and sectionalism. Analyze how the debates over slavery--from agitation over the "gag rule" of the late 1830s through the war with Mexico--strained national cohesiveness and fostered rising sectionalism. [Compare and contrast differing sets of ideas]

Florida Sate Sunshine Standard 4: The student understands U.S. History to 1880
4.5 The student understands the significant political events that took place during the early national period.
6. understands the military and economic events of the Civil War and Reconstruction.

Activity #2, Part I: Information on the arguments for slavery, the arguments against slavery, a timeline of abolition events, the true story of John and Moses Brown of Rhode Island and whether the Europeans were for or against slavery is provided as background for students for this activity. You can summarize this material for the students, give copies to each student as assigned reading, or divide the class into five groups and assign one of the topics to each group to study. Have each group present a summary of the material to the class as a whole.

For Students

What were the arguments for slavery?
People used the Bible to say that the “Israelites,” who were “God’s” chosen people, owned slaves, and that there is nothing in the scripture that says it is bad. They also said that any organization created by humans was always imperfect, so it was okay to own slaves.

One of the main arguments was that it was “good business” to own slaves and that it had always been done in the past by great societies such as the Romans and Greeks. They said that without slaves, the founding of the United States would never have happened because we would not have been able to stand on our own.

Other people used the argument that good, upstanding people had slaves so it must be okay. In fact, four early presidents of the United States owned slaves.

Another argument tried to label Africans as a different kind of human being, not capable of managing for themselves or able to be trusted. While some slave owners thought of their slaves as “family,” they never thought of them as equals. They were considered “childlike” by some, and dangerous, like animals, by others. When some slaves joined the British in the Revolutionary War, slave owners’ worst fears came true. If slaves could take up arms against white people, especially patriots, they were out of control and dangerous. This led to even harsher treatment of some slaves.

There were inconsistencies in how white people thought and talked about their slaves. Some white people at the time felt that owning a slave was just like having another member of their family, only they believed that not all people are created were equally. Because they did not believe that Africans were equal, they also said they were protecting white women by enslaving them, thus keeping them in their place. Others argued that their slaves were happy because they sang songs and were grateful for someone to take care of them.

What were the arguments against slavery?
Those who argued against slavery used religion, the law and human rights as reasons. Some argued that slavery was against “God’s” will since the Bible specifically says “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” in Matthew 7:12. Another argument from religion was that owning a slave was “covetousness,” which means wanting to own something that does not belong to you. In the Old Testament covetousness is considered a sin.

Some argued that slavery was against the law, especially in the United States since the Declaration of Independence said, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

Other abolitionists said that all people have basic human rights, regardless of whether they are stated by religion or the law of the land. They argued that people should be treated with respect and have the freedom to make decisions about their own lives just because they are human. These people wanted to abolish slavery because if some people could be made slaves, anyone could become a slave. They believed everyone should be free.

Timeline of Abolitionist Events

1644	The first group of blacks in North America asked the government of New Amsterdam (New York) for their freedom.
1688	A group of German Mennonites (a religious group) pass the first formal anti-slavery protest in colonial America.
1732	The colony of Georgia passes a law that prohibits slavery, but in 1749 it was overturned.
1753	The National Council of Colored People is founded in Rochester, N.Y.
1758	The Quakers (a religious group) passes a ban on its members participating in the slave trade.
1775	The American Revolution against Britain starts in Massachusetts.
1776	The Continental Congress, the first congress of the unified colonies, suspends the slave trade.
1777	Vermont becomes the first state to abolish slavery.
1789	Delaware outlaws the slave trade. The Maryland Abolition Society is founded.
1793	Georgia passes a law that prohibits the importation of slaves.
1794	Congress passes a law that prohibits Americans from taking part in the international slave trade.
1808	The importation of slaves into the United States is outlawed.
1820	The Federal Congress declares the international slave trade piracy and punishable by death.
1832	The New England Anti-Slavery Society is founded.
1833	The Maine Anti-Slavery Society is founded.
1835	The Kentucky and Ohio Anti-Slavery Societies are founded.
1838	Frederick Douglass reaches Philadelphia in his flight from slavery.
1842	The U.S. and Britain sign a treaty to end the Atlantic slave trade.
1847	Dred Scott files suit to claim his freedom.
1852	After some portions are published in an antislavery newspaper, Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe is published as a book and sells a million copies.
1861	Frederick Douglas publicly calls for an emancipation proclamation.
1863	President Lincoln signs the Emancipation Proclamation.
1866	A Civil Rights Act is passed in Congress that declares that all persons born in the United States are citizens and have equal legal and property rights.

The True Story of John and Moses Brown of Rhode Island
John Brown was one of the North’s leading businessmen who fought all efforts to end the slave trade. John’s brother, Moses, was an abolitionist who fought to end slavery.

When John and Moses Brown were young men, they joined their uncle’s business and learned how to run factories and sell their goods through traveling by sea to places that needed their goods and where they could buy things to sell on the way home or when they got back to New England. In 1764, they invested in their first slave ship together. The venture didn’t turn out very well because over half the slaves died during the Middle Passage before they could be sold in the Caribbean. After this, John Brown decided to start his own business and focus on slave trading. Moses Brown decided he did not want to be involved in the slave trade at all.

Moses Brown did not think the slave trade was good business or a good idea. After Moses’ wife and daughter died, he converted to the Quaker faith – a faith that did not believe in slavery. As a Quaker, Moses decided to dedicate his life to education and to ending slavery. In 1774, Moses asked the Rhode Island General Assembly to pass a law against importing slaves into the state. This was a compromise because he actually wanted a bill that ended the slave trade and also had fines for importing slaves. In 1787, Rhode Island passed the first law in America that made it illegal for anyone to be involved in the slave trade. Unfortunately, the law was ignored and during the next three years more than two dozen ships sailed to Africa.

Eventually Moses asked the government to put his brother John on trial for slave trading and John lost his ships. But later, in 1800, John became a congressman and voted against a bill that would have made the 1794 law (that had been used to prosecute him) stronger. John Brown never changed his moral position that slavery was good because he believed it was good business for a lot of people. Business was more important to him than following the law, religion or protecting human rights. It was true that many people lived off the slave trade. If you owned a bakery that sold bread for the crew of a slave ship, or had a warehouse that stored cotton bales, you were involved in slavery. Even if you didn’t own any slaves, but had a business that used the products produced by or traded for slaves, you were involved. Some people found it easy to ignore these ethical issues.

Portrait of Moses Brown, Moses Brown School
Portrait of John Brown. New York Historical Society

Were the Europeans for or against slavery?
Europeans got involved in Africa in the 15th century when the Portuguese founded the colony of Angola in 1491. Before the Europeans arrived, Africans traded slaves with the Muslim governments of Arabia. In the following 200 years Europeans controlled every country in Africa except Ethiopia and Liberia. Two hundred years after the Europeans arrived in Africa, they began the slave trade to North America. By the 1800’s England ruled one-fifth of the world and was the most successful nation of the time.

The first people in Europe to fight against slavery were a religious group called Quakers. They believed that all people were created equal. By the late 1700’s the European abolition movement had begun. But at the same time the Industrial Revolution was making the manufacture of things such as cloth and metal much easier and more profitable. These goods could be traded for slaves, who in turn could be sold in the Caribbean. Great wealth was being made and the people making it didn’t want the slave trade to end. Their opposition made the fight against slavery very difficult.

England had the strongest abolitionist movement in Europe. A turning point came when all the people interested in abolition came together under the leadership of William Wilberforce, a Quaker and a member of the British Parliament. Mr. Wilberforce fought against slavery for twenty years. When the people joined together and organized to fight slavery, they eventually succeeded. They were accused of being traitors to their country, while they thought they were actually fighting for its survival as a fair and just society. Their long fight and eventual success demonstrates that people who fight against unethical acts are often not alone, even when they feel as if they are. In 1833 the British Parliament abolished the slave trade throughout its empire. Soon after 1833, the other countries in Europe abolished slavery.

William Wilberforce (1759 - 1833)
Photo Source: BBC UK History

As a Quaker, Wilberforce believed slavery was morally wrong since all people are equal in the sight of God and able to receive his spirit and wisdom. He came from a wealthy family, went to Cambridge University and was good friends with William Pitt, who became Prime Minister. He joined the fight against slavery and used his position and connections in the cause. Even though he retired in 1825, eight years before slavery was abolished in the British Empire, he lived to see it happen. He died just three days after the law was passed that he had fought for so hard and long.

For additional information:
Slavery in the Colonial United States – Wikipedia source with extensive links

The Unrighteous Traffick – Articles about the slave trade in Rhode Island from the Providence Journal newspaper

Personal Slave Story of Olaudah Equiano (c.1745-1797) – The personal story of a Nigerian who was kidnapped as a child, sold into slavery, and eventually became a free man. He was a friend and supporter of William Wilberforce’s efforts to end slavery.

Britain’s Role in the Slave Trade – Documented history and accounts of Britain’s extensive participation in and economic success through slavery.

The Unrighteous Traffick – Articles about the slave trade in Rhode Island from the Providence Journal newspaper

DeWolf, T. N. (2008). Inheriting the Trade: A Northern Family Confronts Its Legacy as the Largest Slave-Trading Dynasty in U.S. History. Boston: Beacon Press.

Arguing About Slavery: The Great Battle in the United States Congress. By William Lee Miller, Alfred A. Knopf (1996). A blow-by-blow re-creation of the battle royal that raged in Congress in the 1830s, when a small band of representatives, led by President John Quincy Adams of Massachusetts, employed intricate stratagems to outwit the Southern (and Southern-sympathizing) sponsors of the successive “gag” rules that had long blocked debate on the subject of slavery.

The Problem of Slavery in Western Culture, By David Brion Davis, 1988, Oxford University Press. Depicts the various ways different societies have responded to the intrinsic contradictions of slavery from antiquity to the early 1770's and provides a comparative analysis of slave systems in the Old World.

Activity #2, Part II: Give students a copy of the following scenario, or read it aloud to them. Ask them to think about the scenario and then to answer the questions provided in a classroom discussion.

Scenario
You and your brother are in business together. At first, business is good and you buy and sell products such as candles, iron, and china. One day your brother decides to outfit one of your ships to buy and sell slaves and you go along with it. On that first voyage over half of the slaves die and you lose lots of money. Besides the loss of money, you are troubled by the idea of buying and selling human beings and treating them like animals or personal property. What do you do? How do you continue to have a relationship with your brother if you disagree with what he is doing? What are your choices?

Questions for discussion:

If the Bible or someone you believe in says it is okay to have slaves, is it?
If you make money on something, is it okay to treat people unfairly?
“Integrity” is standing up for what you believe in. In this situation, what does that mean? Is it enough to withdraw from the situation by not participating in the slave trade? Or would you need to fight to stop it?
Could you be friends with someone who is racist about your race or ethnic group? What about someone in your race or ethnic group who was racist against other groups? Could you be friends with him or her?
Is racism ever justified?

Activity #3: How would you vote? The law and slavery

Background for the teacher: Laws were made against slavery as early as 1732. Yet the freedom promised to all citizens of the United States was denied over and over again. Incremental gains were made with various laws and in different states. The three civil rights acts in the 1960s overcame some inequities: the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the Fair Housing Act of 1968. The resistance against equal rights for blacks ran deep in the slave states and resulted in a lack of enforcement and a constant struggle between state and national jurisdiction. Although there have been political improvements in the cause of equality and political freedom for African Americans, challenges still remain to fight the racism (institutional) which grew out of the inequality and lack of freedom. It is important for students to grapple with the ethical issues around the purpose of law, its role in society, whether or not we need to obey laws and what the results are when we do not, and how people use the law to further their own agendas.

For more information:
Race, Racism and the Law http://academic.udayton.edu/race/02rights/slavery03.htm

In this activity, students are asked to consider how they would vote on slavery at the state level. By considering the consequences of their vote, we hope they will consider the ethical issues and make a reasoned decision based on information and values, rather than reacting emotionally or politically. You have four information sources for students to use: State laws, Court decisions, Timeline of Cases and Laws, Timeline of Uprisings. Urge students to compare the timelines to see how the debate intensified. You can also give them the timelines from the other activities, if you have not done so already.

As an extension activity (see that section later in this module), students can compare the map of free vs. slave states with the red and blue states in the 2004 election and read more about the discussion of that comparison at: http://sensoryoverload.typepad.com/sensory_overload/2004/11/free_states_vs_.html

Standards addressed in this lesson

National History Standard 3B: The student understands how the debates over slavery influenced politics and sectionalism. Analyze how the debates over slavery--from agitation over the "gag rule" of the late 1830s through the war with Mexico--strained national cohesiveness and fostered rising sectionalism. [Compare and contrast differing sets of ideas]

Florida Sate Sunshine Standard 4: The student understands U.S. History to 1880 (SS.A.4.4)
4.5 The student understands the significant political events that took place during the early national period.
Standard 5: The student understands U.S. history from 1880 to the present day. (SS.A.5.4) 7. The student understands the development of federal civil rights and voting rights since the 1950s and the social and political implications of these events.

Activity #3, Part I: Read the following scenario to the students:

Scenario
You have just been elected to Congress to represent a state that has not outlawed slavery yet and has a lot of freed slaves. There is a strong and very vocal abolitionist movement in your state that has made it clear that if you don’t vote the way they want you to in Congress, they will work to discredit you as a representative from their state. While you don’t own slaves yourself, you know that your current success and wealth comes from family members who used to own slaves and be involved in the slave trade. When you arrive in Washington you find the arguments for and against slavery to be equally compelling. You understand if you vote for slavery, you will be supporting a big commercial system that has given wealth to you, and many others like you and you’re not quite sure where you stand on whether or not Africans should be treated equally. On the other hand, if you vote against slavery you will have more support from the abolition movement.

Without any class discussion of the scenario, ask each student to write on a piece of paper how they would vote and why.

Then ask the students to draw a line down the middle of a second piece of paper. At the top of the left column have them write, “What might happen if I vote to outlaw slavery” and at the top of the right column have them write, “What might happen if I vote to keep slavery”.

Have the students take a few minutes to list all the possible consequences of their vote. Have them list things that might happen to them and their family, to their state, to the slaves, to the slave owners, and to the country.

Activity #3, Part II: You may summarize this material for the students or make a copy for each student as assigned reading. You could also divide the class into four groups, ask each group to study and discuss the material assigned to them and then present a summary of it to the whole class.

If you do divide the class into four groups, ask the two groups presenting the timelines to discuss whether or not the uprising listed might have affected the laws that were made and their enforcement.

For Students:

How did states and territories use the law in the slavery debate?
In the 1700 and 1800’s our country was split over many issues such as slavery, taxes, railroad lines and political governance. These are some of the issues that fed conflicts between different sections of the country and eventually contributed to the Civil War. Slavery was a lightning rod issue for states who were trying to exert their own power in the face of growing federal power. States were also trying to protect their right to make decisions separate from other states. There were also different groups within states that were fighting for or against slavery. In Georgia, for example, a law was passed in 1732 against slavery, when it was still a colony. In 1749, that law was overturned. In 1793, Georgia passed a Fugitive Slave Act, but at the same time gave up territory that became Alabama and Louisiana in which the federal government banned importing slaves. Disagreements about slavery caused problems in many different ways: violence broke out, political parties split up and people were killed when they stood up for what they believed in public.

The issue of state vs. federal rights was being worked out around many issues after independence. When the nation was first formed, the federal government had very little authority to impose laws on individual states. After the U.S. Constitution was established in 1787, the federal government had the authority to rule the entire nation. If there was a state law that conflicted with federal law, the Constitution had a Supremacy Clause that allowed it to overrule the state law. Because our nation had grown with the states having authority over their own territory, they struggled with this shift in power. The struggle was more intense because the federal government made laws banning the importing of slaves (1808) that the southern states fought. Many states wrote “sedition” laws that said participating in the federal government was voluntary; that they didn’t have to follow federal law if they didn’t want to. The laws and court cases were tools the anti and pro slavery groups used to try to make their own values the law of the land.

People made up new procedures in Congress to prevent anti-slavery petitions from being considered. In 1836, Congress established the first “gag rule” – a procedure designed to stop the discussion of slavery. The gag rule said that petitions about slavery would be placed on the table and not read or referred to in committee based on the argument that the people who wrote the Constitution never meant for slavery to be discussed at the federal level. Former President John Quincy Adams was a representative from Massachusetts. He fought against the gag rule for almost 10 years. He argued that it took away people’s right to petition their government; a right that was guaranteed by the Constitution. Once the gag rule was finally overturned in 1844, the abolitionists were able to petition for anti-slavery laws. Abolishing the gag rule was an important turning point in the fight against slavery.

How did the courts affect the slavery laws?
An important slavery case was Dred Scott vs. Sandford in 1857. Scott was a slave who had lived in the free states of Illinois and Wisconsin before moving to the slave state of Missouri. He filed a court case claiming that since he had been living in free territories, he should be free in Missouri. The judge was a supporter of slavery and believed it was his job to protect southerners from the northern abolitionists. He said that because Scott was black, he was not a citizen and therefore had no right to his freedom. He used the language in the Declaration of Independence of “all men are created equal,” to support his ruling that slaves were not U.S. citizens and therefore had no rights under the law. He also said that the federal government had no right to make laws that the states did not agree with. Pro-slavery people in the South said it was a great victory: the abolitionists in the North called it an outrage. Even though he lost the case, it was reported at the time that Scot was glad that it had created a national conversation about slavery. As a result of the Dred Scot case, the country became even more divided on the issue of slavery.

Another important course case was Plessy v. Ferguson in 1896. The courts decided that “equal but separate accommodations” for blacks on railroad cars did not violate the “equal protection under the laws” clause of the 14th Amendment. By saying that racial segregation was constitutional, the Court opened the way for the Jim Crow laws that mandated segregation throughout the South. The only dissenter on the Court, Justice John Marshall Harlan, protested, writing that, “The thin disguise of ‘equal’ accommodations…will not mislead anyone.” This case was difficult to overturn since it used the 14th amendment.

Then in 1954, the Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas declared separate facilities by race to be unconstitutional. The Court invalidated the Plessy ruling, declaring, “in the field of public education, the doctrine of ‘separate but equal’ has no place,” contending that “separate educational facilities are inherently unequal.”

Timeline of Slavery Laws and Cases

1732	The colony of Georgia passes a law that prohibits slavery.
1749	Georgia overturns the law prohibiting slavery.
1776	The Continental Congress, the first congress of the unified colonies suspends the slave trade.
1777	Vermont becomes the first state to abolish slavery.
1789	Delaware outlaws the slave trade.
1793	Georgia passes Fugitive Slave Act to punish those harboring runaway slaves. The same year, Georgia gave up the territory that became Alabama and Louisiana to the US government which banned importing slaves into those territories.
1794	Congress passes a law that prohibits Americans from taking part in the international slave trade.
1808	The importation of slaves into the United States is outlawed.
1820	The Federal Congress declares the international slave trade piracy and punishable by death.
1838	Frederick Douglass reaches Philadelphia in his flight from slavery.
1842	The U.S. and Britain sign a treaty to end the Atlantic slave trade.
1848	Georgia passes slave codes punishing such things as: free blacks “inveigling” slaves, burning of property, teaching slaves or free persons of color to read, and slaves “harboring” slaves.
1857	Dred Scott v. Sandford case in which Dred Scot, a slave from a free state sued for his freedom in a slave state where he had been taken. Chief Justice Roger B. Taney ruled that blacks were not citizens and so could not sue in federal court and that Congress had no right to ban slavery from the U.S. territories.
1863	President Lincoln signs the Emancipation Proclamation.
1866	A Civil Rights Act is passed in Congress that declares that all persons born in the United States are citizens (except Indians) and have equal legal and property rights.
1871	Section 1983 of the Civil Rights Act is passed to protect blacks in southern states from the Klu Klux Klan when states would not protect them. It provides a way to sue when a person’s rights under 1st, 14th or Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution are violated. It prohibits discrimination in public jobs (not private employers) based on race, color, national origin, sex or religion.
1875	Civil Rights Act provided equal rights for everyone in housing, theatres and other public places.
1883	Civil Rights Cases – Overturned the Civil Rights Act of 1875 based on the argument that Congress did not have the power to outlaw racial discrimination by private individuals and organizations over state and local governments.
1896	Plessy v. Ferguson stated that “equal but separate accommodations” for blacks on railroad cars did not violate the “equal protection under the laws” clause of the 14th Amendment. By saying racial segregation was constitutional, the Court opened the way for the Jim Crow laws that mandated segregation in the South. The only “no” vote on the Court, Justice John Marshall Harlan protested, “The thin disguise of ‘equal’ accommodations…will not mislead anyone.”
1950	In 1950 the Supreme Court ruled that the Univ. of Texas must admit a black, Herman Sweatt, to the law school, on the grounds that the state did not provide equal education for him.
1954	Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kans., declaring separate facilities by race to be unconstitutional. The Court invalidated the Plessy ruling, declaring, “in the field of public education, the doctrine of ‘separate but equal’ has no place” and contending that, “separate educational facilities are inherently unequal.”
1957	Civil Rights Act established Civil Rights Commission to protect individuals' rights to equal protection and permitted courts to grant injunctions in support of the CRC.
1960	Established federal inspection of local voter registration rolls
1963	A march on Washington by over 200,000 in 1963 dramatized the movement to end Jim Crow.
1964	Civil Rights Act passes Congress outlawing segregation in schools, government, employment, housing and public places. It included women and white people and started the Equal Employment Commission.
1965	Voting Rights Act applied a nationwide prohibition against the denial or interference with the right to vote based on a literacy test. It contained special enforcement provisions for those areas of the country where Congress believed the potential for discrimination to be the greatest.
1968	Fair Housing Act passes Congress prohibited discrimination concerning the sale, rental, and financing of housing.
1970 1975	Amendments added to the Civil Rights Act of 1965 to further protect the rights of minorities, including language minorities, in voting.
1980	In Mobile v. Bolden, 446 U.S. 55, the Supreme Court required that any claim of minority vote dilution had to include proof that it was to racially discriminate. This was seen as making such claims more difficult to prove.
1982	Renewed the Civil Rights Act of 1965 providing that a violation could be claimed without having to prove discriminatory purpose.
1991	Civil Rights Act provided for the right to trial by jury on discrimination claims, allowed for emotional distress damages, and limited the amount that a jury could award.

Timeline of Uprisings, Rebellions and Resistance

1522	Slaves rebel on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, which now comprises Haiti and the Dominican Republic.
1663	A slave rebellion occurs in Gloucester County, Virginia.
1676	Virginian slaves participate in Bacon’s Rebellion, an uprising against the white governor of Jamestown.
1712	New York slave rebellion - 23 slaves set fire to the home of a slave owner, kill nine whites and injure six others. Twenty-one of twenty-three slaves were captured, found guilty and executed.
1738	Spanish Florida declares that freedom and land would be given to runaway slaves.
1739	The Stono Rebellion starts in South Carolina. It is the largest slave uprising in the Colonies before the Revolutionary War.
1800	Gabriel Prosser starts a slave rebellion in Richmond Virginia, is caught and hanged.
1822	Denmark Vesey, a West Indian slave, organizes a slave uprising in Charleston, South Carolina. News of the uprising leaks out and Vesey is arrested and hanged before it could begin.
1829	David Walker, the son of a free slave in Wilmington, North Carolina, publishes the most radical anti-slavery pamphlet of the time, An Appeal to the Colored Citizens of the World.
1831	Nat Turner, a slave in Southampton, Virginia, starts a rebellion because he believes he was told by God to do so. Turner and six others kill 55 white people.
1839	Slaves aboard the ship Amistad rebel, killing the captain and cook.
1860	Harriet Jacobs, a former slave, publishes Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl.

Additional Resources

History Central – Actual text from the Dred Scott vs. Sanford case
Human & Constitutional Rights – A well written case history of the Dred vs. Scott Case
The Rise of Sectionalism – A concise history of sectionalism in the 1800’s
Civil War Home.com – Civil War website with commentary on some of the leading state’s rights thinkers of the day – Jefferson, Hamilton, Calhoun and Taney.
States' Rights –A thorough explanation and historical overview on Wikipedia

Activity #3, Part III: Now discuss the following ethical issues with the class:

What is more important, getting re-elected or doing the right thing? Protecting your own family’s background or being respectful of all human beings?
Should the government have the power to decide an ethical issue like slavery?
As a representative of the people, is it your responsibility to vote their wishes? Always?

Activity #3, Part IV: Ask each student to write (on a third piece of paper) whether or not they would still vote the same way as they indicated they would in Part I of this activity. Have them explain if the background information the class studied and the classroom discussion affected their decision? How? How would you reconcile this situation after learning more about the ethical issues involved? What additional factors would they consider in making their decision? Is it more important for states or the federal government to make laws about slavery? Which decision would be best for the country, their state, themselves and their family and for humanity?
Have them describe how they made their final decision and why they believe it is a good ethical decision.