Key
Concepts and Vocabulary
The
key social studies concepts in this module are explored by the
students in the activities from different perspectives and across
time. They include:
Concept
of Slavery: What is slavery? According to The Chronicle Project,
“a slave is forced to work through mental or physical threat;
owned or controlled by an ‘employer’, usually through
mental or physical abuse or threatened abuse; dehumanized, treated
as a commodity or bought and sold as ‘property’; physically
constrained or has restrictions placed on his/her freedom of movement.
Justification
of slavery: In England, Europe, America and the Caribbean the
morality of slavery was debated. Were all humans created equally,
as it said in the Declaration of Independence? Should some basic
set of rights, such as the American Bill of Rights be guaranteed
to all individuals in a just society? The arguments made for and
against slavery in the North and in other parts of the country
and the world were based on the issues of what it means to be
human, how we are different from animals, and how we live together
in society. No where did the values of religion, economics, and
government come into greater conflict with each other than in
the North.
Growth
of slavery: Slavery grew rapidly because of the economic and social
conditions and the technological developments of the 18th and
19th centuries. Ship-building was a large and highly skilled New
England industry. Ships built in New England could reach Africa
and return with large human cargoes. Sugar grown in Cuba and other
Caribbean nations could be bought and transported to New England
to make the rum that was traded for slaves in East Africa that
were bought by southern plantation owners to grow the cotton that
the North used to make textiles. Eli Whitney’s invention
of the cotton gin in 1793 meant that cotton goods could be produced
cheaply. Technology and economics conspired with exploitation
to fuel the growth of the slave trade.
Legality
of slavery: What were the laws governing slave trade and slavery?
What was the point of making laws if politicians, even at the
Presidential level, looked the other way as ships were outfitted
for the slave trade? Students will explore the role of the law
in society and the economy to understand the complexity and contradictions
of slavery in the 18th and 19th centuries, and how these issues
persist today.
Responsibility
toward others: Even those not directly involved in transporting
slaves, buying and selling slaves, or owning them benefited from
the slave trade. Taxes were lower because of the tariffs on imports
bought by the wealth from the export of cotton. Cotton goods were
cheap and plentiful for everyone. Jobs were available in factories.
Barrel makers were needed for transporting the rum and blacksmiths
were needed to make shackles and parts for boats. Boat builders
thrived. Merchants of all kinds lived off the commerce generated
from the imports and exports.
Vocabulary
The
following vocabulary words are helpful for students to know in
order to understand the key concepts and content of the module.
Emancipation
– (1) the act or process of setting someone free or of freeing
somebody from restrictions, (2) the condition or fact of being
set free or freed from some restriction (Encarta® World English
Dictionary © 1999 Microsoft Corporation)
Abolition
– (1) the act of officially ending a law, regulation, or
practice, (2) the official ending of the practice of slavery.
(Encarta® World English Dictionary © 1999 Microsoft Corporation)
Social
Justice – (1) the belief that every individual and group
is entitled to fair and equal rights and participation in social,
educational, and economic opportunities, (2) the agenda for increasing
understanding of oppression and inequality and taking action to
overcome them. (Scottish Museums Council)
Slave
– a person who is forced to work -- through mental or physical
threat; owned or controlled by an ‘employer’, usually
through mental or physical abuse or threatened abuse; dehumanized,
treated as a commodity or bought and sold as ‘property’;
physically constrained or has restrictions placed on his/her freedom
of movement. (The Chronicle Project)
Underground
Railroad - the network of people, routes, and safe houses that
helped escaped slaves find their way to freedom in the decades
before the Civil War. Whites and blacks in northern and southern
states were involved in the effort, often at great risk. “Conductors”
used wagons with false bottoms and other tricks to avoid detection.
The final destination for the escaped slaves was usually a town
or city in a free state, Canada or Mexico. (Glossary of names
and terms to Section 4 of Fasttrack to America's Past)
Chattel
Slavery - the status or condition of those persons who are treated
as the property of another person, household, company, corporation
or government. (Wikipedia)
Indenture
- a contract binding one person to work for another for a given
period of time. (Merriam Webster Dictionary)
Triangle
Trade – The route between three countries or continents
which creates a more favorable flow of trade for each than would
exist between only two of them dealing directly with each other.
In the case of slavery it was Europe, Africa, and the American
Colonies. (TeachMeFinance.com)
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