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In the year 1860, America was in the midst of a war with itself. The altercation in our country revolved around slavery. The North was against the enslaving of blacks, and the South was dependent on the institution of slavery for its agricultural economy. This map is so fascinating because it had a major effect on the dispute of slavery in our country. To summarize the map, it shows the percentages of slaves in each county of the south in relation to all the inhabitants of that county. For example, in Henrico County, Virginia \u00a034.5% of the people living there at the time were slaves. At the center bottom of the map, there is a chart showing free populations of each state, \u00a0and the slave populations of each state. The map is also color coded according to the percentages of slaves in each county. The higher the percentage of slaves in a county, the darker shaded the county is. This makes areas with high populations of slaves easily distinguishable.<\/p>\n
According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA) office of Coast Survey, this map was put into circulation by the government but was created by cartographers working for \u00a0Edwin Hergesheimer, of the U.S. Coast Survey Drafting Division. The NOAA office of Coast Survey also declares that this map was a pioneer for other maps because of its use of shading techniques to show percentages, and \u00a0it was one of the first maps to involve statistical data. Besides this map being the first of it\u2019s kind, there is also implicit messages \u00a0behind it. The cartographers, by using \u00a0statistics pulled \u00a0from the 8th census, \u00a0wanted to shift our country\u2019s focus towards slavery, framing the South as a region highly concentrated by enslaved peoples. People looking at this map could visualize where high slave populations were located in our country for the first time, whereas before this map was produced, slavery wasn\u2019t able to be geospatially imagined by outsiders. From this we can assume that \u00a0the mapmakers created this map with the intent to trigger a rebellion against slavery in our country. Once people saw the map, they instantly formed an opinion about slavery. Most viewers of the map would naturally relate the percentages on the map to being a problem, but the map also subtlety implies this by it\u2019s shading. The map creators purposely shaded areas of higher slave populations darker, while areas with lower slave populations lighter. This expresses the evil in the South by making counties look dark and dangerous. The shading creates a \u201cbad guy\u201d persona of the south for spectators.<\/p>\n
Cartographers of this map also purposely selected to only display the South. Northern states had slaves too, but just displaying the concentration in the South adds more fire to the rebellion against slavery and the confederacy. \u00a0The top of the Map says \u201cSold for the Benefit of the Sick and Wounded U.S. Soldiers, \u201d suggesting that this map was being sold to make money for the Union army who was fighting the confederacy. This confirms and explains why it was created to rally against the south and fight to abolish slavery. This map certainly did have an affect on the war too. The NOAA Coast Survey and many other legitimate sources claim Abraham Lincoln was very fond of this map. The Coast Survey states directly that he used the map to \u00a0consider the relationship between emancipation and military strategy.<\/p>\n
In conclusion, this pioneering map representing the distribution of slaves in the south, implicitly sparks a feeling of rebellion against slavery in the south to benefit the U.S. Army. This map deserves to be the map of the week because of it\u2019s importance in our country\u2019s history. It was a stepping stone to a war against the South, making it a prime example of the power \u00a0maps can hold. Without this map where would our country be?<\/p>\n
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\u201cMapping Slavery In the Ninteenth Century.\u201d Census.Gov<\/i>, www.census.gov\/history\/pdf\/slavedensitymap.pdf.<\/p>\n
Schulten, Susan. \u201cVisualizing Slavery.\u201d The New York Times<\/i>, The New York Times, 9 Dec. 2010, opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com\/2010\/12\/09\/visualizing-slavery\/.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In the year 1860, America was in the midst of a war with itself. The altercation in our country revolved around slavery. The North was against the enslaving of blacks, and the South was dependent on the institution of slavery … Continue reading