1. Slavery and the Old South 1800 -1860

2. Study Guide Identifications Mono-cropping Cotton Belt Internal Slave system Demography of Slavery Slave Codes Conditions of slavery Resistance and Rebellion

3. Study Guide Questions How did the increasing demand for cotton in the lower south impact the institution of slavery? What factors led to a decline of slavery after 1800 in the economy of the upper south? What were the conditions that enslaved peoples Experience and how did they respond? How did advocates of black enslavement justify such an institution?

4. Charleston Slave Auction The Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave by Henry Byam Martin, 1833.

5. Plantation labor Plantations of the cotton belt – most intensely commercialized farms in the world – Huge demand in Europe and United States – Lower south led the nation in per capita income

6. The Lower South After 1790 Cotton Boomed Cotton Belt by 1850 – South Carolina – Georgia – Florida – Alabama – Mississippi – Texas

7. Mono-cropping Cotton Plantations – huge profits in good years but in bad years sent planter into debt and forced them to sell slaves and land. – organized their labor in ways to maximize production and reinforced the dominance of the white men who owned the farms.

8. Slave Trade By 1860 nearly 4 million slaves lived in the south – 250,000 had been smuggled in after the ban on the African slave trade in 1808

9. Slave trade 1830-1850

10. Internal Slavery ½ of all slave sales separated families Slave children born in the upper south: 1:3 chance of being sold By 1850 almost all southern slaves were native born – African Americans

11. Demography of Slavery White Minority 1% Big Planters – 50+slaves 3% 20-49 Slaves Controlled wealth & politics 20% small slave holders

12. White Majority 75% White Majority 1860 ¾ owned no slaves, worked land with family labor – 1 in 5 owned no land or slaves and squatted on least desirable lands – Grew corn – Grazed livestock Cities: artisans & day laborers

13. Free Black Society 3% if all free families 6% of Southern Blacks free 80% of free blacks in upper south 70% of blacks mulattoes Tradition of racially mixed unions under French & Spanish Rule established free elite – Creole societies in Charleston, Mobile and New Orleans – Greater white patronage, monopolized best jobs, Octoroon Balls

14. Status of Enslaved Peoples Slave codes – laws defining the status of slaves and the rights of the masters, the codes gave slave owners near-absolute power over their human property – Prohibited own property make contracts possess guns or alcohol legally marry (except LA) leave plantations without the owners permission testify against their master or any other white persons in a court of law. read and write It was illegal for a slave to kill a master, but not for a master to kill a slave. Torture Mask, 1807

15. Conditions Clothes: They were provided one set of winter and one set of summer clothes Housing: 15x15 cabin for 6 or more people.

16. Conditions Diet – Cornmeal, salt pork and vegetables made up a poor Diseases from Malnutrition – Beriberi – vitamin deficiency disease caused by inadequate bodily stores of vitamin B1 or thiamine – Damages the heart and nervous system. – Pellagra – Deficiency of niacin and amino acids – scaly skin sores, diarrhea, inflamed mucous membranes, and mental confusion and delusions Diseases from poor Hygiene – Dysentery & Cholera Contaminated food & water diarrhea, vomiting, and leg cramp, dehydration, death Due to overcrowded and unsanitary conditions

17. Conditions Life expectancy – Half that of whites. (20-22 years compared to 40+) Gang Labor System – 20 + blacks on a gang with an overseer or driver to clear, plow or how the land and pick cotton at a steady pace – Overseers admitted they relied on whippings to make them work.

18. Rural Slavery 80-90% of slaves worked on farms and plantations – 15-20% of plantation slaves were house servants or skilled artisans – Lighter less regimented workloads than field hands

19. Urban Slavery Artisans Semi-skilled laborers Domestics Declined from 1820- 1860 as slaves decreased from 22% to 10% of the urban population

20. Industrial Slavery 5-10% Industrial Slavery – lumbering and mining – The Tredegar Iron, Richmond, VA after 1847 used slaves to curb strikes by white workers – Industrial slaves had more independence off the job and had greater opportunities to earn money – Competed w/ free whites

21. Slave Families Marriages produced enduring commitments Until death or 1/3 broken by re-sale, 2/3 had both parents Supportive moral code Fathers hunted & fished to supplement diets, risked beating and death to protect women from sexual abuse Mothers endured burdens of pregnancy, child care, laundry & cooking in addition to field work

22. Survival skills Taught Survival Skills Keep feeling hidden, tell what they want to hear Extensive kinship/support network – All elders: Aunt & Uncles – All peers: Sisters& brothers

23. West African Tradition Followed & Blended West African Religious traditions Prohibited marriages between cousins named children after grandparents Brush Harbor meetings – Blended natural & spiritual world

24. Upper South Slavery entrenched but less dominant than in lower south 2/3 of all whites in 1860 held 45% of all slaves Following War of 1812 – Economic slump – Depopulation 1820-30s – Soil depletion – land values fell – Immigration west ward

25. Growing Urbanization Slavery declining by 1850 in the Upper South – Delaware – Kentucky – Missouri – Virginia Factors of Decline – Economic recovery – Agricultural diversification – Relied less on slaves – Expanded urban markets – Network of internal improvements facilitated transition to general farming

26. Open Resistance “Sold Down the River” or killed Work slow down, theft, tool loss, arson…

27. Rebellions Frequent – 4 Major Rebellions in 19 th C Gabriel Prosser 1800 – 50 armed slaves, Richmond, Prosser +25 executed New Orleans Rivers parishes 1810 – March on city, 60 died, heads of leaders posted on poles along river Denmark Vesey, 1822 – Literate carpenter & preacher, Charleston, target municipal guard house & arsenal, 35 executed, 37 banished Nat Turner, 1831 – South Hampton, Virginia, killed 60 whites, whites killed 30 followers plus 100 more.

28. Slavery Defense Justification of a “necessary evil”

29. Slavery Defense – 1830’s following Nat Turner Rebellion & abolitionist crusades White mobs emerged to stifle open criticism – “Positive good”& “Disinterested Benevolence” Mild, paternalistic, caring, provided Christian instruction to heathens Foundation of white prosperity and democracy Blacks not fit for freedom will turn violent & assault white women – Moral Justifications 1850s politicians, intellectuals, evangelical ministers argued institution is ordained by GOD

30. Theater Poster: Uncle Tom’s Cabin