{"id":12479,"date":"2024-02-02T03:50:15","date_gmt":"2024-02-02T02:50:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aboutriver.com\/?p=12479"},"modified":"2024-02-02T03:50:15","modified_gmt":"2024-02-02T02:50:15","slug":"what-slave-states-existed-west-of-the-mississippi-river","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aboutriver.com\/what-slave-states-existed-west-of-the-mississippi-river\/","title":{"rendered":"What Slave States Existed West Of The Mississippi River"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Introduction to Slave States West of the Mississippi River<\/h2>\n

The Trans-Mississippi region of the United States included a number of territories and regions west of the Mississippi River. It included significant portions of Iowa, Nebraska, Wyoming and Colorado, parts of Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Montana, and New Mexico, and a few small sections of Utah, Nebraska and Dakota territories, as well as small portions of Arizona and Nevada. Most of the Trans-Mississippi region was slave-holding prior to the Civil War. <\/p>\n

Slavery in the Trans-Mississippi West<\/h2>\n

Slavery in the trans-Mississippi west was both an economic and cultural tradition. As the region expanded and filled with settlers, both free and enslaved, from other parts of the United States, laws that both recognized and regulated slavery emerged. In the Trans-Mississippi west, slaves could be bought and sold, punished, and treated in the same way as slaves in the original southern states. <\/p>\n

In addition to labor, slaves in the region were used for personal and household duties, such as cooking, cleaning, running errands, and caring for children and the sick and elderly. Slaves were also widely used as servants and as paid field hands. They were also leased out to smaller farmers and industrial concerns, working as miners, artisans, and laborers in factories and shipyards in the region. <\/p>\n

Slave States West of the Mississippi River<\/h2>\n

The states west of the Mississippi that maintained slavery were Missouri, Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana, and (though briefly) Indian Territory. Missouri, a border state, was a slave state until its gradual emancipation in 1865. The southernmost slave state, Arkansas, legally abolished slavery in 1868; however, it was not enforced until after the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment in December 1865. <\/p>\n