Legal Status of Slaves and Freed African Americans
- Slides: 7
Legal Status of Slaves and Freed African Americans 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Defined by law Affects by law Southern rights Northern rights Support by non slaveholding whites Price of slaves
Slaves Defined by Law � Slaves were defined as property, not human beings. � Slave holders have complete control and authority over their slaves.
Affect on Their lives � Slaves were not allowed to have a wife, children, country, or home. � He may not own or posses anything.
Free African Americans in South � Worked as laborers, craftsmen, household servants � Couldn’t own guns � Couldn’t travel freely � Only work certain jobs
Free Africans in the North � Treated better but not equal as whites � No right to vote � Experienced discrimination � Denied entry to schools � Forced to low paying jobs � Denied freedom of religion � Created National Council of Colored People to protest treatment
Support by Non-Slaveholding Whites � Cotton Gin created an economy based on cotton as a cash crop � All white southerners understood that their economy was based on cotton and cotton farmers depended on slaves as labor
Slave Prices � As prices went up slaves were more valuable � This encouraged slaveholders to take better care of slaves � Slave holders less willing to end slavery because they were so valuable � Ending slavery meant financial end of the south