The+Growth+of+Slavery+in+the+1800's

Graphs and statistics are a great way to understand slavery. Browse through the following graphs to learn about slavery in the United States (1800's).
 * Slavery statistics

This graph compares the growing US black population to the number of free slaves from 1820 to 1860. Notice how the percentage of free black population was less in 1860. **

The following chart is the total amount of imported slaves in each nation. These statistics show that Brazil had over 8 times as many imported slaves than the United States. The following chart depicts the price of a male slave compared to his age. Look at the graph and decide when males were the least and most expensive. This following graph contrasts the population of black slaves to the population of while people in Antebellum America. The general area where it is darkest is called the cotton belt.



We often think that enslaved people all came to America; however, this is not the case. The majority of slaves were sent to the Caribbean Islands or South America. Look at the next graph to see their destinations.




 * How did the growth affect slaves that were already in America?**- As slavery grew in America, so did the demand for slaves. Cotton and rice were doing so well in the South that to produce these crops a lot of manpower was needed. As more black slaves entered the South, the seperation between blacks and whites further grew. The growth of slavery is one of the possible and debated causes of the civil war.

This graph shows how slavery grew in America from 1790 to 1860. Notice how as the amount of slaves grew, so did the cotton production.



Slavery grew because of the rise of agriculture in the South; therefore, more work was needed. Slaves were captured and sold to work on plantations where they grew cotton and other cash crops. The cotton gin, invented by Eli Whitney, separates the cotton seeds from the cotton balls. The production of cotton doubled each decade after 1800. More and more slaves were needed for this production in order to make more money.
 * Why did slavery grow?**


 * When were slaves freed?

Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863. Although the famous document freed the slaves in the South, it had little effect on the South. TDhe Confederacy did not recognize Lincoln as a leader; therefore, they didn't follow the Emancipation Proclamation. The only way a slave was freed in the South during the Emancipation Proclamation was if they ran away behind Union lines or lived in an area taken over by the Union army. Unfortunately, both of these possibilities were unlikely. Slaves were officially freed during the collapse of the Confederacy when the South surrendered at Appomattox.

Here the first page of the actual Emancipation Proclamation:

The text is as follows: By the President of the United States of America: ** A Proclamation. Whereas, on the twenty-second day of September, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, a proclamation was issued by the President of the United States, containing, among other things, the following, to wit: "That on the first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, all persons held as slaves within any State or designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free; and the Executive Government of the United States, including the military and naval authority thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of such persons, and will do no act or acts to repress such persons, or any of them, in any efforts they may make for their actual freedom. "That the Executive will, on the first day of January aforesaid, by proclamation, designate the States and parts of States, if any, in which the people thereof, respectively, shall then be in rebellion against the United States; and the fact that any State, or the people thereof, shall on that day be, in good faith, represented in the Congress of the United States by members chosen thereto at elections wherein a majority of the qualified voters of such State shall have participated, shall, in the absence of strong countervailing testimony, be deemed conclusive evidence that such State, and the people thereof, are not then in rebellion against the United States." Now, therefore I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, by virtue of the power in me vested as Commander-in-Chief, of the Army and Navy of the United States in time of actual armed rebellion against the authority and government of the United States, and as a fit and necessary war measure for suppressing said rebellion, do, on this first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and in accordance with my purpose so to do publicly proclaimed for the full period of one hundred days, from the day first above mentioned, order and designate as the States and parts of States wherein the people thereof respectively, are this day in rebellion against the United States, the following, to wit: Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana, (except the Parishes of St. Bernard, Plaquemines, Jefferson, St. John, St. Charles, St. James Ascension, Assumption, Terrebonne, Lafourche, St. Mary, St. Martin, and Orleans, including the City of New Orleans) Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia, (except the forty-eight counties designated as West Virginia, and also the counties of Berkley, Accomac, Northampton, Elizabeth City, York, Princess Ann, and Norfolk, including the cities of Norfolk and Portsmouth[)], and which excepted parts, are for the present, left precisely as if this proclamation were not issued. And by virtue of the power, and for the purpose aforesaid, I do order and declare that all persons held as slaves within said designated States, and parts of States, are, and henceforward shall be free; and that the Executive government of the United States, including the military and naval authorities thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of said persons. And I hereby enjoin upon the people so declared to be free to abstain from all violence, unless in necessary self-defence; and I recommend to them that, in all cases when allowed, they labor faithfully for reasonable wages. And I further declare and make known, that such persons of suitable condition, will be received into the armed service of the United States to garrison forts, positions, stations, and other places, and to man vessels of all sorts in said service. And upon this act, sincerely believed to be an act of justice, warranted by the Constitution, upon military necessity, I invoke the considerate judgment of mankind, and the gracious favor of Almighty God. In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. Done at the City of Washington, this first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty three, and of the Independence of the United States of America the eighty-seventh.