Essay+on+Slavery

Slavery began in the United States when African slaves were sold to the settlers of Jamestown by a Dutch ship captain in 1619. For the next century, African people were kidnapped, usually from West Africa, brought to America on board crowded slave ships, and sold by auction to the highest bidders. Although there were some “free blacks” who established homes in North America, by 1800 there were over one million Africans in the United States, and 893, 000 were enslaved. Fifty years later, the number of slaves had increased to three million.

By 1860, slavery had been abolished in many northern states and people known as abolitionists had been speaking out boldly against slavery for some time. Slaves in the South who escaped could find freedom and help in the North.

Word began to spread in whispers from plantation to plantation that there was a way to freedom, a secret “railroad.” The railroad was, in fact, a network of routes through woodlands, marshes, fields, and across rivers which could lead escaping slaves to freedom. Fugitive slaves slaves traveled mostly at night, since their owners hunted for them. By day, the fugitive slaves hid in barns and stables, attics, storerooms, and in secret passages under or inside houses where the homeowners were sympathetic to them. These safe places were known as stations of the Underground Railroad. The word “underground” meant secret or invisible.

Those who knew the secret routes were and could lead others became conductors or guides. Many conductors were former slaves who risked their own lives to return and help others to escape to freedom.

The Underground Railroad was well-established and most active between 1850 and 1860. The stories of daring and perseverance speak of the determined courage of the hundreds of escaping slaves and those who acted as conductors, station masters, or agents of some kind in the cause of the anti-slavery movement.

__**ASSIGNMENT**__ - You are to write a five-paragraph essay on slavery. You are to chose three topics from the list below. The choice of topics are: the abolitionist movement by people such as John Brown, or
 * the origins of slavery and the early slave trade,
 * what slavery was like for blacks in America,
 * why slavery was supported in the South and not in the North,
 * attempts by American politicians to limit or end slavery (1785, 1787, 1808, 1820, 1850),
 * how the invention of new technology impacted slavery in the United States,
 * fugitive slave laws and the underground railroad.


 * __Begin with an outline before writing your paragraphs__**

Introduction and first body paragraph - Thursday, May 20, 2010 Full rough draft - Monday, May 24 (A Block), Tuesday, May 25 (G Block) Final draft - Monday, May 31
 * Due dates**: