Slavery in the United States

No subject in the American past has incited greater discussion and inflamed more controversy than slavery. From the arrival of the first Africans at Jamestown in 1619, through the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, to contemporary historical debates, the presence and enslavement of Africans have been defended, attacked, and analyzed. It was the issue of slavery that thrust the American nation into an agonizing and costly Civil War more than a century ago. It is no exaggeration to suggest that the impact of the experience of slavery is still reverberating through America today. For people living in the last half of the twentieth century, it is difficult to comprehend exactly what slavery must have meant to Caucasian and African-American people over a hundred years ago. This primary source portfolio attempts to provide some understanding of the reasons why slavery was introduced, how it developed and expanded, what the life of slaves was like, and the ways in which slaves responded to their oppressed condition. Considered are the causes that led Abraham Lincoln to the issue the Emancipation Proclamation. This portfolio includes a Study Guide with reproducible student activities and response key. 6 Illustrated Broadsheet Essays: * Slavery Comes to the Colonies * Slavery in the North * Slavery in the Nineteenth Century * The Slave's Culture * The Slave's Reaction to Slavery * Abraham Lincoln and the Emancipation Proclamation 9 Primary Source Documents: * Newspapers and Slavery: Page 3 of the South Carolina Gazette of October 30, 1736, page 1 of The Camden (South Carolina) Journal of January 1, 1831 * A slave sale poster, 1835 * A bill of sale for a slave, 1838 * An Ordinance to prohibit Slaves from carrying on any Mechanic or Handicraft Trade for themselves, 1796 * A portion of the Georgia Slave Code, 1848 * A petition for payment for execution of a slave by burning, 1802 and a transcript * A petition to free a slave, about 1820 and a transcript * A letter from a slave, 1838 and a transcript * The Emancipation Proclamation, 1863 and a transcript