1. Slavery: Perceptions and Reality & The Civil War
Chapters 14 and 15
Slavery: Perceptions and Reality &
The Civil War

2. Slavery existed in America for a little over 200 years
Indentured servants - were both black and white and many died before their time was up; they were cheaper than buying a slave
Slavery – African slaves seemed more resistant to diseases like malaria; used on tobacco farms where they were governed by slave codes for control

3. Slave Codes Masters had ownership for life
Offspring belonged to the master
All slaves were property, not human beings with human rights
Slaveholders often resorted to violence to keep slaves working

4. More than 50% worked on large plantations
Slavery was strongest in the Chesapeake area (tobacco), then South Carolina (rice & indigo)
More than 50% worked on large plantations
There were slaves in the North but not as many; they worked on small family farms with rocky soil
Controlling slaves in cities was difficult
Eventually, the North outlawed slavery
Example: Vermont and then others

5. Even though the North outlawed slavery, they didn’t think blacks should have equal rights or share in the same privileges as whites
The North, at this time, didn’t impose abolition on the South
However, the importation of slaves was outlawed after 1808

6. 2 factors helped keep slavery in tact:
Actually, as tobacco drained the soil of its nutrients, slavery almost died out at the end of the 18th century
2 factors helped keep slavery in tact:
British industrial revolution that specialized in textiles; they needed the South’s cotton
Eli Whitney’s cotton gin that separated the seed from the fiber without releasing the oil, and made the process easier and quicker

7. King Cotton
With the use of the cotton gin, the production of cotton expanded
There were more farms and plantations with slaves producing cotton
King Cotton - a labor intensive crop
Great Britain was the chief buyer of U.S. cotton

8. By 1860, the South produced 4.5 million bales of cotton per year

9. That was valued at $250 million
Cotton was the chief export of the South and of the United States
This growing wealth of the South and the U.S. was acquired through the tough, back-breaking work of the slaves
Slavery to many Americans was economically useful and saw it as a “necessary evil”

10. Other Americans saw it only as evil and began the Abolition Movement
One of the most famous abolitionists was William Lloyd Garrison who founded the Liberator newspaper devoted to the eradication of American slavery
His paper was banned in the South, and there was a price on his head

12. Some southern intellectuals constructed a defense of slavery saying it was a “positive good” rather than a necessary evil
Thomas Roderick Dew, a professor of economics at Wm. & Mary, said slavery was a better way of organizing and controlling labor and it was a blessing

13. George Fitzhugh, a sociologist, said slaves lived a better life than did northern wage earners or European peasants; he also said that someone has to do the work and at least slave owners took care of their slaves; paternalism
Others pointed to the Bible as a defense of slavery saying the Hebrews had slaves
Greece and Rome had slaves

14. Slaveholders saw themselves as humanitarians
Non-slave holding whites felt slavery had good and bad points
Good: it was a useful way to control blacks and a good way to impose discipline
Bad: it made a small number of wealthy planters very powerful

15. The majority of white Americans didn’t like slavery but could live with it for a while longer

16. Slave Life Worked on plantations or smaller farms as field hands
Worked in the house for the master’s family
Some worked as blacksmiths or learned some other skill
If in a city, they might work on the docks

17. They were property to be bought, sold, or traded
Discipline was usually brutal, even for the pregnant; there were whippings, broken feet, or sexual exploitation
Most owners wouldn’t incapacitate them; they wanted them to continue working

18. Plantation labor was organized in 2 ways:
The gang system - consisting of field hands
The task system domestic workers
They would work from sun up to sundown hour days

19. Slave Culture Family was all-important
The law gave neither recognition nor protection to slave families
They followed gender roles
Women: took care of house, hearth, and children
Men: did outdoor work

20. Masters could sell a slave at will, breaking a family apart
One report said 600,000 slave husbands and wives were separated by sale from
Slaves practiced their native religions
Some mixed Christianity with their native religions

21. There were lively religious ceremonies
They believed in an afterlife that would be much better than their present lives
They believed God would punish their masters
Spirituals developed as did other work songs

22. Resistance Broke tools and machinery, so they could take a break
Pretended to be sick or injured
Stole goods
Killed livestock from their masters and ate the meat
Pretended to be slow & ignorant
Ran away

23. Frederick Douglass Born on a plantation in Maryland
Was sold to a Baltimore family at age 12
Was taught to read and write by his mistress
Worked on the docks
Befriended free black sailors who helped him escape to New York

25. He joined the Abolitionist Movement
He spoke out and wrote articles

26. Slave Rebellions
During 200 years of slavery in the U.S., there were only 3 major slave rebellions
Gabriel Prosser
Planned a revolt near Richmond, Virginia
The plot was discovered beforehand
Prosser and dozens of co-conspiriters were killed

27. 1822 - Denmark Vessey of Charleston, South Carolina
Planned a rebellion
Plot was discovered ahead of time
Vessey and his followers were killed

28. 1831 - Nat Turner of Virginia
Felt God told him to lead his fellow black men out of slavery
His insurrection resulted in the deaths of 60 white Virginians
The uprising was crushed
Nat Turner was killed

29. Issues that led to Civil War
Kansas-Nebraska Act
A railroad was planned to cross the country
Senator Stephen A. Douglas wanted it to go through Chicago, but that meant that the tracks would have to go through unorganized northern Louisiana Purchase
Douglas pushed to get it organized as a territory

31. It would have to come in to the Union as a free state because it was north of the southern border of Missouri
Southern states would not vote for it
Douglas proposed the official status of free or slave be decided by the people who settled there
His Kansas-Nebraska Act passed

32. Party Splits
Discussions over slavery became heated splitting parties in two between northern and southern members
Whigs broke in two and joined the Southern Democrats or the new Know Nothing Party
Whigs were gone
Know Nothings were anti-immigration & anti-catholic

33. We now had 2 parties -- the Democrats and the Know Nothings
The Know Nothings fell apart and were replaced by the Republicans
The Democrats appealed to Southerners
The Republicans appealed to Northerners and were anti-slavery

34. Kansas became disputed territory between the North and the South
New England Abolitionists felt if Kansas was left to decide its own fate, it would make slavery illegal
Just to help out, abolitionist Eli Thayer formed the New England Emigrant Aid Society
It financed anti-slavery New Englander who wished to move to Kansas

35. Within 2 years 2,000 people moved there, stacking the deck
Few Southerners were willing to move west and the North had more people anyway
The South feared Kansas would not enter as a slave state

36. Violence erupted
Pro-slave groups from western Missouri attacked those who wanted Kansas to be a free state
These “Border Ruffians” crossed over into Kansas to vote illegally in elections and to harass northern settlers

37. Kansas experienced murders, beatings, and robberies
21 May 1856 – Border Ruffians rode into Lawrence, Kansas and set it on fire
24 May An act of revenge took place when fanatic abolitionist John Brown attacked a settlement on Pottawatomie Creek and ordered 5 pro-slavery ( he thought) Kansans executed with a scythe

39. Violence also spilled over into the Senate
Senator Sumner delivered an anti-slavery speech and said nasty things about Andrew Butler of South Carolina
Later Butler’s nephew, Preston Brooks, attacked Sumner with a cane

40. In the election of 1856 Democrat James Buchanan won and immediately had to deal with the Dred Scott decision of the Supreme Court
Dred Scott was a slave who had lived in a free territory and sued for his freedom when he lived in Missouri, a slave state
In Missouri slaves were property, not people
He remained a slave

41. John Brown
John Brown and 22 of his followers were hoping to encourage a slave rebellion by attacking the arsenal at Harper’s Ferry on 16 October 1859Col. Robert E. Lee and the U.S. Marines captured Brown who was tried, convicted, and hanged in December, 1859
Some saw Brown as a martyr

42. Election of 1860
Before the election, Southerners declared that if the anti-slavery Republicans won the presidency, the southern states would secede from the Union
There were 2 Democratic candidates for President for the North and 1 for the South

43. The Republicans had Abraham Lincoln
Lincoln won 40% of the popular vote and the majority of the electoral votes
He was seen as a sectional candidate and did not win a single southern state
Lincoln had vowed to stop the expansion of slavery

45. 20 December 1860 - South Carolina seceded
January other southern states seceded
Pp. 430, 431
Map, p.438

46. The North wanted to work out a compromise with the South, but Lincoln would except no compromise
Southern states formed the Confederacy with Jefferson Davis as its President
2 U.S. garrisons were in the South
Ft. Sumter in Charleston Harbor in South Carolina was running out of food

48. The South wouldn’t let supplies in unless it surrendered
Supplies were sent from the North
Ft. Sumter wouldn’t surrender and the South attacked beginning the Civil War

49. The Civil War
For years the South had wanted to keep slavery, keep their economy and their society the same, and keep their states’ rights.
When the war began, CHANGE was the result
Their lives were turned upside down
Most of the fighting and destruction took place in the South

50. Everyone thought it would be a short war, but it lasted 4 years
Battle of Manassas/ Bull Run
1st major battle
21 July 1861
Both armies were ill-trained
The South won

51. Northern actions after Bull Run
Build-up of troops
Blockade of Southern ports
Ulysses S. Grant won at Shiloh in Tennessee with tremendous casualties on both sides
Southerners enacted a draft
Fought mainly on their own soil
Jefferson Davis wanted the fight to move North

52. It did at the Battle of Antietam
17 September 1862
Sharpsburg, Maryland
Bloodiest single day’s fighting – 24,000 casualties
McClellan turned Lee back

53. After the Battle of Antietam and a northern victory, Lincoln said that on 1 January 1863 he would emancipate all slaves in the states of rebellion
It was passed in Congress as the 13th Amendment and called the Emancipation Proclamation

54. It inspired 150,000 former slaves to fight for the North, the Union
There were protests in the North against a draft and against Lincoln (this had to do with substitutes)
Some saw Lincoln as a dictator
Picture, p. 443
Map, p. 445

55. There were 2 crucial military defeats for the South in 1863:
Fall of Vicksburg – gave the Union control of the Mississippi River
Battle of Gettysburg – southern defeat on 3 July 1863; 3-day bloody battle where Lee lost 28,000 soldiers & Union lost 23,000
The South never made another push north

56. In 1864 Grant was fighting Lee in Virginia
General Wm. Tecumseh Sherman was making his “March to the Sea” in Georgia where he destroyed everything in his path
It was to show the South that the Confederacy couldn’t protect them

58. Sherman took Atlanta on 2 September 1864
He took Savannah on 21 December 1864
Sherman then moved on to the Carolinas and took Raleigh-Durham, N. C. on 14 April and Bentonville, N.C. on 19 May 1865

59. As he went along, slaves joined the fight for the northern side
Grant forced Lee to surrender Virginia on 9 April 1865
Troops laid down their arms
Troops were released
Jefferson Davis was captured

61. Lincoln had been re-elected in 1864, but didn’t live to see total peace
He was shot at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C. on 14 April 1865 by John Wilkes Booth
He died on 15 April 1865
P. 448

62. Costs Over 1 million were killed or wounded
Farms and cities were destroyed as were roads, railroads, and bridges
Financial cost was over $20 billion
Now the question was:
What kind of life was waiting for the newly freed slaves?