1. SLAVES AND MASTERS

2. The South as American Counterpoint
Shrouded in Myth: “Gone with the Wind” versus “Simon Legree”
Distinctive Features: heat, humidity, staple crop agriculture, native born populations, race
Colonial Economics

3. The Divided Society of the Old South
Wealth divides white Southerners by class
White society also divided by region
Black society also divided with about 6% free
Race divides all Southerners by caste

4. Slavery the Peculiar Institution
Slavery the System
The Slave Experience
Resistance

5. The Growth of Slavery Cotton gin makes cotton production profitable.
New territory is being opened for slavery.
Slavery is fundamental to the growth of cotton.
Owning slaves seen as way to economic prosperity.

6. Eli Whitney and Slavery
Inventor of the cotton gin
It will make cotton production efficiently and cost effective which will drive the demand for slaves
Whitney will also introduce a rifle with interchangeable parts which will aid in producing weapons quickly for the American Civil War

7. Anglo Justifications for Slavery
Racial
Blacks are seen as “brutes” and should be controlled
Religious
Bible scripture provides examples of slavery
Scientific
Blacks are inferior to whites
Paternalism
Blacks are being taken care of

8. Slave Concentration by 1860

9. Distribution of Slave Labor, 1850

10. 50% of all slaves lived in the Black Belt (“Cotton Belt”)

11. Slaves’ Daily Life and Labor
90% of slaves lived on plantations or farms
Most slaves on cotton plantations worked sunup to sundown, 6 days/week
About 75% of slaves were field workers, about 5% worked in industry
Urban slaves had more autonomy than rural slaves

12. Conditions of Slavery
Lived in crude quarters that left them exposed to bad weather and disease.
Diets consisted of cornmeal and salt pork.
The weather conditions of the South made health problems like yellow fever, dysentery, and malaria common.
Slave codes reinforced the concept that slaves were property and prevented slaves from having any rights.

13. The Plantation System
Plantations were diverse economically and self sufficient.
Slaves were organized into specialized gangs that performed specific duties.
Productivity was tied to maintaining discipline.

14. Field Slaves
Majority were field slaves and worked dawn to dusk. Some worked under the task system which required slaves to complete a specific job once done they were free to manage own affairs.
Did skilled work like carpentry and ironsmithing and unskilled work like tending the crops.
The women also had to care of their families by cooking, tending house and taking care of the children too!
Masters hired out slaves to perform other duties and keep the slave’s wages.

15. House Slaves
Household slaves cooked, cleaned, and nursed the master's children.
Are constantly watched by their masters and mistresses. Had far less privacy than those who worked the fields.
House slaves faced beatings, verbal abuse and sexual assault.

16. Slave Quarters

17. The Big House

18. Slave Families, Kinship, and Community
Normal family life difficult for slaves
fathers cannot always protect children
families vulnerable to breakup by masters
Most reared in strong, two-parent families
Extended families provide nurture, support amid horror of slavery
Slave culture a family culture that provided a sense of community

19. African American Religion
Black Christianity the cornerstone of an emerging African American culture
Whites fear religion’s subversive potential, try to supervise churches and preaching
Slave religion kept secret from whites
reaffirmed the inherent joy of life
preaches the inevitable day of liberation

20. Slave Resistance
Slaves worked slowly, broke tools, faked illness and destroyed crops.
Many stole livestock, food, or valuables, burned buildings or killed their masters.
They pursued education! Learning to read is a powerful tool!

21. Resistance and Rebellion
Run away often aided by the Underground Railroad
Stories, songs asserting equality

22. Slave Punishment
Slaves were punished for not working fast, being late, talking back, running away, and other reasons.
Slave punishment included whippings, torture, mutilation, imprisonment, the threat of abusing a loved one and being sold away.

23. Resistance and Rebellion
1800--Gabriel Prosser
1822--Denmark Vesey
1831--Nat Turner

24. Slave Rebellions and Uprisings, 1800-1831

25. Gabriel Prosser’s Rebellion
Gabriel Prosser plans the first major slave rebellion.
Gabriel wanted to create an independent black state in Virginia on August 30, 1800.
Gabriel and 26 of his companions are hanged.

26. Denmark Vesey’s Rebellion
Minister who plans rebellion with over 1,000 members.
Informant betrays revolt. Most faced deportations and hangings.
South is paranoid about slave revolts and Slave Laws.

27. Nat Turner’s Rebellion
Nat Turner claimed to have visions and was ordered by God to rebel.
In August 1831, led a revolt in which 57 men, women and children are hacked to death.
The rebellion causes the South to pass strict Slave Codes.

28. Free Blacks in the Old South
Southern free blacks severely restricted
Sense of solidarity with slaves
Generally unable to help
Repression increased as time passed
Had to register with the state & carry “freedom” papers
Were excluded from certain jobs
Subjected to re-enslavement & fraudulent “recapture”
By 1860 some state legislatures were proposing laws to force free blacks to emigrate or be enslaved

29. White Society in the Antebellum South
Only a small percentage of slave owners lived in aristocratic mansions
less than 1% of the white population owned 50 or more slaves
Most Southern whites were yeomen farmers

30. The Planters' World Big planters set tone, values of Southern life
Planter wealth based on
commerce
land speculation
slave-trading
cotton planting
Plantations managed as businesses
Romantic ideals imitated only by richest

31. The Value of Cotton Exports as a Percentage of All U.S. Exports

32. Planters and Paternalism
Planters pride themselves on paternalism
Better living standard for Southern slaves than others in Western Hemisphere
Relatively decent treatment due in part to their increasing economic value after 1808
Planters actually deal little with slaves
Slaves managed by overseers
Violent coercion accepted by all planters

33. Small Slaveholders Slave conditions worst with fewer than 20
slaves share the master's poverty
slaves at the complete mercy of the master
Masters often worked alongside the slaves
Most slaves would have preferred the economic and cultural stability of the plantation

34. Yeoman Farmers Small farmers resent large planters
Some aspire to planter status
Many saw slavery as guaranteeing their own liberty and independence
Slavery viewed as a system for keeping blacks "in their place"

35. A Closed Mind and a Closed Society
Planters fear growth of abolitionism
Planters encourage closing of ranks
Slavery defended as a positive good
Africans depicted as inferior
slavery defended with Bible
slavery a humane asylum to improve Africans
Slavery superior to Northern wage labor
Contrary points of view suppressed

36. Slavery and the Southern Economy
White Southerners perceived their economic interests to be tied to slavery
Lower South: slave plantation society
Upper South: farming and slave-trading region

37. The Internal Slave Trade
Mixed farming in Virginia and Maryland
Need less labor, more capital
Upper South sells slaves to lower South
Virginia, Maryland, and Kentucky take on characteristics of industrializing North
Sectional loyalty of upper South uncertain

38. Slave Concentration, 1820

39. The Rise of the Cotton Kingdom
"Short-staple" cotton drives cotton boom
Cotton gin makes seed extraction easy
Year-round requirements suited to slave labor
Cotton in Georgia, South Carolina, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, Louisiana, east Texas
Large planters dominate cotton production
1850--South produces 75% of world's cotton, cotton the most important U.S. business

40. Slave Concentration, 1860

41. Slavery and Industrialization
Southerners resent dependence on Northern industry, commerce
Southerners project industrial schemes
some propose using free white labor
others propose the use of slaves
Slaves work in southern factories
High cotton profits discourage shift to industry

42. The "Profitability" Issue
Slavery not profitable for South as a whole
White small farmers have lower living standards than most Northern farmers
Profits from cotton not well-distributed
Slave system results in waste of human resources, Southern underdevelopment

43. Defending Slavery
Southern planters feared revolts & the growth of abolitionism & used a new defense slavery:
It was sanctioned in the Bible
Constitution did not prohibit it
Slavery was a “natural” way of life for “inferior” Africans
Slavery was more humane than Northern industrial exploitation

44. Defending Slavery
Proslavery Southerners protected South against anti-slavery ideas:
Feared abolitionist propaganda would inspire slave rebellions or inspire the yeoman to support abolition
Increased restrictions on blacks by making it illegal to teach slaves to read & write
Banned church services & meetings without supervision

45. Conclusions
The post-1793 cotton boom transformed the American economy & Southern society:
Cotton facilitated westward expansion & the entrenchment of African slavery in the South
In the 1830s, the South became increasingly defensive about perceived Northern attempts to end slavery

46. Worlds in Conflict Separate Southern worlds
planters
slaves
less affluent whites
free blacks
Held together by plantation economy, web of customary relationships