The New Childrens Encyclopedia

THE SLAVE TRADE

203

Union

soldier

SLAVES FOR SALE

On arrival in the New World, slaves were

taken to markets, where they were sold by

auction to plantation owners. The slaves

were branded—burned with hot

irons—with the mark of their new

owner. Men, women, boys, and girls

were all put up for sale.

HISTORY AND POLITICS

FROM SLAVERY TO CIVIL WAR

Forced labor Slaves were taken

to work on the plantations set up

by European settlers. Life was brutal,

with long hours, poor food rations, no

wages, and frequent beatings. Children

born to slaves became slaves themselves

and belonged to the plantation owner,

who could send them away from their

families to work on another plantation.

Confederate

general

 “THE MOSES OF HER

PEOPLE” Harriet Tubman was

an escaped slave who led hundreds

of other slaves to their freedom,

at great risk to herself. She later

became a leading abolitionist.

 NO ESCAPE From the moment

they were first seized in Africa, slaves

were forced to wear shackles such as

neck collars and ankle fetters. They

were chained together so that they

could not escape.

By the late 18th century, people were

campaigning for the end of slavery.

O The Abolition of Slave Trade Act was

passed in Britain in 1807, outlawing the

slave trade, but slavery itself didn’t end in

the British Empire until 1833, and in the

United States until 1865.

O Abolition was one of the main causes

of the Civil War (1861–1865), since the

Southern Confederate “slave states” did

not want to end slavery—but the Northern

Union states did.

O Abraham Lincoln was one of the key

antislavery figures in the United States. In

1863, he signed the Emancipation

Proclamation, bringing an end to slavery.

An ankle fetter

 IN THE FIELDS Slaves were

made to pick crops such as cotton.