African American History and Women Timeline 1700-1799

African American History and Women Timeline 1700-1799 [Previous] [Next] Women and African American History: 1700-1799 1702 New York passed a law prohibiting public gatherings by three or more enslaved Africans, prohibiting testimony in court by enslaved Africans against white colonists, and prohibiting trade with enslaved Africans. 1705 Virginia Slave Codes of 1705 were enacted by the House of Burgesses in the Colony of Virginia.   These laws more clearly delineated differences in rights for indentured servants (from Europe) and slaves of color.   The latter included enslaved Africans and Native Americans sold to colonists by other Native Americans.   The codes specifically legalized the trade in enslaved people and established rights of ownership as property rights.   The codes also prohibited the Africans, even if free, from striking white people or owning any weapons.   Many historians agree that this was a response to events, including Bacons Rebellion, where white and black servants had united. 1711 A Pennsylvania law outlawing slavery was overturned by Britains Queen Anne.New York City opened a public slave market on Wall Street. 1712 New York responded to a slave revolt that year by passing legislation targeting black and Native Americans.   The legislation authorized punishment by slave owners and authorized the death penalty for enslaved Africans convicted of murder, rape, arson or assault.   Freeing those enslaved was made more difficult by requiring a significant payment to the government and an annuity to the one freed.   1721 The colony of South Carolina limited the right of voting to free white Christian men. 1725 Pennsylvania passed  An Act for the Better Regulating of Negroes in this Province, providing more property rights to owners, limiting contact and freedom of Free Negroes and Mulattoes, and requiring a payment to the government if a slave were freed. 1735 South Carolina laws required freed slaves to leave the colony within three months or return to enslavement. 1738 Fugitive slaves establish a permanent settlement at Gracia Real de Santa Teresa de Mose, Florida. 1739 A few white citizens in Georgia petition the governor to end bringing Africans to the colony, calling enslavement a moral wrong. 1741 After trials for conspiracy to burn down New York City, 13 African American men were burned at the stake, 17 African American men were hanged, and two white men and two white women were hanged.  South Carolina passed more restrictive slave laws, permitting the killing of rebellious slaves by their owners, banning the teaching of reading and writing to enslaved people and prohibiting enslaved people from earning money or gathering in groups. 1746 Lucy Terry wrote Bars Fight, the first known poem by an African American. It was not published until after Phillis Wheatleys poems were, passed down orally until 1855.   The poem was about an Indian raid on Terrys Massachusetts town. 1753 or 1754 Phillis Wheatley born (enslaved African, poet, first published African American writer). 1762 Virginias new voting law specifies that only white men may vote. 1773 Phillis Wheatleys book of poems, Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral, was  published in Boston and then in England, making her the first published African American writer, and the second book by a woman to be published in the land which was about to become the United States. 1777 Vermont, establishing itself as a free republic, outlawed slavery in its constitution, allowing indentured servitude bound by their own consent.   Its this provision that grounds the claim of Vermont to be the first state in the United States to outlaw slavery. 1780 - 1781 Massachusetts, the first New England colony to legally establish slave ownership, found in a series of court cases that slavery was effectively abolished   African American men (but not women) had the right to vote. Freedom came, in fact, more slowly, including some enslaved Africans becoming indentured. By 1790, the federal census showed no slaves in Massachusetts. 1784 (December 5) Phillis Wheatley died (poet, enslaved African; first published African American writer) 1787 Thomas Jeffersons daughter, Mary, joins him in Paris, with Sally Hemings, likely his wifes enslaved half-sister,   accompanying Mary to Paris 1791 Vermont was admitted to the Union as a state, preserving a slavery ban in its constitution. 1792 Sarah Moore Grimke born (abolitionist, womens rights proponent) 1793 (January 3) Lucretia Mott born (Quaker abolitionist and womens rights advocate) 1795 (October 5, 1795)  Sally Hemings  gives birth to daughter, Harriet, who dies in 1797. She will give birth to four or five more children, likely fathered by Thomas Jefferson.   Another daughter, Harriet, born in 1801, will disappear into white society. about 1797 Sojourner Truth (Isabella Van Wagener) born an  enslaved African (abolitionist, womens rights proponent, minister, lecturer) [Previous] [Next] [1492-1699] [1700-1799] [1800-1859] [1860-1869] [1870-1899] [1900-1919] [1920-1929] [1930-1939] [1940-1949] [1950-1959] [1960-1969] [1970-1979] [1980-1989] [1990-1999] [2000-]

The Protectionist Smoot-Hawley Tariff of 1930

The Protectionist Smoot-Hawley Tariff of 1930 The US Congress passed the United States Tariff Act of 1930, also called the  Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act, in June 1930 in an effort to help protect domestic farmers and other US businesses against stepped-up imports after World War I. Historians say its excessively protectionist measures were responsible for raising US tariffs to historically high levels,  Ã¢â‚¬â€¹adding considerable strain  to the international economic climate of the  Great Depression. What led to this is a global story of devastated supply and demand trying to right themselves after the terrible trade anomalies of World War 1. Too Much Postwar Production, Too Many  Imports   During World War I,  countries outside of Europe increased their agricultural production. Then when the war ended, European producers stepped up their production as well. This led to massive agricultural overproduction during the 1920s. This, in turn, caused declining farm prices during the second half of that decade. One of Herbert Hoovers campaign pledges during his 1928 election campaign was to aid the American farmer and others by raising tariff levels on agricultural products. Special Interest Groups and the Tariff The Smoot-Hawley Tariff was sponsored by US Sen. Reed Smoot and US Rep. Willis Hawley. When the bill was introduced in Congress, revisions to the tariff began to grow as one special interest group after another asked for protection. By the time the legislation passed, the new law raised tariffs not only on agricultural products but on products in all sectors of the economy. It  raised tariff levels above the already high rates established by the 1922 Fordney-McCumber Act. This is how Smoot-Hawley became among the most protectionist tariffs in American history. Smoot-Hawley Provoked a Retaliatory Storm The Smoot-Hawley Tariff may not have caused the  Great Depression, but the passage of the tariff certainly exacerbated it; the tariff did not help end the inequities of this period and ultimately caused more suffering. Smoot-Hawley provoked a storm of foreign retaliatory measures, and it became a symbol of the 1930s beggar-thy-neighbor policies, designed to improve ones own lot at the expense of others. This and other policies contributed to a drastic decline in international trade. For example, US imports from Europe declined from a 1929 high of $1.334 billion to just $390 million in 1932, while U.S. exports to Europe fell from $2.341 billion in 1929 to $784 million in 1932. In the end, world trade declined by about 66% between 1929 and 1934. In the political or economic realms, the Smoot-Hawley Tariff fostered distrust among nations, leading to less cooperation. It led toward further isolationism that would be key in delaying US entry into World War II.   Protectionism Ebbed After Smoot-Hawleys Excesses The Smoot-Hawley Tariff was the beginning of the end of major US protectionism in the 20th century. Beginning with the 1934 Reciprocal Trade Agreements Act, which President Franklin Roosevelt signed into law, America began to emphasize trade liberalization over protectionism. In later years, the United States began to move toward even freer international trade agreements, as evidenced by its support for the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), and the World Trade Organization (WTO).