Lesson 6: Resistance to Enslavement
(1808-1850)
Directions: As you read through the lesson, use this worksheet to
help organize your thoughts and newfound information. Answer these
questions carefully and review them before completing the
corresponding submission.
I. Introduction
A. What will I learn about in this lesson?
B. How does this lesson relate to previous lessons?
II. Covert Resistance
A. What was covert resistance?
B. What were considered non-violent forms of resistance?
C. What is the main idea of this section?
Folktales as Covert Resistance
A. What was the purpose of oral traditions?
B. What were the violent forms of covert resistance?
C. Define or state the significance of the following:
1. agency
2. oral traditions
D. What is the main idea of this subsection?
Escape and the Underground Railroad
A. Why was long distance escape risky for enslaved African
Americans?
B. What was the advantage of literacy for enslaved African
American trying to escape?
C. What was the Underground Railroad?
D. What did white people and free African Americans risk
if caught helping runaways?
E. Who was Harriet Tubman and why was she important?
F. What is the main idea of this subsection?
III. The Seminole Wars
A. How did the Seminole Wars begin?
B. What was the relationship between the Seminole tribe and
African Americans?
C. What were the end results of the Seminole Wars for the
Seminoles and the African Americans?
D. What is the main idea of this subsection?
IV. Armed Rebellions in Haiti and Jamaica
A. How did the conditions of enslavement and slave rebellions
in the Caribbean differ from that in the South?
B. Who were the maroons?
C. How did the French Revolution of 1789 help inspire the
first revolt of Saint-Dominique?
D. Who was Vincent Oge and why was he important?
E. Who was François-Dominique Toussaint L'Ouverture and
why was he important?
F. What is the main idea of this section?
V. Armed Rebellion in the Southern United
States
A. Why were rebellions in the Caribbean more successful than
in the South?
B. What is the main idea of this section?
Gabriel Prosser, Virginia, 1800
A. Who was Gabriel Prosser and why was he important?
B. What did Governor James Monroe warn enslavers about
regarding enslaved people?
C. How did enslavers use the Prosser incident?
D. What was the lasting legacy of the Prosser incident?
E. What is the main idea of this subsection?
German Coast Uprising, Louisiana, 1811
A. What was the German Coast Uprising?
B. Why did newspapers downplay the event?
C. What is the main idea of this subsection?
Denmark Vesey, South Carolina, 1822
A. Who was Denmark Vesey and why was he important?
B. What did Congress do as a result of Vesey's rebellion?
C. What is the main idea of this subsection?
Nat Turner's Rebellion, Virginia, 1831
A. Who was Nat Turner and why was he important?
B. What did the state of Virginia do in response to the Nat
Turner rebellion?
C. What is the main idea of this subsection?
VI. Rebellions at Sea
A. Why did rebelling Africans have a chance at freedom if they
were at sea?
B. What could happen to enslaved Africans if they sailed to a
land that banned slavery?
C. What is the main idea of this subsection?
Revolt on the Armistad, 1839
A. What happened on the ship La Amistad?
B. Who was Joseph Cinqué and why was he important?
C. Why did Lieutenant Thomas R. Gedney try to sell the
Africans in the state of Connecticut?
D. What case did lawyer Roger Baldwin bring against the
state of Connecticut?
E. Which president assisted Baldwin in court?
F. What was the Supreme Court ruling in the Amistad case?
G. What is the main idea of this subsection?
Revolt on the Creole, 1841
A. Who was Madison Washington and why was he important?
B. What happened aboard the Creole?
C. Why were the enslaved people aboard the Creole set free?
D. Why were southern enslavers angry that the enslaved
people aboard the Creole were given freedom?
E. What is the main idea of this subsection?
VII. The Movement to Abolish Slavery
The Moral Opposition to Slavery
A.
How did Quakers show their opposition to enslavement?
B.
How did the Society for the Abolition of the Slave Trade
form in 1787?
C.
What was the emphasis of the Second Great Awakening?
D.
What is the main idea of this subsection?
Political and Economic Opposition to Slavery
A. What were some of the philosophies of slavery opponents?
B. Why did political opponents of slavery dislike the social
systems that surrounded enslavement?
C. What is the main idea of this subsection?
American Anti-Slavery Society
A. Who formed the American Anti-Slavery Society in 1833?
B. What were the Society's motives?
C. What means did the Society use to gain support?
D. Who was William Lloyd Garrison and why was he
important?
E. What was the Society's viewpoint on women's rights and
suffrage?
F. What is the main idea of this subsection?
African American Abolitionists
A. Who was Frederick Douglass and why was he important?
B. Who was Soujourner Truth and why was she important?
C. What is the main idea of this subsection?
Uncle Tom's Cabin and Abolition
A. Who was Harriet Beecher Stowe and why was she
important?
B. Why was Uncle Tom's Cabin relevant when it was written?
C. Why were Southerners defensive about the popularity of
Uncle Tom's Cabin?
D. What is the main idea of this subsection?
Anti-Abolitionists
A. How did pro-slavery Southerners defend slavery?
B. What did anti-abolitionist mobs in the North fear liberated
enslaved people would do?
C. What affect did the gag rule have on new legislation?
D. What is the main idea of this subsection?
John Brown's Uprising at Harper's Ferry
A. Who was John Brown and why was he important?
B. What did Brown use his trial as a platform for?
C. What is the main idea of this subsection?
VIII. Lincoln and Southern Succession
A. What did voters for President Lincoln hope he would try to
contain?
B. What did Southern states do shortly after Lincoln became
president?
C. What were the Confederate States of America?
D. What were the border states?
E. What is the main idea of this section?
IX. Lesson Review
A. In a paragraph, describe the main ideas and themes of this
lesson.
B. How did this lesson relate to your prior knowledge of these
topics and prior lessons in this course?
C. Are there any topics you would like to know more about?
Are there any you feel that you need to review before
taking the submission?