President Encyclopedia 1849-1861

President Encyclopedia 1849-1861 — page 1 — 4 America in the 1850s America in the 1850s In 1850 the population of the United States was a little more than 23 million people Almost 4 million were slaves of African American ancestry living mostly in the southern states West of the Mississippi River were vast territories that had not yet been organized as states They included a territory that today makes up the states of Oklahoma Nebraska Wyoming Montana and Kansas Another huge area consisted of territory won from Mexico during the Mexican War 1846-1848 and was not yet part of the United States It included the current states of Arizona New Mexico Nevada Colorado and Utah The huge state of Texas had been admitted to the United States in 1845 California also won from Mexico in the Mexican War became a state in 1850 Oregon Territory Minnesota Territory New Hampshire Vermont Maine Utah Territory California New Mexico Territory Mexico Wisconsin Michigan New York Unorganized Territory Iowa Indiana Ohio Illinois Neutral Missouri Arkansas Kentucky Tennessee Mississippi Alabama Georgia Texas Louisiana Pennsylvania D C Virginia North Carolina South Carolina Florida Massachusetts Rhode Island Connecticut New Jersey Delaware Maryland States Territories Other countries Disputed areas Mexico ceded California to the United States by the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo in 1848 California became the 31st state on September 9 1850

President Encyclopedia 1849-1861 — page 2 — Slavery and the Territories The major question facing the country in the 1850s was how these territories would be organized Should some or all of them be allowed to enter the nation as states in which slavery was legal Or should slavery be prohibited in some or all of these territories Slavery was an issue that had not been resolved when the Constitution was adopted in 1789 The issue threatened to tear the young country apart and so the framers of the Constitution decided to avoid it and never mentioned the word slave in the document For purposes of the census the official method of counting the population slaves were counted as three fifths of the white population In other words if a state had 500,000 slaves they would count as a population of just 300,000 when determining the state’s total number of people and the number of representatives it would have in Congress By the 1840s the balance of power in Congress between slave states in which slavery was legal and free states in which slavery was illegal was about equal But the U S victory in the Mexican War threatened to upset this delicate balance If the new territories entered the United States as slave states then the slaveholding region of the South would have greater power in Congress If they entered as free states then the non slaveholding region of the North would have more power and influence America in the 1850s 5 Slavery in the United States The first slaves were brought to the American colonies in the early 1600s Slavery had almost disappeared from the northern states by 1850 and in some states it was already illegal Slavery continued in the South however and became a way of life The economy of the South depended on slavery Slaves bringing in the cotton harvest

President Encyclopedia 1849-1861 — page 3 — In the 1850s the issue of slavery threatened to tear a young America apart

President Encyclopedia 1849-1861 — page 4 — America in the 1850s 7 Plantation slaves in the 1850s Slaves who worked on plantations worked from dawn until dusk They would rise before sunrise and be led out to the fields by a driver The driver was another slave who usually carried a whip and whose job was to discipline unruly slaves White overseers watched to make sure slaves worked hard and did not try to escape Men women and children worked side by side in the fields The older women remained at the slave quarters caring for young children doing laundry and preparing food As soon as children were old enough they were sent to the fields to work Some slaves developed skills in carpentry while others operated cotton gins Other slaves worked in the master’s house as cooks butlers or as nursemaids for the master’s children When they were not working slaves spent their time in the slave quarters Their homes were usually log cabins with no plumbing or heat and with wooden slats as beds Masters gave slaves cornmeal and fatty pork to eat but many masters allowed them to grow their own vegetables and to catch fish in nearby ponds and rivers Under these harsh conditions slaves were exposed to diseases such as cholera yellow fever and malaria Fewer than two out of three slave children survived to the age of ten Despite these hardships slaves tried to maintain a family life Although their marriages were not recognized by law slaves had marriage ceremonies and raised families as best they could Sometimes they said the marriage vow as until death or separation do us part The threat of the master selling one member of a family and sending that person away always hung over slave families Slave songs and stories spoke of their yearning for freedom of the day they would be free of bondage and suffering Slaves often resisted their masters Some slaves engaged in acts of sabotage such as arson poisoning or work slowdowns and stoppages Several thousand escaped to the North during the early 1800s but for the remaining millions such a run to freedom was not a possibility Many slaves ran away for short periods sometimes to visit wives or husbands who had been sold to other masters on nearby plantations Slaves who ran away faced severe whippings if they were caught Although some masters treated their slaves with kindness in the end they were still slaves They were completely lacking in freedoms and basic human rights

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