1. CH 12:The Old South & Slavery

2. Section 1 Focus Question:
How did the rise of cotton cultivation affect the society and economy of the Old South?
Big Picture:
1770’s—Tobacco = no profit
1830’s—Cotton needed by BR & NE

3. The Old South & Slavery Cotton…again Climate No tools Cotton gin
—slave pop boom
Demand in NE
Corn alternate crop
Upper South—VA, NC, TN, AR (relied less on slavery)
Lower or Deep South—SC, GA, FL, MS, LA, TX

4. King Cotton Upper South Lower South Grew veggies & hemp
Less reliable on slaves
Settlers from lower south were from upper south
White southerners benefited from 3/5 clause
Abolitionists criticized both regions for slavery
Cotton & sugar = $ = internal slave trade
Upper South
Lower South

7. North & South Diverge Industry Education 1/3 pop lived in South
Industry in VA & SC
Tredegar Iron Works
No workforce
Industry = sell slaves = no $
Refused to pay for public education
All would be farmers
Educating slaves = illegal
By CW, 60 % of NC illiterate

8. Section 2 Focus Question:
What major social divisions segmented the white South?
Big Picture:
Four Southern groups: Planters (1%), yeomen, small farmers, & pine barren folks.

9. Social Groups of the South
Used plantation agriculture
Lived in AL & MS
Showed wealth by slave #
“Agents” sold cotton
Cheated— “mulattos”
Planters
Yeomen
Pinebarren Folk
Small Slaveholders
88% of holders had 20+ slaves
Lawyers, Dr, & Artisans
Slave use:
Upland-harvest only
Lower-more
Desired live of Planter
Took out loans for land in AL & MS
Nonslaveholders
Slave use:
Only at harvest
Paid slaves
Depended on family to work land
Controlled most southern land
Democratic
Believed in self-sufficiency.
10% of Southern whites
Squatters, raised hogs
Refused slave-like work

10. Section 3 Focus Question:
Why did nonslaveholding whites feel their futures were tied to the survival of slavery?
Big Picture:
North—forces own race into labor.
South—exploits blacks through slavery.

11. Section 4 Focus Question:
What were the distinctive features of African-American society & culture in the South?
Big Picture:
Slave location/labor determined treatment

12. 1700’s 1830’s Slave Experiences Age: 20’s—slave ship Africa/Caribbean
Different language
No partners
Low birth numbers due to female malnutrition
Worked on small, isolated farms
Females & males
English language
Ratio of male to female equal
Higher birth rates
Plantation agriculture
Chesapeake area or lower South
Slave trade banned in 1808

13. Slave-Owning Population (1850)

14. Slave-Owning Families (1850)

15. Working ¾ of all slaves lived on plantations with 10+ Men & women
Sun up to sundown
Smaller farms: “task system”
Larger farms: worked under an overseer

16. Slave Family Master encouraged “slave marriage”
Children
Discourage runaways
Law did not protect slaves (or crimes committed against them)
Families sold & separated
Sexual abuse from masters
“Fictive Kin”

17. Diet & Life High reproduction rate
Equal ratio
2/3 lived to be 10 yo
Balanced diet of vegetables and meat.
Resistant to malaria & yellow fever
Home remedies
Lived in crude wooden cabins
Infected water to do bacteria and “waste”

18. Free Blacks
1860—1/3 of free blacks lived in upper South & ½ of free blacks lived in lower South.
Easier to get jobs in the South vs North.
Lived in rural areas.
Carpenters, coopers, barbers, small traders, and worked in markets.
Organized own churches and schools.

19. Section 5

20. African American Culture
Languages of slaves:
Pidgin—dropping connector words & blend of African, Spanish, and English.
Religion:
African slaves worshipped many religions
“Witchcraft”
Water Symbolism—early slaves were baptized b/c water was significant in their religion.
Religion
Plantation owners brought in preachers
Preach that slaver was justified by Bible
Slaves began interpreting their struggle as a “test” from god and master would “get theirs”
Similar to Jews who were enslaved by Romans.

21. African American Culture
Black Music & Dance
Struggle expressed in music: drums, clapping
“Patting the juba”
Spirituals
Sung in fields to talk about escape.
Underground Railroad:
Created to help slaves escape to Canada or Mexico.
Harriet Tubman

22. Quilt Patterns as Secret Messages
The Monkey Wrench pattern, on the left, alerted escapees to gather up tools and prepare to flee; the Drunkard Path design, on the right, warned escapees not to follow a straight route.