US Slave Trade

In 1619 August 20th the first 20 slaves were imported from Africa to Virginia. Then the slaves were sold of into British North American Colonies. The slaves got so popular and started to spread among other surrounding colonies. These 20 African people were the first known slaves for unpaid labor.

In the year 1787 slavery was made illegal except if the person was a criminal and committed a crime(fugitive slaves that were caught) , The US constitution made all fugitive slaves or slaves that ran away return to their bosses or people who claimed and pretended that they were their bosses.

In the year 1793 Eli Whitney created the first mechanical Cotton Gin. The Cotton Gin was used to quickly and easily remove the cotton from the seed without damaging the seed. This created a demand in slavery because cotton workers were needed everywhere to run the machines. This created quick productivity.

In 1793 the federal government said that all the states that supported slavery and did not had the power to remove all black people they thought were escapees. This created a new crime towards people who helped the slaves escape. This law was not strongly enforced until 1850. When the people caught the slaves that escaped they would torture them in public and later hang them.

In the year 1807 the act prohibiting new slaves to enter the United States took place, this law actually was enforced in the year 1808. This was for the trend towards abolishing slaves. It was not very enforced and no one participated with it and slavery still continued to happen in the United States.

The Missouri Compromise prohibited slavery in present day Louisiana. The law became passed in 1820. The Missouri compromise took place in the year 1820 when James Monroe was president. The act allowed each territory to have choice for slavery or not.

Denmark Vesey was a South American man who was very famous for creating the plan for the slave rebellion in the United states in 1822. He was freed from slavery after buying his freedom and wanted to help all of the other slaves who were not as lucky as him. He created a plan to help all of the other slaves. Somehow his plan got out and he and some other people were captured and killed.

Harriet Tubman is well known for leading slaves to safety and freedom into Canada. She herself was a runaway slaves o she wanted to help make it easier for other slaves. She led many slaves to freedom in a underground tunnel. She helped more then 300 slaves reach freedom.

This was a court where slaves were held. This court decided if the salves and African Americans could be American Citizens with equal rights. Dread Scott was a former slave that was taken to free states and territories and he threaten to sue for his freedom.

In the year 1863 President Abe Lincoln wrote a letter to a constituent about slavery. He was a very brave man saying that slavery is wrong. He always did liked slavery but was very scared to do something about it. He wanted to save a help free the slaves so that they could have equal rights as the Americans did. Abe knew he could not get rid of slavery as a whole so he decided to have a Confederacy. He used military action to free the slaves in the south. Then in September that same year Abe created a proclamation pretty soon after the slaves had rights and got paid to work. They became citizens. Sadly they had to go work for their former bosses because they had trouble finding jobs. But they got paid!