Slave Uprisings WebQuest
As we begin to narrow our suspects of who caused the Civil War (and therefore is to blame for the deaths of 620,000 Americans), today we consider whether the various slave uprisings of North America in the 19th century are to blame. Please visit http://mrvalenzuela.com/?p=2912 and answer the questions below:
A) Haitian Revolution and the Impact of the Revolution
1. What event touched off slave uprisings all over the Caribbean? Who was the first leader of the Haitian Revolution?
2. Looking at the “Impact of the Revolution,” what did the revolt in Haiti remind for American slaves?
3. How did Thomas Jefferson (the President at the time) react to the situation in “Saint Domingue” (i.e. Haiti)? What did he want Congress to do?
4. Why do you think the Haitian Revolution is important to our understanding of the causes of the Civil War?
B) German Coast Uprising and When Slaves Attacked New Orleans Audio
5. Where did the German Coast Uprising take place? How many slaves participated in the largest slave uprising in US history?
6. How were the slaves finally defeated?
7. Listen to the audio “When Slaves Attacked New Orleans” – at the end of the audio, the author says that, “when we think of slavery, we feel guilty and ashamed and depressed, and we think of slaves as victims.” How does the author suggest instead we think about slaves?
8. The United States had only acquired Louisiana seven years earlier; explain how this event was connected to the Haitian Revolution, and how this event is important to our understanding of the causes of the Civil War?
C) Nat Turner’s Rebellion
9. When and where was Nat Turner born? When he was a boy, what did the people he would destine to do?
10. In 1831, what two events occurred to Turner that he was ready to put his plan into action? On August 13, 1831, what was that plan?
11. When Nat Turner was finally captured, how many other slaves were executed in connection to the rebellion? How many more were murdered by angry white mobs, even though they had nothing to do with the rebellion?
12. Virginia almost voted to abolish slavery because of Nat Turner, but instead decided not to. How might this be important to our understanding of the causes of the Civil War?
D) Amistad and Chronology
13. What happened on June 1839 on the ship La Amistad? What eventually happened to those on the ship once they were taken to US court?
14. Other important events were happening in Britain and Cuba during the 1830s, what were they? Describe what was happening in those places.
15. Why did President Van Buren fear the Amistad case?
16. Prior the Dred Scott case, the Amistad case was the single most important legal case involving slavery during the nineteenth century. Why?
17. Looking at the “Chronology” of the Amistad, how many years did it take between when the Africans on the ship are first captured in Africa and when they finally return to Sierra Leone in Africa after their case?
E) The Kansas-Nebraska Act (starting at the bottom of p. 281-283 of the PDF)
18. What was the true goal of the bill that Senator Stephen Douglass (of Illinois) introduced in 1854, known as the Kansas-Nebraska Act?
19. In order to gain Southerners’ support for the bill, what changes did Douglass make to the Kansas-Nebraska Act? Why did this “hit Northerners like a lightning bolt”?
20. What happened on May 21, 1856 that turned the territory into “Bloody Kansas”? What did John Brown and the abolitionists do as revenge for the raid on Lawrence?
21. Why do you think the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, and the violence in Kansas that followed it, are important to our understanding of the causes of the Civil War?
F) John Brown
22. What about John Brown’s family and his community would lead him to become an abolitionist?
23. What did Frederick Douglass say about Brown when meeting him for the first time?
24. How did Brown “emerge as a figure of major significance” in 1855?
25. Brown and 21 other men attacked an arsenal at Harper’s Ferry in 1859, where he was quickly captured by federal troops. At his trial, he was allowed to make a speech. What did he say? How did Northerners react to “Brown’s exploits?
**When you finish, email this WebQuest to (name it “Lastname_firstinital_Slavery WebQuest) by the end of the school day on TUESDAY, MAY 23, 2011!