2.15 Slavery and Resistance in the Antebellum Period

Cotton and the Expansion of Slavery

The invention of the cotton gin (1793) made short-staple cotton highly profitable, fueling the rapid expansion of slavery westward into the Deep South. This created the domestic slave trade, forcibly displacing hundreds of thousands of enslaved people from the Upper South to labor on cotton plantations in states like Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana.

Everyday and Organized Resistance

Enslaved people resisted through daily acts like work slowdowns, breaking tools, and feigning illness, as well as through larger organized efforts. Nat Turner's Rebellion (1831) was a violent uprising in Virginia that killed enslaved people's enslavers and led to harsher slave codes. Denmark Vesey planned a failed revolt in South Carolina in 1822.

Escape and Abolitionist Networks

The Underground Railroad, a network of secret routes and safe houses, helped enslaved people escape to free states and Canada; Harriet Tubman made numerous trips guiding escapees. Formerly enslaved people like Frederick Douglass became powerful abolitionist voices, using autobiographies and speeches to expose slavery's brutality and build the antislavery movement.

Key terms

Cotton gin

Invented in 1793; made short-staple cotton profitable and fueled the westward expansion of slavery.

Nat Turner's Rebellion

1831 armed uprising in Virginia; led to harsher slave codes across the South.

Underground Railroad

A secret network of routes and safe houses that helped enslaved people escape to free states and Canada.

Harriet Tubman

Formerly enslaved woman who made many trips South to guide others to freedom via the Underground Railroad.

Domestic slave trade

The forced relocation of enslaved people from the Upper South to the Deep South to meet cotton labor demands.

Try an AP-style question

What turning point does Douglass describe?

1. Reclaiming his humanity through resistance
2. Accepting his enslavement as permanent
3. Leaving America to live in Europe
4. Becoming a slaveholder himself