Slavery+Research

Slavery

Currently still under construction. ..

Essential Questions:

1) How were slavery and ideals stated in the Declaration of Independence, Constitution (Preamble), and Bill of Rights inconsistent?

2) How do we as humans explain slavery and our tendency to want to control others?

3) Slavery has been described as a "peculiar institution." What do you think is meant by that?

Four Elements of Slavery:

1) Economics of Slavery 2) Working and Living Conditions 3) Control and Resistance 4) Personal Lives of Slaves

With each element, you need to be able to answer the following questions:

1) Economics of Slavery: The Business
 * What kinds of work did slaves do?
 * Where was slavery used in the US?
 * How did slavery result in slave owners making money?
 * When was the importation of Slaves banned in the US, and how did slave owners adjust for this?
 * Is there a relationship between the number of slaves and the production of cotton in the US? Explain the relationship, and find real data (charts, graphs, facts and figures) to support your explanation.
 * Why dd plantation owners feel they needed slaves? Was it more than business? Explain your thinking.

2) Working and Living Conditions: The Job and Home
 * What was the typical job of slaves?
 * How do historians describe a day in the life of a slave?
 * Where did slaves live?
 * What was a slave home like?
 * What did slaves own?

3) Control and Resistance: Human Interactions
 * In what ways were slaves controlled?
 * What type of control do you feel was most brutal and why?
 * Could slave owners kill their slaves? Why might they want to, but not choose to?
 * In what ways did slaves resist slave owners?
 * How did slaves try to escape their situation?
 * Why might a slave choose to stay on a plantation rather than escape?
 * How is limiting education of slaves a type of control?
 * Why might non-slave owners in the south want slavery to exist?

4) Personal Lives of Slaves: Family, Church and Leisure
 * Did slaves have family?
 * What was a slave marriage like?
 * What did slaves do in their free time?
 * Was religion a way to control slaves? Explain.

Suggested Research Links: General Links: 1) Economics of Slavery 2) Working and Living Conditions 3) Control and Resistance 4) Personal Lives of Slaves
 * [|PBS]

Notable Figures:
 * John C. Calhoun
 * Frederick Douglass
 * Harriet Tubman
 * Nat Turner
 * John Brown
 * more to come . ..