1. Chapter 9
The Old South,
Web

2. Old Farms: The Southeast
The Chesapeake
In 1790, chief crop was tobacco
Slaves
Tobacco depleted soil, forced planters to try other crops
Tenant farmers
Switch to grain crops increased need for male and artisan slaves
Slave women performed other farm and domestic work
Chesapeake farmers needed less slaves
Birth rate offset any emancipation of slaves

3. Old Farms: The Southeast (cont)
The Lowcountry
South Carolina and Georgia
Rice coast
Needed many slaves
Task System
Rice coast population was 80 to 90% slave
Tasks were assigned, slave’s time was their own upon completion of tasks
Worked for hire, tended “own” garden plots or livestock

4. New Farms: The Rise of the Deep South
Short-staple cotton
Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin in 1793
Allowed for expansion of Cotton Belt
By 1815, Cotton Belt expanded into uplands of Georgia and South Carolina
Native peoples driven out
Jeffersonian republicans ended Indian resistance and secured access to international markets for cotton planters
Interstate Slave Trade
By 1820, slave trade was well organized
Middle passage

5. Rise of the Deep South (cont)
Cotton plantation very profitable
Slaves did back-breaking work in gangs under an overseer
Plantations commercialized, grew nothing but cotton
Slaves worked from dawn to dusk
None of the freedom of task labor
Material conditions for slaves improved
Plantation masters were elite of the South
Number of slaves as measure of success
Successful southern ladies did not work
Southern families
Distrusted outsiders and defended rural neighborhoods
Code of honor

6. Southern Yeomanry Cotton profitable only for large plantations
In 1830, only 1/3 of southern whites owned any slaves
Taxes drove poor whites out of good land
Many settled in areas unsuitable for plantation crops
Some yeoman produced livestock over plantation crops, a larger group practiced mixed farming
“Subsistence plus” agriculture
Yeoman neighborhoods
Farms self-sufficient, traded labor and goods with each other
Marketed surplus at country stores
Lived simple life with few luxuries
Relied a great deal on family labor

7. Private Lives of Slaves
Plantation success rested on slave-master accommodation
Slave privileges helped to ensure obedience and order
Slave marriages encouraged and respected
Broad wives
Still, slave families were vulnerable
Children often spread their affection across a broad extended family

8. Private Lives of Slaves (cont)
Southern Evangelicals embraced slaves and considered their souls worth saving
Difficulty was that many slaves refused to accept the legitimacy of slavery
Led slaves to form their own churches
Utilized conjuring, folk magic, root medicine, and other occult knowledge, most of it passed down from Africa
Gave slaves sense of themselves as a historical people

9. Religion and Revolt
Escapes and other forms of resistance more common than revolts
Slave Christianity tempered resistance
Gabriel’s Revolt
Working covertly
Planned to gather a slave army to seize Richmond
Weather, white terror, and black betrayal foiled revolt
Denmark Vesey conspiracy, 1822
Slaves would rise up and seize Charleston
Then commandeer ships and make their escape
Betrayed by slaves themselves
Nat Turner revolt, 1831
Received notice in vision that God wanted him to lead revolt in Southampton County, Virginia
Bloody, but unsuccessful, revolt ensued
Southern whites deeply troubled by slave revolts

10. Plantation and Southern Growth
Plantations were profitable
In 1860, slaves alone were worth $3 billion dollars
Land and slaves provided esteem in the South
Purchased outside goods at a lower rate than North
South did not take advantage of new technologies
Slaves used instead of new technology
Southern governments made little internal improvements
Commercial and manufacturing developed far less than in the North

11. Discussion Questions
What is the task system and how does it differ than the plantation slavery of the cotton belt?
What affect did short staple cotton and the cotton gin have on Southern society?
Examine the conditions of slaves on the plantations. Contrast these conditions with that of yeoman farmers in the South.
Examine the major slave rebellions noted in this chapter. What level of success did each have, why did the fail, and how did they affect Southern society?