s had.

Slaves were kept in all parts of the country, in the North as well as
the South. There were more of them in the South than in the North, for
they were of more use there as workers in the tobacco and rice and
cotton fields. Most of those in the North were kept as house servants.
Not many of them were needed in the fields.

The North had not much use for slaves, and in time laws were passed,
doing away with slavery in all the Northern states. Very likely the same
thing would have taken place in the South if it had not been for the
discovery of the cotton-gin. I have told you what a change this great
invention made. Before that time it did not pay to raise cotton in our
fields. After that time cotton grew to be a very profitable crop, and
the cultivation of it spread wider and wider until it was planted over a
great part of the South.

This made a remarkable change. Negroes were very useful in the cotton
fields, and no one in the South now thought of doing away with slavery.
After 1808 no ships could bring slaves to this country, but there were a
great many here then, and many others were afterwards born and grew up
as slaves, so that the numbers kept increasing year after year.

There were always some people, both in the North and the South, who did
not like slavery. Among them were Franklin and Washington and Jefferson
and other great men. In time there got to be so many of these people in
the North that they formed what were called Anti-slavery Societies. Some
of them said that slavery should be kept where it was and not taken into
any new states. Others said that every slave in the United States ought
to be set free.

This brought on great excitement all over the country. The people in the
North who believed in slavery were often violent. Now and then there
were riots. Buildings where Anti-slavery meetings were held were burned
down. One of the leaders of the Abolitionists, as the Anti-slavery
people were called, was dragged through the streets of Boston with a
rope tied round his body, and would have been hanged if his friends had
not got him away.

But as time went on the Abolitionists grew stronger in the North. Many
slaves ran away from their masters, and these were hidden by their white
friends until they could get to Canada, where they were safe. All
through the South and North people were excited.

I do not think many of our people expected the cruel war that was
coming. If they had they might ha