Key Concept 4.2.II Regional economic specialization, especially
the demands of cultivating southern cotton, shaped settlement
patterns and the national and international economy Source: College
Board, AP United States History Course and Exam Description
(Including the Curriculum Framework)
Slide 4
Key Concept 4.2.IIA Southern cotton furnished the raw material
for manufacturing in the Northeast, while the growth in cotton
production and trade promoted the development of national economic
ties, shaped the international economy, and fueled the internal
slave trade. Source: College Board, AP United States History Course
and Exam Description (Including the Curriculum Framework)
Slide 5
Before 1793, Slavery was on the decline until invention of the
cotton gin= short staple cotton becomes profitable Cotton Gin
increased efficiency 50x over! 1780s- northern states were
gradually abolishing slavery. Importing slaves was made illegal in
1808 Thus a huge domestic slave market emerged 1860- 4 million
slaves in the US (quadrupled since 1800)= worth $2 Billion = 90%
illiterate Prime field hand= $1200- $1800 (1860 dollars)(Today this
may have been around $30,000-50,000) Northern bankers loaned $300
million for slaves Textile manufacturers in US depended 100% on
Southern cotton 75% of whites in the south owned 0 slaves Lords of
the Loom tied to the Lords of the Lash
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Resulted in an explosion of slavery
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Changes in Cotton Production 1820 1860
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Southern Agriculture
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Slaves Picking Cotton on a Mississippi Plantation
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Cotton is King As cotton became more profitable- planters
drifted down to the Gulf states= planters bought more slaves &
land to buy more slaves & land. Northern shippers made much
profit from the cotton trade Cotton accounted for 57% the value of
all US exports after 1840 Britains textile mills depended on
southern cotton (75% of their cotton came from the South). If Civil
War between North & South occurred- Southerners believed that
Britain would break any Northern blockade & force recognition
of the South= FALSE SENSE OF SUPERIORITY.
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Value of Cotton Exports As % of All US Exports
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The Planter Aristocracy a planter aristocracy dominated
Southern government & society (oligarchy) 1850- 1,733 Southern
families owned 100 or more slaves= cottonocracy educated their
children in private schools many located in the north had leisure
time for study & statecraft= John C. Calhoun (Yale), Jefferson
Davis (West Point grad)= South produces higher proportion of high
rank statesmen before 1860
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The South, dominated by cotton rich planter class=
undemocratic, widened the gap between rich & poor favorite
writer of this class- Sir Walter Scott (Ivanhoe)= southern
chivalry= idealized feudal systems Southern mistress commanded
large staff (mostly slave women) almost none advocated for
abolition
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Effects of the Slave System on the South 1.Plantation
agriculture was wasteful= led to populations moving West &
Northwest 2. Increasingly monopolistic- as land butchery increased,
small famers sold their land to prosperous plantation neighbors =
the big got bigger & the small got smaller 3. Plantation system
was financially unstable- over speculation in land & slaves was
common = planters went into more debt 4. Dependence on a one crop
economy- discouraged agricultural diversification (price was
dependent on world conditions) 5. By the 1850s Southerners
increasingly resented the North- the North was prospering at their
expense 6. Plantation Economy repelled immigration- by 1860- only
4.4% of the Southern population was foreign-born= white south is
most Anglo-Saxon section of the nation.
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The White Majority In 1850- 345,000 Southern white families
(1,725,000) Over 2/3 of these families (255,268) owned fewer than
10 slaves In all- only of white southerners owned slaves= made up a
majority of slave owners typically small famers who worked hard in
the fields households owned a slave or two-most likely a slave
family lived in modest farm houses Non-slave holding whites By
1860- 6,120,825 southern whites (3/4) of all whites owned no slaves
made a living cultivating poor soil of backcountry or mountain
valleys Resented the rich planter class (snobocracy) raised corn,
hogs, -- not cotton lived isolated lives least prosperous non-slave
holding whites = poor white trash
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called hillbillies or crackers probably suffered from
malnutrition, parasites, hookworm Among the strongest defenders of
slavery WHY?? 1.Prospect of upward social mobility 2.Belief in
their racial superiority The Mountain Whites Isolated in the
valleys of Appalachia Range from western Virginia to northern
Georgia & Alabama lived under meager frontier conditions
Retained Elizabethan speech hated planters & slaves proved
loyal to the Union during the war & the Republican Party after
the war
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Free Blacks the Third Race 1860- numbered about 250,000 in the
South Upper South- free blacks were part of manumission after
Revolutionary War Deep South- many free blacks were malattoes-
emancipated children of white planter & his black mistress Some
free blacks in the South earned freedom with their earnings Life of
Free Blacks many owned property- William T. Johnson (New Orleans)
even owned black slaves prohibited from working certain occupations
prevented from testifying against whites in court could be
kidnapped back into slavery Free Blacks In the North 225,000-
northern states forbade them entrance; forbade them the right to
vote, forbade them the right to attend public schools
Slide 23
Free blacks in the North hated by the Irish anti-black feelings
in the north stronger than in the south it was often observed white
southerners, who were often suckled and reared by black nurses,
liked the black as an individual but despised the race. The white
northerner, on the other hand, often professed to like the race but
dislike the individual blacks
Slide 24
Plantation Slavery 4 million black slaves dwelt at the bottom
of Southern social society. 1808- legal importation of slaves to
America ended= slaves were smuggled into the US AFTERWARDS Most
increases in the US slave population = natural increase
distinguishes American slavery from all others!! 1.Slaves were an
investment- 1860 Southern investment in slaves= $2 billion (1860
price $1800 for prime field hand) Masters cared for slaves like
most expensive property 2. Slavery hobbled the economic development
of the region as a whole (slaves from upper South drained to deep
south)= slave women in the Old South could earn freedom by bearing
up to 13 children.
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White masters often forced themselves on slave women= malatto
children Slave Auctions Slave Auctions slaves sold alongside
horses, cows & pigs families were separated- for bankruptcy or
inheritance
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There is no clear or simple answer to describe the life of
slaves. Treatment varied from master to master, mansion to house,
and region to region. hard grueling work, ignorance, oppression
worked from dusk until dawn work & lives of slaves managed by a
white overseer or black driver. no political rights-only min.
protection from arbitrary murder the whip served as a reminder of
white mastery & substitute for wages (strong- willed slaves
sent to a breaker)
Slide 27
Life in the Black Belt area from SC and Georgia to Alabama,
Mississippi, & Louisiana life was harder here than in the Old
South majority of blacks lived on plantations in slave communities
of 20 or more (75% of the population) maintained a fairly stable
family life & African-American culture
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Punishment was often brutal to intimidate slaves not to defy
the masters authority. New western areas were harshest for slaves:
(LA, TX, MS, AL)
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lived in stable two parent families named children after
grandparents or forebears master Religious practices: influenced by
preachers of the Second Great Awakening (mix of African &
Christian traditions) emphasized stories in the Bible- like
captivity of Israelites call & response style of preaching-
adapted from African ringshout
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African Methodist Episcopal Church Richard Allen Free black
communities were often centered around churches such as the African
Methodist Episcopal Church founded by Richard Allen in 1794. Allen
became one of the most influential black leaders in the antebellum
period He founded Sabbath schools to teach literacy and supported
political organizations that sought to help blacks (e.g.
abolitionism)
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Burden of Bondage most states passed laws which prohibited the
education of slaves. education leads to ideas=9/10 of adult slaves
illiterate at start of Civil War) Slave Resistance Slave Resistance
slaves conduced work slow downs (led to myth of black laziness)
slaves stole goods produced by or purchased by their labor
conducted sabotage 1.Denmark Vesey Revolt 1.Denmark Vesey Revolt
(1822): Charleston SC; led by a free black- foiled by informers=
Vesey & 30 others hanged. 2.Nat Turner Rebellion 2.Nat Turner
Rebellion (1831): a black preacher (Nat Turner) led an uprising
& killed 60 whites (mainly women & children)- Vesey &
others hanged
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Abolitionists, although a minority in the North, mounted a
highly visible campaign against slavery, adopting strategies of
resistance ranging from fierce arguments against the institution
and assistance in helping slaves escape to willingness to use
violence to achieve their goals. Source: College Board, AP United
States History Course and Exam Description (Including the
Curriculum Framework)
Slide 36
Black Slaverys Toll on Whites Southern whites developed a siege
mentality (surrounded by potentially rebellious blacks angered by
northern abolitionist propaganda).Abolitionism 1 st emerged at the
time of the Am. Revolution (Quakers) American Colonization Society
Early abolitionists wanted to colonize blacks= The American
Colonization Society (1817)= 1822 free African-American founded
Liberia (capital- Monrovia) Over 40 years- 15,000 freed blacks
colonized back to Africa * Most blacks did not wish to be sent back
to Africa Colonization remained a popular but non-practical
solution- espoused by men like Abraham Lincoln.
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Early Emancipation in the North
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Legal Status of Slavery, 1861
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Abolitionism Gains Steam Abolitionism Gains Steam Before the
1830s- abolition was not seen as much of a threat to the South
(example: Benjamin Lundy (Quaker) & James Birney (slave holder)
gave speeches in south pushing gradual emancipation. By the 1830s-
abolitionism gained new energy Influenced greatly by the Second
Great Awakening admonition to rid America of the sin of slavery
1833 Britain freed slaves in the West Indies Theodore Weld:
evangelized by Charles Grandison Finney in NYs Burned Over
District; spoke to the mass of rural uneducated farmers. Arthur
& Lewis Tappan (NY merchants): 1832 paid Welds way to Lane
Theological Seminary (Ohio)= Weld & Lane Rebels expelled in
1834. Weld went across the Old Northwest preaching anti- slavery
published American Slavery as It Is (1839)= influenced Harriet
Beecher Stowe
Slide 40
Radical Abolitionists 1. William Lloyd Garrison: 1831-
published the Liberator (abolitionist newspaper). Waged a 30 year
war on slavery in the US (MOST MILITANT)= demanded the north secede
from the South. Helped found the American Antislavery Society
(1833) Wendell Phillips co-collaborator: Wendell Phillips (the
golden trumpet of abolitionism)- wore no cotton cloth/ate no cane
sugar. Black Abolitionists 1. Frederick Douglas: greatest black
abolitionist; escaped slavery; lectured to anti-slavery groups.
Wrote his own autobiography- Narrative of the Life of Frederick
Douglas. Douglas turned to politics to end slavery 2. Sojourner
Truth: freed black woman; fought for abolition & womens
rights.
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3. David Walker: Appeal to Colored Citizens of the World
(1829)advocated a bloody revolt. 4. Martin Delaney- advocate of
black colonization 1820s Antislavery Societies more popular in the
South (below Mason-Dixon Line) than in the North 1831-1832 Virginia
legislature debated emancipation Southern states passed laws
forbidding emancipation & tightened slave codes Post slave
revolts- Abolitionist Garrison party blamed by Southerners 1832
Nullification Crisis: heightened southerners fears &
suspicions
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Southerners Defend Slavery Positive Good 1. Positive Good-
Southerners argued that slavery was supported by the Bible &
Aristotle Slavery rescued Africans from barbaric conditions of
Africa master-slave relationship was like family black slavery vs.
wage slavery of the north 2.1836 The Gag Rule : 2.1836 The Gag Rule
: Southern politicians pushed a resolution that all anti-slavery
appeals submitted to the House of Representative would be shelved.
a clear limit on right to petition the government John Quincy
Adams- John Quincy Adams- ex-president fought this for 8
years=finally repealed. 3. 1835- US Government Postal Service-
ordered postmasters to destroy abolitionist newspapers being
delivered South & allowed the South to arrest postmasters who
refused.
Slide 45
This 1839 cartoon provides a satire on the "gag rule" in the
House of Representatives. Representative John Quincy Adams of
Massachusetts is featured pinned to the ground protecting petitions
against slavery. Image courtesy of Library of Congress
Slide 46
Abolitionist Impact in the North Extreme abolitionists
(Garrisonians) were resented for a long time in many parts of the
North. Northerners respected the Constitutions proclamations on
property rights Northerners were owed $300 million by 1850s by
Southerners (Doughface Northern textile mills would shut down=
unemployment for many. (Doughface any northern politician who sided
with the south) 1835- William Lloyd Garrison- attacked & almost
hanged by a mob (Boston) Broadcloth Mob Elijah P. Lovejoy 1837-
*Rev. Elijah P. Lovejoy killed by a mob (Ill.) Most respectable
politicians like Lincoln tended to avoid strict abolitionists By
1850s- abolitionism started to touch many northerners; Many saw the
Souths position differently= want to limit the spread of slavery
any further.
Slide 47
Elijah P. Lovejoy Wood engraving of the pro-slavery mob burning
down Winthrop Sargent Gilman's warehouse