The document provides information about slavery in the United States prior to the Civil War, including how Africans were brought to America through the Middle Passage, the conditions slaves faced, and resistance efforts such as the Underground Railroad which helped slaves escape to freedom. Key events that further divided the country over the issue of slavery are examined, such as the Missouri Compromise of 1820 and the passage of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 which increased tensions between abolitionists and slaveholders. Methods slaves used to communicate and assist each other in escaping via the Underground Railroad are described, despite facing severe punishments if caught.

2. Cause # 3: Slavery

3. How did Africans arrive in America?

4. A. Middle Passage – passage across the Atlantic Ocean from West Africa to the Americas the was the route of the African American slave trade

5. B. Africans were crowded and chained cruelly aboard slave ships.

6. Slave-Owning Population (1850)

7. Southern Population

8. Southern Agriculture

9. Changes in Cotton Production 1820 1860

10. Slaves Using the Cotton Gin

11. Slaves Picking Cotton on a Mississippi Plantation

12. A. Slaves were responsible for clearing land and planting and harvesting crops. An African-American woman is shown here balancing a basket of cotton on her head on a farm in Augusta, Georgia. (1870)

13. Poster announcing a slave auction in Virginia, USA, 1823

14. Slave Auction: Charleston, SC-1856

16. A. Owners could separate families by selling husbands, wives, and their children to different buyers. Five generations of a family born into slavery on a South Carolina plantation.

17. Slave Master Brands Slave muzzle

18. Slave tag, SC Slave leg irons Slave shoes

19. Missouri Compromise, 1820

25. Runaway Slave Ads

27. An iron mask with hooks around the neck to stop slaves running away or resting. The mask also stops the slaves from eating or drinking due to a flat piece of metal which goes into the mouth. The shackles and spurs would also have made it difficult for captured slaves to run away.

31. Resisting Slavery A. Many slaves tried to escape to the North. Few were successful.

33. MAP OF THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD

36. SAFE-HOUSE

37. Quilt Patterns as Secret Messages The Monkey Wrench pattern, on the left, alerted escapees to gather up tools and prepare to flee; the Drunkard Path design, on the right, warned escapees not to follow a straight route .