1. The South & the Slavery Controversy 1793-1860
Chapter 16
The South & the Slavery Controversy

2. “Cotton’s Is King!”
Before the 1793 invention of Eli Whitney’s cotton gin, slavery was a dying business.
the South was burdened with depressed prices, unmarketable goods, and over-cropped lands
Soon, growing cotton became wildly profitable and easier, and more slaves were needed
Does all fault lie with the South?
North transported the cotton to England & the rest of Europe, so they were in part responsible for the slave trade as well
South produced more than half the world’s supply of cotton, and held an advantage over countries like England
South believed that since England was so dependent on them that, if civil war was to ever break out, England would support the South that it so heavily depended on—didn’t happen!

3. Planter “Aristocracy”
only 1,733 families owned more than 100 slaves each, and they were the wealthy aristocracy of the South, with big houses and huge plantations
widened the gap between the rich and the poor and hampered public-funded education by sending their children to private schools
plantation system shaped the lives of southern women
Mistresses of the house commanded a sizable household of mostly female slaves who cooked, sewed, cared for the children, and washed things
Mistresses could be kind or cruel, but all of them did at one point or another abuse their slaves to some degree

4. Slaves of the Slave System
cotton producers were always in need of new land
economic structure of the South became increasingly monopolistic because as land ran out, smaller farmers sold their land to the large estate owners
dominance of “King Cotton” likewise led to a one-crop economy whose price level was at the mercy of world conditions
Southerners resented the Northerners getting rich at their expense while they were dependent on the North for clothing, food, and manufactured goods - tension rises
immigrants did not go to the South. The reasons were (a) labor competition from slaves, (b) the high price of land, and (c) ignorance of cotton cultivation. These hard-working immigrants wound up helping the North solely, at the South's expense.

5. The White Majority
only ¼ of Southern families owned slaves; 2/3 of those families owned fewer than 10 slaves
the slaveless whites that raised corn and hogs, sneered at the rich cotton “snobocracy” and lived simply and poorly
Even the slaveless whites racist none the less, defending slavery because they all hoped to own a slave or two some day, & no matter how bad things were, they always “outranked” Blacks
Whites that lived in the mountains (hillbillies) likely had the toughest life of all whites. They were incredibly isolated, living in coves and hollows separated from the rest of the nation. They were extremely poor and scratched a living out of the mountains.
Mountains whites were not strong supporters of slavery. They (a) had no need for slavery in the mountains and (b) despised the wealthy white plantation owners who usually ran their state.
West Virginia broke away from Virginia over this matter. And, many whites from the hills "volunteered" to fight for the North (as in Tennessee, the "Volunteer State").

6. Free Blacks: Slaves Without Masters
,000 free Blacks in the South
In the upper South, these Blacks were descended from those freed by the idealism of the Revolutionary War (“all men were created equal”)
In the deep South, they were usually mulattoes (Black mother, White father who was usually a master) freed when their masters died
Free Blacks were prohibited from working in certain occupations and forbidden from testifying against whites in court; and as examples of what slaves could be, Whites resented them
In the North:
most denied them the right to vote and most barred them from public schools
especially hated by the Irish, with whom they competed for jobs.
Plantation Slavery
slave increase (4 million by 1860) was mostly due to their natural reproduction - not slave trade
Slaves were an investment
states of South Carolina, Florida, Mississippi, Alabama, and Louisiana accounted for half of all slaves in the South
Breeding slaves was not encouraged - Some were promised freedom after ten children born

7. Life Under the Lash most slaves came from two-parent households
for slaves everywhere, life meant hard work, no civil or political rights, and whipping if orders weren’t followed
Laws that tried to protect slaves were difficult to enforce
Whipping was not uncommon but not as common as you might think.
A master could lower the value of his slave if he whipped him too much
most slaves came from two-parent households
often naming children for grandparents or adopting the surname of a forebear’s master
African-Americans also mixed Christian religion with their own native religion
Slaves had no dignity, were illiterate, and had no chance of achieving the “American dream.”
devised countless ways to make trouble without getting punished to badly:
They worked as slowly as they could without getting lashed
They stole food and sabotaged expensive equipment
Occasionally, they poisoned their masters’ food.

8. Slave Revolts Early Abolitionism
insurrection by a slave named Gabriel in Richmond, VA
Charleston rebellion led by Denmark Vesey
revolt led by semi-literate preacher Nat Turner
Whites became paranoid of Black revolts
Early Abolitionism
Groups sprang up wanting to get rid of slavery
the American Colonization Society was founded for the purpose of transporting Blacks back to Africa
the Republic of Liberia was founded for freed Blacks to live
Abraham Lincoln even entertained this idea
Most Blacks had no wish to be transplanted into a strange civilization
By virtually all slaves were not Africans, but native-born African-Americans
Early abolitionists: William Lloyd Garrison, Wendell Phillips, David Walker, Sojourner Truth, Martin Delaney, Frederick Douglass

9. The South Lashes Back
a turning point for slavery in the South because (a) emancipation proposals were defeated in Virginia and (b) Nat Turner's bloody rebellion scared whites into tightening black codes.
Northerners decried the horrors of the "peculiar institution", white Southerners cultivated a happier scene of slavery.
The Bible supported slavery. specifically the "curse of Ham" Noah's son and supposed patriarch of Africa, who was cursed to serve his brothers.
idea of whites & happy "darkies" and living together. - best seen in the Stephen Foster folk songs such as "My Old Kentucky Home"
The slave-owner relationship was akin to family ties, like a father-son relationship.
Southern politicians took steps to silence anti-slavery statements or literature. Gag orders were given and abolitionist propaganda, including drawings that illiterate slaves could understand, was burnt.