Download Transcript: Slavery and A Growing Sectional Crisis
Virginia faced challenges in the antebellum era. Economic diversification, which attracted immigrants and benefited industrialists and businessmen, threatened to undermine the system of slavery and challenged the domination of the planter class. The tumultuous events playing out on the national stage during the 1850s – such as the Compromise of 1850, Bleeding Kansas, and the Dred Scott decision – further escalated tensions over the expansion and protection of slavery.
John Brown’s raid on Harpers Ferry in 1859 put Virginia squarely in the middle of the crisis over slavery. In this video, Georgetown University historian Chandra Manning discusses Virginia’s role in the growing sectional conflict, especially as related to John Brown’s raid and its aftermath.
Source: Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media, John Brown’s Raid on Harpers Ferry (Fairfax, VA, 2011), accessed September 20, 2011. Full video in Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media and Loudoun County Public Schools, “Source Analysis: Civil War Letters,” Foundations of U.S. History, accessed September 16, 2011.
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