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Georgia
and the American Experience
Chapter 7:
The Antebellum Era,
1838-1860
Study Presentation
Georgia
and the American Experience
Section
Section
Section
Section
Section
1:
2:
3:
4:
5:
Manifest Destiny
Deepening Divisions
Slavery as a Way of Life
Antebellum Georgia
The Election of 1860
Section 1: Manifest
Destiny
• Essential Question
– How did Americans apply the concept
of manifest destiny during the
Antebellum period?
Section 1: Manifest
Destiny
• What words do I need to know?
–Manifest Destiny
–annex
–skirmish
Manifest Destiny
• A Northern journalist (1845) wrote that
the manifest destiny of the U.S. was “to
overspread the continent allotted by
Providence for the free descendants of
our yearly multiplying millions”
• The country’s leaders steadily increased
territory and fought to protect its citizens
across the continent
The Nation Grows
• Texas won independence from Mexico in
1836; annexed as the 28th state in 1845
• The U.S. declared war on Mexico to secure
Rio Grande as the Mexican/U.S. border
• Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (1848) gave
the U.S. the territory encompassing
California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, most of
New Mexico, and parts of Wyoming and
Colorado.
• Gadsden Purchase (1853) bought the
southern part of New Mexico
Oregon Territory and
Western Migration
• Area west of the Rocky Mountains and north
of California
• In 1818 treaty, the U.S. and Great Britain set
boundary between the U.S. and Canada at
the 49th parallel
• The Oregon and Santa Fe trails were the
favored routes west by settlers
• Between 1848 and 1850, the population of
California increased tenfold; most of these
settlers were seeking gold
Click to return to Table of Contents
Section 2:
Deepening Divisions
• ESSENTIAL QUESTION
– How did the North and South differ
before the Civil War?
Section 2:
Deepening Divisions
• What words do I need to know?
– states’ rights
– Missouri Compromise
– sectionalism
– Compromise of 1850
– Kansas-Nebraska Act
States’ Rights
• States’ rights: Belief that the state’s interests
take precedence over interests of national
government
• Northern states believed that all states should
abide by laws made by the national
government
• Southern states believed that states had right
to govern themselves and decide what would
be best for their own situation
Differences: North and South
• Class Structure: North generally based on wealth;
South based on wealth and being “born into the
right family”
• Slavery: North wanted it abolished; South
supported it
• Southern planter system consisted of large and
small categories; the wealthiest had the most land
and the most slaves
• Economy: Northern based on mining, industry,
banks, stores, and railroads; Southern based on
agriculture, including cotton, rice, and indigo
• Southerners resented tariffs, which raised import
prices; the South imported more than the North
Freed Blacks and Slaves
• 500,000 freed blacks; only 6 percent lived in
South (mostly Virginia and Maryland)
• By 1860, 11.5 percent of nation’s 4 million
slaves lived in Georgia
• 3,500 freed blacks lived in Georgia by 1860
• Slaves in the lower South cultivated “King
Cotton,” which accounted for 50% of
America’s exports
The Abolitionists
• Led the movement to do away with slavery
• Many northern whites, some southern
and free blacks were involved
• Made speeches, wrote books and articles,
and offered their homes as safe houses for
runaway slaves
• Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1852), by Harriet
Beecher Stowe, portrayed slavery’s evils; the
book sold more than 1 million copies
• North Star and The Abolitionist were antislavery newspapers
The Missouri Compromise
• Approved in 1820; Maine entered the Union
as a free state, and Missouri entered as a
slave state
• 11 states allowed slavery and 11 states did
not
• Prohibited slavery north of 36°20' latitude (the
southern border of Missouri), and included
Louisiana Territory lands west of Missouri
• Temporarily solved slavery controversy
between the states
The Dred Scott Decision
• Supreme Court ruling in 1857
• A slave filed suit after he lived in free states
with his owner but was returned to slave state
• Court ruled that slaves were not citizens and
could not file lawsuits
• Court also ruled that Congress could not stop
slavery in the territories
• Decision further separated the North and
South
The Compromise of 1850
• California would enter Union as a free state
• New Mexico territory would not become part of
Texas or a guaranteed slave state
• The District of Columbia would no longer trade
slaves, but slave owners there could keep their
slaves
• Runaway slaves could be returned to their
owners in slave states
• Utah and New Mexico territories could decide if
they wanted to allow slaves or not
The Kansas-Nebraska Act
• Created the territories of Kansas and
Nebraska
• Those territories had right of popular
sovereignty
• Popular sovereignty: When a territory asked
for statehood, the people could vote on
slavery
• Freesoilers in those territories fought against
Abolitionists and proslavery supporters
Click to return to Table of Contents
Section 2:
Deepening Divisions
• What words do I need to know?
– states’ rights
– Missouri Compromise
– sectionalism
– Compromise of 1850
– Kansas-Nebraska Act
States’ Rights
• States’ rights: Belief that the state’s interests
take precedence over interests of national
government
• Northern states believed that all states should
abide by laws made by the national
government
• Southern states believed that states had right
to govern themselves and decide what would
be best for their own situation
Differences: North and South
• Class Structure: North generally based on wealth;
South based on wealth and being “born into the
right family”
• Slavery: North wanted it abolished; South
supported it
• Southern planter system consisted of large and
small categories; the wealthiest had the most land
and the most slaves
• Economy: Northern based on mining, industry,
banks, stores, and railroads; Southern based on
agriculture, including cotton, rice, and indigo
• Southerners resented tariffs, which raised import
prices; the South imported more than the North
Freed Blacks and Slaves
• 500,000 freed blacks; only 6 percent lived in
South (mostly Virginia and Maryland)
• By 1860, 11.5 percent of nation’s 4 million
slaves lived in Georgia
• 3,500 freed blacks lived in Georgia by 1860
• Slaves in the lower South cultivated “King
Cotton,” which accounted for 50% of
America’s exports
The Abolitionists
• Led the movement to do away with slavery
• Many northern whites, some southern
and free blacks were involved
• Made speeches, wrote books and articles,
and offered their homes as safe houses for
runaway slaves
• Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1852), by Harriet
Beecher Stowe, portrayed slavery’s evils; the
book sold more than 1 million copies
• North Star and The Abolitionist were antislavery newspapers
The Missouri Compromise
• Approved in 1820; Maine entered the Union
as a free state, and Missouri entered as a
slave state
• 11 states allowed slavery and 11 states did
not
• Prohibited slavery north of 36°20' latitude (the
southern border of Missouri), and included
Louisiana Territory lands west of Missouri
• Temporarily solved slavery controversy
between the states
The Dred Scott Decision
• Supreme Court ruling in 1857
• A slave filed suit after he lived in free states
with his owner but was returned to slave state
• Court ruled that slaves were not citizens and
could not file lawsuits
• Court also ruled that Congress could not stop
slavery in the territories
• Decision further separated the North and
South
The Compromise of 1850
• California would enter Union as a free state
• New Mexico territory would not become part of
Texas or a guaranteed slave state
• The District of Columbia would no longer trade
slaves, but slave owners there could keep their
slaves
• Runaway slaves could be returned to their
owners in slave states
• Utah and New Mexico territories could decide if
they wanted to allow slaves or not
The Kansas-Nebraska Act
• Created the territories of Kansas and
Nebraska
• Those territories had right of popular
sovereignty
• Popular sovereignty: When a territory asked
for statehood, the people could vote on
slavery
• Freesoilers in those territories fought against
Abolitionists and proslavery supporters
Click to return to Table of Contents
Section 3:
Slavery as a Way of Life
• ESSENTIAL QUESTION
– What was life like for Georgia slaves
during the Antebellum period?
Section 3:
Slavery as a Way of Life
• What words do I need to know?
– driver
– slave code
– arsenal
– Underground Railroad
Hard work, Simple living
• Slaves worked long hours in swampy rice
fields or tobacco and cotton fields
• Work began at sunup and continued until
sundown; overseers punished slaves who did
not harvest enough
• Drivers, older slaves trusted by the plantation
owner, also supervised the field hands
• Slave children, as young as five, also worked
hard on the plantations and farms
• Slave cabins were small, very simply
furnished, and crudely built; foods were basic
Slave Family Life
• Slave families sometimes became separated
• Owners encouraged marriage; slave children
became property of the mother’s owner
• Religion was important; black preachers
spoke of freedom and justice
• Spiritual songs encouraged slaves throughout
their lives
• Education was nearly nonexistent, although
minimal reading and writing skills were
permitted by some slave owners
Slave Rebellions
• 1831 - Nat Turner led bloody rebellion in
Virginia; between 57 and 85 people died;
Turner was hanged
• Nat Turner’s Rebellion and other
unsuccessful rebellions prompted strict laws
across the South designed to curtail slave
movements, meetings, and efforts to learn to
read and write
• These laws applied to both slaves and freed
blacks
Slave Codes
• Took away nearly all rights of slaves
• Slaves could not carry weapons, make
any contact with white people
• People who tried to teach people of
color were punished; slaves could not
work any job involving reading and
writing
• Slaves had little time to talk together
John Brown
• White abolitionist led a raid on federal arsenal
(arms storehouse) at Harper’s Ferry, Virginia
• Brown wanted ammunition to lead a rebellion to
free the South’s slaves
• He was captured and hanged for treason
• The Brown raid added to fear and distrust,
especially in the South; to many Northerners,
Brown became a hero
The Underground Railroad
• Network of roads, houses, river crossings,
boats, wagons, woods, and streams operated
by blacks and whites
• Provided a trail of flight for runaway slaves
seeking freedom in Canada or the Northern
states
• Safe stops along the way called stations
• Ex-slave Harriet Tubman personally helped
more than 300 slaves escape to freedom
Click to return to Table of Contents
Section 4:
Antebellum Georgia
• ESSENTIAL QUESTION
– What was Georgia like before the
Civil War?
Section 4:
Antebellum Georgia
• What words do I need to
know?
–Know-Nothing Party
–Great Revival Movement
–Milledgeville
Georgia’s Pre-War Economy
• 68,000 farms by 1860; cotton was chief crop
• 500 plantations (500 acres or more); most
farms were less than 100 acres
• 60 percent of Georgians owned no slaves;
only 236 had 100 or more slaves
• Half of Georgia’s total wealth was in slaves
($400 million)
• 1,890 factories in Georgia by 1860; about $11
million in value
Education
• Most Georgians had little education
• 20 percent of Georgians were illiterate in
1850
• $100,000 allotted in 1858 to begin free
schools; the outbreak of the Civil War delayed
these plans
• Georgia’s first law school founded in 1859
• Slaves were not given educational
opportunities
Religion
• Georgians involved in the Great Revival
Movement of the early 1800s
• Camp meetings popular, especially
among Methodists
• By 1860, Georgia second only to
Virginia in the South in number of
churches
• Methodists and Baptists most common
denominations
Antebellum Georgia Politics
• Democrats and Whigs were two major
political parties
• Democrats supported states’ rights;
took strong stand for slavery
• Whigs mainly from upper social classes;
favored moderate protective tariff and
federal help for the South
• Most governors were Whigs; most
legislators were Democrats
Know-Nothing Party
• Leading Georgians formed two new political
parties; one party favored the Compromise of
1850 while the other did not
• A secret party, the Know-Nothing party, did
not want immigrants to become citizens or
anyone not born in the United States to hold
political office
• Members answered all questions, “I don’t
know”
• By 1856, Democrats were dominant party;
Dem. Joseph E. Brown, elected governor in
1856, served during the Civil War
Click to return to Table of Contents
Section 5:
The Election of 1860
• ESSENTIAL QUESTION
– What steps led to Georgia’s
secession from the Union in 1861?
Section 5:
The Election of 1860
• What words do I need to know?
– Republican Party
– secession
– platform
– ordinance
– Confederate States of America
The Republican Party
• Republican Party formed in 1854 in free
states
• Antislavery Whigs and Democrats joined
• Nominated Abraham Lincoln of Illinois as
their candidate in 1860
• Southern and Northern Democrats split over
slavery issues and nominated separate
candidates
• Southerners angrily viewed the plans of the
Republicans as non-beneficial to the South
Georgia and Lincoln’s
Election
• Georgians were, for the most part, for the
Union; however, they were strongly for states’
rights
• Despite lawmakers’ strong debates for and
against secession, a Secession convention
began in January 1861 in Milledgeville, the
capital
• A secession ordinance (bill) passed 208-89
• The Southern states who seceded met in
Montgomery, Alabama in February, 1861;
they formed the Confederate States of
America
Georgians in Leadership
• Robert Toombs named Secretary of
State of the Confederate States of
American (CSA)
• Alexander H. Stephens named VicePresident
• Governor Joseph E. Brown favored
secession and used his terms as
governor to prepare Georgia for war
Click to return to Table of Contents
Click to return to Table of Contents