Story of Us: Division
Wednesday, October 26, 2022 11:43 AM
Why would John Brown
attempt to prepare an arsenal
before he's even assembled
an army of slaves for his
rebellion?
What was the punishment for
breaking the law and
separating slave children and
their mothers?
What happened to
legitimately freed black
people after they were
captured under the grounds
of the fugitive slave law? Did
they just belong to whoever
found them from then on?
How legal was the forming
of the Confederacy? Could it
technically happen today? If
not, is it because laws have
been put into place since the
civil war, or has it always
been illegal?
Floyd Jones 4th Hour 10/25/23
- Erie Canal is 3000 miles long, completely dug by hand
- D.W. Clinton has the canal paved with aims to make New York rich,
despite backlash from the media
- Most of the workers are Irish immigrants
- Moving mountains with explosives
- Workers drink to cope with the hard work
- Almost 1,000 workers die digging the canal
- Digging the canal takes 8 years of work and $7 million dollars
- Erie Canal opens in 1825
- Cities in New York skyrocket in wealth and NYC passes New Orleans
as America's largest port
- The word "Millionaire" is invented in 1840
- The cotton gin helps to produce cotton 50x faster than ever before and
causes cotton trade to skyrocket
- America eventually begins to supply 75% of the world's cotton
- The booming cotton market makes the south rich
- Before the cotton gin had been invented, slavery had begun to decline,
but its invention caused demand for slaves to rise
- Lowell, Massachusetts revolves around the production of textiles.
- Its population grows from 200 to 20,000 very quickly
- 85% of the people employed in the mills are women aged 15-25
- It is in these mills that these women organize and become educated
- They unite against their leaders at the mill and eventually the leaders
of their country
- Whale oil begins to power our country
- The whaling industry accepts men of different races to take to the seas
and try to harvest whale oil
- This extremely dangerous job is still more desirable than living as a
slave.
- Slave prices skyrocket after the invention of the cotton gin
- Slave mothers are often separated from their children even though it is
illegal
 Slave mothers are often separated from their children even though it is
illegal

- Only 1,000 escaped slaves are successful every year

- Frederick Douglass has failed escape twice but won't give up
- He narrowly escapes capture and makes it to New York City
- He goes on to write an autobiography and becomes the best known
African-American in the country

- Harriett Tubman is a key figure in the underground railroad, helping

slaves escape by any means necessary

- The fugitive slave law gives masters the right to hunt down their freed
slaves and be captured
- Abolitionists are outraged

- Radical abolitionist, John Brown, attempts to capture $7 million worth

of weapons from the federal arsenal in Harper's Ferry in order to arm a
slave rebellion
- Brown is captured and convicted of treason
- He goes on to become a martyr for his cause

- Lincoln did not see slavery as constitutional

- The Confederacy is formed right before his inauguration

The Erie canal drives production in the North, while the invention of the
cotton gin drives it in the South and causes slavery to boom. Women
working in textile mills begin to educate themselves. Many slaves begin to
escape to the North and the Fugitive Slave act is enacted. Eventually,
conflicting opinions on slavery culminate into the formation of the
cotton gin drives it in the South and causes slavery to boom. Women
working in textile mills begin to educate themselves. Many slaves begin to
escape to the North and the Fugitive Slave act is enacted. Eventually,
conflicting opinions on slavery culminate into the formation of the
Confederacy and the Civil War begins.