Dred Scott was a slave to John Emerson, an army surgeon. During his career, Emerson moved from Missouri (a ‘slave’ state) to Illinois and Wisconsin Territory (both ‘free’), accompanied on his... Read More
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The armed abolitionist John Brown espoused the anti-slavery cause as early as the 1830s, becoming increasingly militant after the passage of the Fugitive Slave Act in 1850. When the Kansas-Nebraska... Read More
In 1820, slave-holding states still held a majority in the US Senate. The majority in part derived from the ‘three-fifths’ rule, whereby slaves counted for 60 per cent of free persons in... Read More
Texas established an independent republic in 1836, throwing off Mexican rule. Its incorporation into the US was blocked by a home-grown independence faction, and American Republicans who were... Read More
The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848, following the Mexican War, ceded vast territories from Mexico to the USA, which swiftly posed conundrums to legislators. Firstly, Texas made claims on large... Read More
The history of slavery in the US is not one of compliance, but revolt. Revolt ranged from small acts of sabotage to open rebellion or attempts to run away to the North. It is believed that there were... Read More
In April 1798 Congress created the Mississippi Territory, which lay to the east of the Mississippi River. It was established on the 31st parallel and created a boundary line between Spanish Florida... Read More
Pre-Independence, the term ‘free black’ meant black people who were not slaves. This term continued until the abolition of slavery in 1865. In 1800 and 1830, the northern states’ free black... Read More
The Mayflower pilgrims formed the first New England settlement at Plymouth in 1620. The colonists were strict Puritans, as were the founders of the Plymouth Colony in 1630. The doctrinaire nature of... Read More
As Revolution neared, the black population of the Thirteen Colonies was approaching half a million: the majority were slaves. From 1680–1740 the black population had doubled and between 1740 and... Read More