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The South and Slavery, 1790s—1850s
Chapter Ten The South and Slavery, 1790s—1850s
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Part One: Introduction
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Chapter Focus Questions
How did the slave system dominate southern life? What were the economic implications of "King Cotton"? How did African Americans create communities under slavery? What was the social structure of the white South? Why was the white South increasingly defensive?
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American Community: Natchez-under-the-Hill
Next: American Community: Natchez-under-the-Hill
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Natchez Under-the-Hill
Natchez and Natchez Under-the-Hill were adjacent communities. Natchez was an elegant planter community. Natchez Under-the-Hill was a mixed community of rivermen, gamblers, Indians, and blacks that was a potential threat to racial control. Rumors of a slave insurrection plot led the planters to drive the gamblers and other undesirables away.
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King Cotton and Southern Expansion
Next: King Cotton and Southern Expansion
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Cotton and Expansion into the Old Southwest
Eli Whitney’s and Catherine Greene’s cotton gin made cultivating short-staple cotton profitable, revolutionizing the Southern economy. After the War of 1812 Southerners expanded into Western Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi, driving out the Indians who already lived there, A generation later they poured into Louisiana and Texas. Each surge of expansion ignited a speculative frenzy.
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MAP 10.1 The South Expands, 1790–1850 This map shows the dramatic effect cotton production had on southern expansion. From the original six states of 1790, westward expansion, fueled by the search for new cotton lands, added another six states by 1821, and three more by 1850.
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MAP 10.2a Cotton Production and the Slave Population, 1820.
In the forty-year period from 1820 to 1860, cotton production grew dramatically in both quantity and extent. Rapid westward expansion meant that by 1860 cotton production was concentrated in the black belt (so called for its rich soils) in the Lower South. As cotton production moved west and south, so did the enslaved African American population that produced it, causing a dramatic rise in the internal slave trade. SOURCE:Sam Bowers Hilliard,Atlas of Antebellum Southern Agriculture (Baton Rouge:Lousiana State University Press,1984).
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MAP 10.2b Cotton Production and the Slave Population, 1860.
The expansion of cotton was concentrated in the rich soil sections of the South known as the black belt.
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A Slave Society in a Changing World
The growth of the cotton economy committed the South to slavery. In other parts of the nation, attitudes toward slavery were changing. Congress banned the slave trade in 1808 so the South relied on natural increase and the internal slave trade.
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Next: To Be A Slave
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The immense size of the internal slave trade made sights like this commonplace on southern roads. Groups of slaves, chained together in gangs called coffles, were marched from their homes in the Upper South to cities in the Lower South, where they were auctioned to new owners. SOURCE:Library of Congress.
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The Internal Slave Trade
Planter migration stimulated the slave trade. Slaves were gathered in pens before moving south by train or boat. On foot, slaves moved on land in coffles. The size of the slave trade made a mockery of Southern claims of benevolence. Refer to “Slave Coffles,” p. 277
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Sold “Down River” Cotton helped finance northern industry and trade.
Cotton and slavery tied up capital leaving the South lagging behind the North in urban population, industrialization, canals, and railroads. Cotton created a distinctive regional culture. The opening of western lands contributed to the instability of slave life. Many slaves were separated from their families by sale or migration and faced new hardships in the West.
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Sold “Down River” The slaves’ first challenge was to survive because:
they lived in one-room cabins with dirt floors and a few furnishings neither their food and clothing was adequate and were frequently supplemented by the slaves’ own efforts To survive, slaves learned how to avoid punishments and to flatter whites. Refer to Florida Slave Quarters p. 282
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Life of a Slave Some slaves worked as house servants.
Some slaves were skilled workers. Seventy-five percent of slaves worked as field hands, from sunup to sundown, performing the heavy labor needed for getting out a cotton crop. Not surprisingly, many suffered from poor health.
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The African American Community
Next: The African American Community
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Building the African American Community
Slaves created a community where an indigenous culture developed, influencing all aspects of Southern life. Masters had to learn to live with the two key institutions of African American community life: the family and the church.
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Slave Families Slave marriages were:
not recognized by law frequently not respected by masters a haven of love and intimacy for the slaves Parents gave children a supportive and protective kinship network. Slave families were often split up. Separated children drew upon supportive networks of family and friends.
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MAP 10.1 The South Expands, 1790–1850 This map shows the dramatic effect cotton production had on southern expansion. From the original six states of 1790, westward expansion, fueled by the search for new cotton lands, added another six states by 1821, and three more by 1850.
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African cultural patterns persisted in the preference for night funerals and for solemn pageantry and song, as depicted in British artist John Antrobus’s Plantation Burial, ca Like other African American customs, the community care of the dead contained an implied rebuke to the masters’ care of the living slaves. SOURCE:John Antrobus,Negro Burial The Historic New Orleans Collection.
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African American Religion
Slaves were not permitted to practice African religions, though numerous survivals did work their way into the slaves’ folk culture. The first and second Great Awakenings introduced Christianity to many slaves. In the 1790s, African American churches began emerging. Whites hoped religion would make the slaves obedient. Slaves found a liberating message that strengthened their sense of community and offered them spiritual freedom. Refer to “Negro Burial,” p. 284
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Harriet Tubman was 40 years old when this photograph (later hand-tinted) was taken. Already famous for her daring rescues, she gained further fame by serving as a scout, spy and nurse during the Civil War. SOURCE:The Granger Collection.
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Freedom and Resistance
Most slaves understood that they could not escape bondage. About 1,000 per year escaped, mostly from the upper South. Running away and hiding in the swamps or woods for about a week and then returning was more common. Refer to “Harriet Tubman,” p. 285
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This drawing shows the moment, almost two months after the failure of his famous and bloody slave revolt, when Nat Turner was accidentally discovered in the woods near his home plantation. Turner’s cool murder of his owner and methodical organization of his revolt deeply frightened many white Southerners. SOURCE:Courtesy of the Library of Congress.
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Slave Revolts A few slaves organized revolts.
Gabriel Prosser and Denmark Vesey organized large-scale conspiracies to attack whites in Richmond and Charleston that failed. Nat Turner led the most famous slave revolt in Southampton County, Virginia in 1831. Turner used religious imagery to lead slaves as they killed 55 whites. After Turner’s revolt, white southerners continually were reminded by the threat of slave insurrection. Refer to “Nat Turner,” p. 286
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Free African Americans
By 1860, there were nearly 250,000 free African Americans, mainly working as tenants or farm laborers. In cities, free African American communities flourished but had a precarious position as their members lacked basic civil rights. Refer to “Badges,” p. 286
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Next: The White Majority
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The Middle Class A commercial middle class of merchants, bankers, factors, and lawyers: arose to sell southern crops on the world market lived in cities that acted as shipping centers for agricultural goods
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Poor White People Between 30 to 50 percent of southern whites were landless. These poor whites lived a marginal existence as laborers and tenants. They engaged in complex and sometimes clandestine relations with slaves. Some yeomen hoped to acquire slaves themselves, but many were content with self sufficient non-market agriculture. Yeomen supported slavery because they believed that it brought them higher status.
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Yeomen Values Two-thirds of all southern whites lived in nonslaveholding families. Most yeomen were self-sufficient farmers. The strong sense of community was reinforced by close kin connections and bartering. Refer to “Yeomen Farms,” p. 288
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The goal of yeoman farm families was economic independence
The goal of yeoman farm families was economic independence. Their mixed farming and grazing enterprises, supported by kinship and community ties, afforded them a self-sufficiency epitomized by Carl G. von Iwonski’s painting of this rough but comfortable log cabin in New Braunfels, Texas. SOURCE:Daughters of the Republic of Texas Library.Yanaguana Society Collection.
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Next: Planters
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Small Slave Owners Most slaveholders owned only a few slaves.
Bad crops or high prices that curtailed or increased income affected slave-holding status Middle class professionals had an easier time climbing the ladder of success. Andrew Jackson used his legal and political position to rise in Southern society. Beginning as a landless prosecutor, Jackson died a plantation owner with over 200 slaves.
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This 1855 illustration of black stevadores loading heavy bales of cotton onto waiting steam boats in New Orleans is an example of the South’s dependence on cotton and the slave labor that produce it.
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The Planter Elite Most slaveholders inherited their wealth but sought to expand it. As slavery spread so did the slave-owning elite The extraordinary concentration of wealth created an elite lifestyle. Most wealthy planters lived fairly isolated lives. Some planters cultivated an image of gracious living in the style of English aristocrats, but plantations were large enterprises that required much attention to a variety of tasks. Plantations aimed to be self-sufficient.
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The Plantation Mistress
Following southern paternalism, in theory, each plantation was a family with the white master at its head. The plantation mistress ran her own household but did not challenge her husband’s authority. With slaves to do much of the labor conventionally assigned to women, it is no surprise that plantation mistresses accepted the system.
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This scene is part of a larger mural, created by artist William Henry Brown in 1842, which depicts everyday life at Nitta Yuma, a Mississippi cotton plantation. The elegant white woman, here seen elaborately dressed to go riding, depended for her leisure status on the work of African American slaves, such as this one feeding her horse. SOURCE:William H.Brown,Hauling the Whole Week ’s Picking (detail), 1842.Watercolor.The Historic New Orleans Collection.
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Coercion and Violence The slave system rested on coercion and violence. Slave women were vulnerable to sexual exploitation, though long-term relationships developed. Children of master-slave relationships seldom were publicly acknowledged and often remained in bondage Refer to “Gordon,” p. 291
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This Louisiana slave named Gordon was photographed in 1863 after he had escaped to Union lines during the Civil War. He bears the permanent scars of the violence that lay at the heart of the slave system. Few slaves were so brutally marked, but all lived with the threat of beatings if they failed to obey. SOURCE:National Archives and Records Administration.
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Next: The Defense of Slavery
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This 1841 proslavery cartoon contrasts healthy, well-cared-for African American slaves with unemployed British factory workers living in desperate poverty. The comparison between contented southern slaves and miserable northern “wage slaves” was frequently made by proslavery advocates. SOURCE:Library of Congress.
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Developing Proslavery Arguments
Slavery gave rise to various pro-slavery arguments including: in the post-Revolution era, Southern whites found justifications in the Bible or classical Greece and Rome the Constitution recognized slavery and that they were defending property rights by the 1830s arguments developed that slavery was good for the slaves. George Fitzhugh contrasted slavery, which created a community of interests, with the heartless individualism that ruled the lives of northern factory workers. Refer to Proslavery Argument Cartoon p. 293
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One of the ways Charleston attempted to control its African American population was to require all slaves to wear badges showing their occupation. After 1848, free black people also had to wear badges, which were decorated, ironically, with a liberty cap. SOURCE:Courtesy of the American Numismatic Society of New York.
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Changes in the South Despite efforts to stifle debate, some southern whites objected to slavery. The growing cost of slaves meant that the percentage of slaveholders was declining and class divisions widening. Hinton Rowan Helper denounced the institution.
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Finally: Conclusion
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MAP 10.4 Population Patterns in the South, 1850 In South Carolina and Mississippi, the enslaved African American population outnumbered the white population; in four other Lower South states, the percentage was above 40 percent. These ratios frightened many white Southerners. White people also feared the free black population, though only three states in the Upper South and Louisiana had free black populations of over 3 percent. Six states had free black populations that were so small (less than 1 percent) as to be statistically insignificant.
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Population Patterns in the South, 1850
In six southern states, slaves comprised over 40 percent of the total population. Click on title to view Adobe Acrobat map.
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