what was the south usa called during the civil war

It came on the heels of Britain’s abolition of the slave trade the previous year. The concern about importing too many enslaved people led to the first federal legislation that substantially limited slavery: a ban on the transatlantic slave trade that took effect on January 1, 1808. Many opposed slavery on moral grounds, while others argued that importing slaves from Africa was causing economic instability.

Opposition to slavery increased in the North after the creation of the American republic. By the time America won its independence, many people in the North were questioning the morality of slavery.Įfforts to End Slavery (1780s-1840s) A map showing the Transatlantic Slave Trade of the 17th and 18th centuries, via the National Park Service Finally, the North also had more religious denominations, such as the Quakers, who firmly opposed slavery. As more immigrants to the colonies tended to arrive in the North in cities like Philadelphia and New York City, there was more indentured servant labor available that reduced the demand for slaves. The South used slavery on a massive scale to run large plantations, or farms that produced cash crops like cotton and tobacco. In the north, which was more urbanized, enslaved people and indentured servants were more often used as servants or artisans. By this point, slavery had become far more entrenched in the southern states, which utilized slaves for the hard physical labor of agriculture. During the war, Vermont became the first US state to abolish slavery in 1777.

A hundred years later, just before the American Revolution, enslaved people constituted about one-fifth of the population. In the thirteen British colonies that eventually became the United States of America, slavery was well-established by 1675.

Cultural Divide Over Slavery A tobacco label from colonial Virginia depicting slavery

What was the south usa called during the civil war