Slavery and Southern Economy

Divergent Paths Due to the “Market Revolution”, the North developed an economic centered on industry, commerce and wage laborers Thanks to “King Cotton”, the South grew more and more to rely on slave labor to underpin its way of life

“KING COTTON” Invention of Cotton Gin and Louisiana Purchase increased cotton production Increased demand for slaves – 1.5 million by 1820, despite outlawing slave trade Southern economy increasingly dependent on crop An engraving from Harper's Magazine from 1869 showing the first cotton gin

Cotton Gin

Supply and Demand Slave boundary grew from Georgia to Texas between 1790 and 1860 At first demand met through legal importation, then smuggling Finally was met by the surplus from the Chesapeake region

Slave Migration Slave Population Density Slave Population Density

Slave Migration

I. Southern Economy and Society A. Once cotton became very profitable, the demand for slave labor skyrocketed B. Social classes became more rigidly defined: 1. Planters – small % of population owned large plantations 2. Yeoman farmers – average family farmers; majority of white pop. 3. Rural poor – lived on unfertile land 4. African Americans – 93% of blacks were enslaved in South C. Most southerners owned no slaves, but it was built into southern society, economy, and culture.

The Domestic Slave Trade Profitable to both upper and lower south states Reinforced status as property Destroyed 25 percent of slave marriages White southerners continued to believe in “paternalistic” aspect of slavery

The Planter Elite About 3,000 owned more than 100 slaves Believed in republican aristocracy In the Chesapeake region slave ownership was more diffused In the Cotton South of Alabama and Mississippi, second group of planters : market-driven entrepreneurs

Non-Slave Owning Whites The percentage of white families who owned slaves decreased over time “Smallholders” worked alongside their slaves Propertyless whites garnered little respect, still had to serve in militias Gained only psychological satisfaction they ranked above blacks “In a slave country, every free man is an aristocrat”

Slavery A. Field slaves were organized two different ways: 1. Task system – each slave completed a specific job each day 2. Gang system – work gangs plowed and planted from sunup-sundown B. House servants lived much differently than the field hands C. Slave codes prohibited Blacks from owning property, leaving slaveholder’s premises, possessing firearms, testify against whites, and learning to read/write

The Proslavery Argument Peculiar Institution – A term that John C. Calhoun coined to describe Southern slavery In Calhoun’s view, slavery was not “an evil” or a cause of shame but rather “a good—a positive good” to be championed.

Image 10.7: “Slavery As It Exists in America” This proslavery cartoon portrays slaves as happy and well cared for by masters who are benign patriarchs.

III. Coping with Enslavement A. African American culture began developing 1. sang songs (spirituals), told folktales, blended Christianity with African religious traditions, developed their own vernacular (style of language) B. Resisted their owners: 1. Slowed down their work 2. Broke tools and machinery 3. Set fire to barns and houses 4. Ran away C. Some organized revolts (i.e., Gabrielle, Vesey, Nat Turner)

Nat Turner’s Rebellion – A 1831 slave uprising in Virginia led by Nat Turner that shocked many in the South and led to a host of new repressive measures against slaves