Curated OER
A House Dividing: The Growing Crisis of Sectionalism in Antebellum America
Students explore the debates over American slavery and the power of the American federal government for the first half of the 19th century and how the regional economies and political events produced a widening split between the states.
Curated OER
Point of View: Accounts of Former Slaveholders
Students examine the housing and living conditions of slaves. They discuss the concerns of slaveholders concerning the health and well-being of their slaves. They analyze the importance of religion to the slaves as well.
University of Nebraska
Railroads and the Making of Modern America: Slavery and Southern Railroads
Primary source materials that focus on how the railroad companies supported the slavery system through slave labor, slave ownership, and as a transportation system for the slave market in the South. Content includes contracts, company...
Digital History
Digital History: What Was Life Like Under Slavery?
A sobering look at the life of the plantation slave in the decades before the Civil War. Read about the malnutrition, severe treatment, and inadequate living conditions.
Independence Hall Association
U.s. History: The Peculiar Institution
A very brief look at the "Peculiar Institution" of slavery in the South before the Civil War. Read about how slavery became so entrenced and why it drove a wedge between the North and South.