Conditions of Slavery
Describe the typical working conditions for enslaved people on large Southern plantations.
They worked for around 14-16 hours a day in brutal conditions and extreme heat.
S.G. #1 part 1
The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 is often called the most controversial part of the compromise. Why did this law make many Northerners feel like they were being forced to participate in the slave system?
It required all citizens to help catch runaways. Commissioners were paid more to return a person to slavery than to set them free.
S.G. #10
Compare the primary goals of Abolitionists with the arguments used by Anti-Abolitionists.
Abolitionists wanted an immediate end to slavery. Anti-abolitionists feared economic collapse or social chaos.
S.G. #6
What was the Underground Railroad, and how did "conductors" like Harriet Tubman use secret codes and signals to help people reach freedom in the North or Canada?
A secret network of safe houses. Tubman used spirituals (songs) as codes and traveled by night using the North Star.
S.G. #4
Describe the typical living conditions for enslaved people.
Most lived in small, crowded shacks with dirt floors.
S.G. #1 part 2
Who was the "Great Compromiser" who helped make the Compromise of 1850 possible?
Henry Clay
Frederick Douglass and Sojourner Truth were both famous for their powerful speaking skills. How did they make their message effective?
They provided "first-hand witness." Douglass's autobiography proved the intellect of Black people, while Truth's "Ain't I a Woman" speech highlighted the intersection of racial and gender equality.
S.G. #5
What would happen to enslaved people if they got caught trying to escape to the North?
If caught, enslaved people faced severe physical punishment, being sold further South, or even death.
S.G. #13
What was the name of the person who watched enslaved people while they worked to make sure they were on task?
Overseer
What were the five main parts of his Compromise of 1850, and how did he try to give both the North and the South something they wanted?
1. CA is free; 2. UT/NM uses popular sovereignty; 3. DC slave trade ends; 4. Strict Fugitive Slave Act; 5. TX borders settled.
S.G. #9
How did the invention of the printing press and the creation of newspapers like The Liberator and The North Star change the success of the abolitionist movement?
It allowed the message to spread rapidly to people who had never seen slavery, making it a national movement rather than a local one.
S.G. #7
What are three examples of how enslaved people resisted their situation without using violence?
Breaking tools, working slowly, faking illness, or learning to read and write in secret.
S.G. #2
How did Uncle Tom's Cabin turn slavery from a political argument into a "moral issue" for many people in the North?
It showed the human heartbreak of families being torn apart. It made slavery personal for readers who had never seen a plantation.
S.G. #12
What was the Dred Scott Supreme Court Case, and how did it hurt the abolitionist movement?
The 1857 Dred Scott v. Sandford decision was a major blow. Chief Justice Taney ruled that Congress could not ban slavery in territories and that Black people had "no rights which the white man was bound to respect."
S.G. #15
Why did some people argue that the Northern economy was just as dependent on slavery as the Southern economy?
The North’s textile mills relied on Southern cotton. This is why some anti-abolitionists were actually Northern businessmen.
S.G. #14
Explain the significance of Nat Turner’s Rebellion in 1831. How did this event change the way Southern states treated both enslaved and free Black people?
The most violent revolt; it terrified white Southerners and led to "Slave Codes"—strict laws that banned education for Black people and restricted their movement.
S.G. #3
What was the average life expectancy for an enslaved person born on a plantation?
22 years
Explain how Northern states practiced "push back" against the Fugitive Slave Act.
Personal Liberty Laws were state laws that banned the use of local jails for holding suspected runaways, essentially ignoring the federal law.
S.G. #11
Why did the admission of California to the Union in 1850 cause a national crisis, and what does it mean to "secede" from the United States?
California’s entry as a free state would break the balance in the Senate. To secede means to formally leave the Union.
S.G. #8
Who were the people hired to return escaped enslaved people to their owners, and how much money would they get?