1820-1850

• Social Classes in the Old South• Plain Folk• The Planter Class

• Proslavery Arguments• Slavery and the Law• Slave Culture• Slave Resistance

• Nat Turner’s Rebellion

Major Crops of the South, 1860

Industry in the Old South

• Three out of four white southerners did not own slaves

• Living conditions:• Lived on self-sufficient farms• Isolated areas• A large majority were poorly educated

• A large majority supported slavery and the planter elite

• Why?• Regional loyalty• Racism• Kinship ties

• Some of the poorer class dissented• Andrew Johnson and Joseph Brown• Spoke out against the planter elite• Saw the differences in class/economics and were angry

Typical Poor Family in the South

• Less than ¼ of the population in the South fell into this category

• Majority of the slave-holding families owned 5 or less slaves

• Less than 2,000 families owned 100 slaves or more

• Ownership of slaves provided:• Wealth• Status• Influence

• Slavery was a profit-making system• Cotton was the primary economic system in the South• Invested in infrastructure and managed their plantations• Plantation mistresses cared for sick slaves, oversaw domestic

servants, and supervised the plantation while the master was away

• Slave owners spent the majority of their money on material goods• Rise of consumerism in the Old South

Affluent Family in the Old South

• Slave owners were committed to a hierarchal, agrarian society• The agrarian society of Jefferson

• Paternalism• The male is the head of the household and the ultimate

master of the plantation

• Became ingrained in slave society• Enabled slave owners to think of themselves as kind and

responsible masters• Ironic as they bought and sold human property while

believing slaves were less than human

• Code of Honor• Men frequently dueled each other to defend their

reputation, reputation of their wives, and family’s honor

• Women were greatly limited in the Old South due to the prevalence of this paternalist ethos

Depicting the Paternalist Ideal of the Old South

Average Number of Slaves per Household, 1860

Slave Population as of 1860

• Between 1820 and 1860, fewer Southerners believed that slavery was a necessary evil that had to be tolerated

• Reasons for this shift in mentality:• Commitment to white supremacy• Biblical sanction of slavery• Historical precedent that indicated that slavery was

essential to human progress

• Most importantly, Southerners believed that the institution of slavery guaranteed equality for whites in the South

• Slavery in context with Liberty• White southerners believed themselves the true heirs of

the American Revolution• Southern preachers argued that the submission of inferior

(blacks) to superior (whites) was a “fundamental law”

Notice of Sale for Slaves

• How does the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution factor into pro-slavery arguments?• Southerners began to believe that equality and freedom spelled

out in these two documents were not truly universal entitlements• The vagueness of the Founding Fathers coming back again to

cause confusion• John C. Calhoun believed that the interpretation abolitionists

were using with these two documents was dangerous to the institution of slavery and the South in general.

• George Fitzhugh’s view• “universal liberty” was the exception, not the rule• Believed that slaves were the “happiest and freest” people in the

world because they did not have financial burdens

• Proslavery arguments after 1830• Southerners defended slavery in terms of their own liberty and

freedom• Without slavery, freedom for white southerners was not possible

• Bottom Line: Slaves were property and had little to no legal rights

• What slaves could not do:• Testify against a white person• Carry a fire arm• Learn how to read or write• Leave the plantation without permission• Gather in a group without a white person present• Get married without permission of their master• Spend free time without permission of their master• Resist sexual assault

• How masters enforced laws• Whipping• Exploiting social divisions among slaves• Incentives• Threat of sale• Sexual exploitation

Engraving of Slave Punishment

• Living Conditions• American slaves were better treated than slaves in the

West Indies and Brazil• Better diets, lower infant mortality, and longer life expectancies• The paternalistic ethos in the South contributed to this• Lower rates of deaths attributed to malaria and yellow fever• High costs of slaves

• These better conditions were made to strengthen slavery

• Labor• Occupied the majority of a slave’s daily experience• Types of jobs:

• Cutting wood• Working in mines• Working on docks• Laying railroad track• Planting/working in fields• Repairing bridges/roads• Skilled artisans

• Families• Marriage was illegal, but many slaves married and created

families• Masters often sanctioned marriages between slaves

• Slave families often continued their lineage by naming their children after relatives

• Slave community often had a significantly higher number of female-headed households

• Selling of Slaves• 10% of the teenage slaves in the Upper South were sold in

the interstate slave trade• Slave traders did not care about family ties

• Gender• Traditional gender roles did not matter in the workplace;

everyone worked equally in the fields• Slave attempted to fall back on traditional gender roles• Family was vital to passing traditions and culture from

parent to child

Slave Woman in the Field

• Religion• Black Christianity was distinctive from Christianity observed

by whites• Offered slaves hope• Almost every plantation had its own black preacher• Worshipped in biracial churches• Free blacks often established their own churches• Masters saw Christianity as another means of social control

on slaves• Attend services conducted by white ministers

• Desire for Liberty• Slave culture rested on a sense of the injustice of bondage

and desire for freedom• Folklore gloried the weak over the strong• The great majority of slaves realized the injustice of slavery• Saw the Founding Documents (Declaration of Independence

and Constitution) as hypocritical

• Forms of resistance• Breaking of tools• Feigning illness• Doing poor work• Poisoning the master• Arson• Armed assault• Running away

• Fugitive Slaves• Typically, 1,000 slaves escaped a year (mostly from the

Upper South)• Slaves escaping in the Deep South often went to large

cities to blend with the free black population• Slaves who escaped typically followed the North Star• Underground Railroad

• Loose organization of abolitionists who helped slaves escape• Harriet Tubman – escaped slave who made 20 trips to Maryland,

leading slaves to freedom

Newspaper Ad for the Return of an Runaway Slave

• 1811 – Louisiana experienced an uprising on sugar plantations• Slaves marched toward New Orleans before being captured

by the militia

• 1822 – Denmark Vesey• African-American slave brought from the Caribbean to

South Carolina• Religious, believed the Bible condemned slavery• Believed the Declaration of Independence was hypocritical• Planned a slave revolt that was to take place on 14 July

1822 (Bastille Day)• Was caught and executed before the plan could take place

• 1831 – Nat Turner, a slave organized a revolt in Virginia• Marched through Southampton County attacking white

farmers• 80 slaves joined Turner• 60 whites were killed before the militia put down the

rebellion

• Last large-scale rebellion in the South

• The rebellion greatly shocked white Southerners• Virginia discussed emancipating their slaves; failed to get

enough votes in the House

• Instead of freeing their slaves, Virginia created new laws to severely limit their slaves

• This rebellion marks a turning point in which the Old South becomes determined to defend slavery at all costs

Engraving of Nat Turner’s Rebellion