Chapter 16: The South and Slavery

King Cotton

1820

1860

1820

1860

King Cotton

Slavery and the Economy1. Slavery produced 95%

of exports from Amer. to GB

2. Increase in population = increase demand for goods

3. Profits allowed for growth of other industries i.e. banks, ins. co., shipping

4. raw cotton = Industrial Revolution (IR)

5. Impact Cotton gin?6. Diversified southern

economy?

1793

Economically & Ethnically Speaking?

Characteristics of the Antebellum South

Characteristics of the Antebellum South

1. Primarily agrarian.

2. Economic power shifted from the “upper South” to the “lower South.”

3. “Cotton Is King!” * 1860 5 mil. bales a yr. (57% of total US exports).

4. Very slow development of industrialization.

5. Rudimentary financial system.

6. Inadequate transportation system.

Slaveholders 1850

What’s life like for 64% of the southern population?

Contrast that with the 2.5% Those in-between the two? For crackers” and “clay

eaters?” So why defend slavery? Who were the “mountain

whites?”

Tara – Plantation Reality or Myth?

Tara – Plantation Reality or Myth?

Hollywood’s Version?Hollywood’s Version?

A Real Georgia Plantation

A Real Georgia Plantation

Slaves posing in front of

their cabin on a

Southern plantation.

Slaves posing in front of

their cabin on a

Southern plantation.

A Slave FamilyA Slave Family

The Ledger of John White

The Ledger of John White

J Matilda Selby, 9, $400.00 sold to Mr. Covington, St. Louis, $425.00

J Brooks Selby, 19, $750.00 Left at Home – Crazy

J Fred McAfee, 22, $800.00 Sold to Pepidal,Donaldsonville, $1200.00

J Howard Barnett, 25, $750.00 Ranaway. Sold out of jail, $540.00

J Harriett Barnett, 17, $550.00 Sold to Davenport and Jones, Lafourche, $900.00

Population Patterns in the South, 1850 In six southern states, slaves comprised over 40 percent of the total

population.

Free Blacks: Slaves Without Masters

South 250,000 by 1860 Emancipation Emancipated “mulattoes” Bought freedom Some slave owners Prohibited from certain

occupations Not allowed to testify

against whites in court

North Not allowed in some states No suffrage No public school Hated by Irish; jobs Against expansion of

slavery due to racism, not morality issue

Strong antiblack sentiment

Early Emancipation in the North

Early Emancipation in the North

Southern AgricultureSouthern

Agriculture

Slaves Picking Cottonon a Mississippi

Plantation

Slaves Picking Cottonon a Mississippi

Plantation

Slave Auction: Charleston, SC-1856

Slave Auction: Charleston, SC-1856

Slave MasterBrands

Slave AccoutrementsSlave Accoutrements

Slave muzzle

Anti-Slave PamphletAnti-Slave Pamphlet

Slave tag, SC

Slave AccoutrementsSlave Accoutrements

Slave leg irons

Slave shoes

Distribution of Slave Labor in 1850Distribution of Slave Labor in 1850

Slave Auction Notice, 1823

Slave Auction Notice, 1823

Bellegrove Plantation, Donaldsville, La.

Oak Alley Plantation, La.

Slave Quarters

Slave ResistanceSlave Resistance2. Refusal to work hard.

3. Isolated acts of sabotage.

4. Escape via the Underground Railroad.

Runaway Slave AdsRunaway Slave Ads

Quilt Patterns as Secret Messages

Quilt Patterns as Secret Messages

The Monkey Wrench pattern, on the left, alerted escapees to gather up tools and prepare to flee; the Drunkard Path design, on the right, warned escapees not to follow a straight route.

Slave Rebellions Throughout the Americas

Slave Rebellions Throughout the Americas

Slave Rebellions in the Antebellum South

Slave Rebellions in the Antebellum South

South Carolina 1822

Gabriel ProsserVirginia 1800

Slave Rebellions in the Antebellum South:

Nat Turner, Va. 1831

Slave Rebellions in the Antebellum South:

Nat Turner, Va. 1831

The Culture of SlaveryThe Culture of Slavery1. Black Christianity [Baptists or

Methodists]: * more emotional worship services. * negro spirituals.

2. “Pidgin” or Gullah languages.

3. Nuclear family with extended kin links,where possible.

4. Importance of music in their lives. [esp. spirituals].

American Colonization Society, 1817

1. Wanted gradual emancipation

2. Quakers and Upper south slave owners

3. Shipped off to Liberia

4. Supported by Lincoln

5. Failed miserably

Southern Slavery--> An Aberration?

Southern Slavery--> An Aberration?

J 1780s: 1st antislavery society created in Phila.

J By 1804: slavery eliminated from last northern state.

J 1807: the legal termination of the slave trade, enforced by the Royal Navy.

J 1820s: newly indep. Republics of Central & So. America declared their slaves free.

J 1833: slavery abolished throughout the British Empire.

J 1844: slavery abolished in the Fr. colonies.

J 1861: the serfs of Russia were emancipated.

Abolitionists1. Fredrick Douglass

a. Political rights

b. Use constitution

2. William Lloyd Garrisona. Liberator

b. Nonviolence and passive resistence

Anti-Slavery Society 1833

Wendell Phillips

David Walker

1829

Sojourner Truth

Slavery Was Less Efficient

in the U. S. than Elsewhere

Slavery Was Less Efficient

in the U. S. than Elsewhere

High cost of keeping slaves fromescaping.

GOAL raise the “exit cost.” Slave patrols.

Southern Black Codes.

Cut off a toe or a foot.

Southern Pro-slavery Propaganda

“Gag Rule” 1836

The South and Abolitionist material?

The North and Abolitionist material?“Broadcloth Mob”

Defense of Slavery No debates on subject of slavery No alternative labor systems Decreased cooperation in national politics=

no compromising by the south!