1. The South and Slavery
King Cotton Reigns

2. The Cotton Kingdom
Post Revolutionary recession results in decline in slavery
Ideals of the Revolution conflict with slavery.
Some owners free their slaves. 3

3. Slavery Expands and Cotton Become King
Cotton Gin
Trade
Cotton exported to England; $ from sale of cotton used to buy northern goods
Britain heavily dependent on cotton to feed its textile factories (80% came from U.S.)
Cotton accounted for 50% of all American exports after 1840.
South produced 75% of world’s cotton.

4. Slave Rebellions Stono Rebellion, 1739 Gabriel Prosser, 1800
South Carolina slaves fled toward Florida killing whites along way
Gabriel Prosser, 1800
Rebellion did not materialize and Prosser and 26 others were hanged.
Denmark Vesey 1822.
A slave informer advised his master of the plot
Vesey and 30 others publicly hanged

5. Slave Rebellions Nat Turner’s revolt -- 1831
Sixty Virginians slaughtered, mostly children and women
Wave of killing slowed down revolt’s aim of capturing armory
Largest slave revolt ever in the South
Over 100 slaves were killed in response; Turner was hanged.
Southern states made it increasingly difficult for masters to free their slaves

6. Slave Rebellion Cont.
The most common form of resistance on the part of black Americans slaves prior to the Civil War
passive resistance, including breaking tools and slightly slowing the pace of work

7. The Planter "Aristocracy"
South an oligarchy
Ruled by wealthy plantation owners
1850, only 1,733 families owned more than 100 slaves; yet dominated southern politics

8. Peculiar Institution
Economic structure of South was monopolistic, dominated by wealthy plantation owners
Plantation system
Risky : Slaves might die of disease, injure themselves, or run away.
System required heavy investment of capital
One-crop economy (cotton)
Discouraged a diversification of agriculture and esp. manufacturing

9. Peculiar Institution
Southerners resentful the North made huge profits at their expense
Resented being so dependent on northern manufactures & markets
Repelled large-scale European immigration
Only 4.4% of foreign-born part of South’s pop. in 1860; 18.7% in North.

10. Plantation Slavery
Nearly 4 million slaves by 1860; quadrupled in number since 1800
Legal imports of slaves ended in 1808
Countless slaves smuggled in despite death penalty for slavers
Burdens of slavery
Slaves deprived of dignity and sense of responsibility that free people have
suffered cruel physical and psychological treatment
Denied an education since
seen as dangerous to give slaves ideas of freedom

11. Plantation Slavery Cont
The increase in the South's slave labor force between 1810 and 1860
Natural population increase of American-born slave
White slave owners often fathered sizable mulatto population.
Most remained slaves
Slaves seen as valuable assets and primary source of wealth
Slave auctions one of most revolting aspects of slavery
Punishment often brutal to send a message to other slaves not to defy master’s authority

12. The White Majority
By 1860, only 1/4 of white southerners owned slaves or belonged to slave-owning families
Small slave owners made up a majority of masters.
75% of white southerners owned no slaves at all.
Mostly subsistence farmers; didn’t participate in market economy

13. The White Majority
Fiercely defended the slave system as it proved white superiority
Poor whites took comfort that they were "equal" to wealthy neighbors
Poor Southern whites someday hoped to own slaves and realize the "American dream."

14. Slavery- The South’s “Peculiar Institution”-- Kenneth Stamp1

15. Slave control & growing opposition
A Slave Catechism
Religion was a means of control
Rising opposition to slavery
Natural rights theory of the revolution 2

16. Slave trade banned by the Constitution in 1807
Britain bans the slave trade - William Wilberforce BRITISH PM
The ideas of the 2nd Great Awakening

17. The Domestic Slave Trade
Center Washington D.C.
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Breeding practices
Family splitting- Josiah Henson
“Being sold down river” 4

18. Slave Revolts Constant fear in the south. New York fire & riot 1741
The Gabriel Conspiracy
Denmark Vesey 1822
The Nat Turner Revolt 1831 5

19. The South strikes back! New Slave codes and defense of slavery
Slaves denied any status as human beings
Use of “slave patrols”
Congressional “gag resolution”

20. The Positive Good theory of slavery
Edward Brown
John Hammond -mudsill theory
George Fitzhugh “Cannibals All” claimed Africans have produced no culture.
Dr. John Van Evrie did a brain size study.

21. THE ABOLITION MOVEMENT
THE EARLIEST ABOLITION SOCIETIES FORMED IN 1815
KEY LEADER BENJAMIN LUNDY
CALLED FOR GRADUAL EMANCIPATION
AND COLONIZATION BACK TO AFRICA
RELIED ON PERSUASION & CONCILIATION

22. LUNDY PUBLISHES THE GENIUS OF UNIVERSAL EMANCIPATION 1821
WALKED FROM TOWN TO TOWN PREACHING GRADUAL EMANCIPATION.
WILLIAM ELLERY CHANNING - BOSTON CLERGYMAN DELIVERED THE SAME MESSAGE
“SLAVERY IS YOUR CALAMITY NOT YOUR CRIME”

23. BY 1830 IT WAS CLEAR PERSUASION WOULD NOT WORK
VOLUNTARY EMANCIPATION WAS RARE.
THE MOVEMENT BECOMES MORE MILITANT.
THE AMERICAN ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY FOUNDED 1833
GOAL TO “ABOLITIONIZE THE COUNTRY”

24. WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON LAUNCHES THE LIBERATOR IN 1831
SLAVERY SHOULD END NOW!
“I WILL NOT EQUIVOCATE, EXCUSE OR RETREAT A SINGLE INCH…I WILL BE HEARD!”
SLAVERY IS A CRIME AND A SIN. YOU CAN NOT COMPROMISE WITH SIN.

25. WENDELL PHILLIPS “THE GOLDEN TRUMPET OF ABOLITION.”
OTHERS JOIN THE CAUSE
THEODORE PARKER A UNITARIAN MINISTER.
WRITER JOHN GREENLIEF WHITTIER
ALL ARE VIEWED AS DANGEROUS RADICALS AND TROUBLE MAKERS IN BOTH THE NORTH & SOUTH.

26. ELIJAH P. LOVEJOY PUBLISHER OF THE OBSERVER.
LOVEJOY IS MURDERED IN ALTON, ILLINOIS IN 1837
FIRST WHITEMAN TO BE KILLED IN THE CAUSE OF ABOLITION.
GARRISON NEARLY LYNCHED

27. ABOLITIONISTS TENDED TO OVERSIMPLIFY
DEPICTED ALL SLAVE OWNERS AS WICKED BRUTES
NO COMPROMISE
GARRISON: “THE CONSTITUTION IS A COVENANT WITH DEATH AND THE DEVIL.”
ATTACK MADE SLAVE OWNERS DEFENSIVE.

28. ABOLITION MOVEMENT SPLIT IN 1840
ANTI-GARRISON BRANCH FORMS THE LIBERTY PARTY.
TAKE A “FREE SOIL” POSITION
WANTS TO USE POLITICAL MEANS TO END SLAVERY.
LIBERTY PARTY OFFERS JAMES G. BIRNEY AS PRESIDENT IN 1840 & 1844.

29. THE GARRISON BRANCH OFFERS NO COMPROMISE.
POSITION : YOU CANNOT WORK WITHIN THE SYSTEM.
HELPS TO ORGANIZE THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD.
WHICH ASSISTS SLAVES TO RUNAWAY.
THE OHIO RIVER IS THE BOUNDARY BETWEEN FREE & SLAVE TERRITORY

31. THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD
HELPED ABOUT 2000 SLAVES TO FREEDOM EVERY YEAR.
SOUTH DEMANDS ENFORCEMENT OF THE FUGITIVE SLAVE ACT.
IN CONGRESS PASSES A STRONGER FUGITIVE SLAVE ACT.

32. SOUTHERN REACTION TO ABOLITION MOVEMENT
LABELS THEM CRIMINALS
CONGRESS PASSES THE “GAG RULE” NO DEBATE OF SLAVERY
BANS DISTRIBUTION OF ABOLITIONIST PAPERS.
BLAIMS GARRISON FOR NAT TURNER REBELLION.

33. THE SOUTH’S ERROR WAS TO OVER-REACT TO THE ABOLITION MOVEMENT
IT WAS ALWAYS A MINORITY IN THE NORTH.
SOUTHERNS CAME TO VIEW ALL NORTHERNERS AS ABOLITIONIST.