Slavery and the Old South

1
Slavery and the Old South
2
Geography

• Upper South VA, MD, NC,KY
• Lower South SC to Eastern TX
• South was very diverse
• 75 of Southerners were not slave owners
• Cotton was big
• Corn was grown more per acre

3
Global Economy

• Southern agricultural economy grew a little
  faster than the Norths
• Personal income 15 higher in the South than the
  old Northwest

4
Growth of Cotton Depended on

• Technological developments
• Land
• Labor
• Demand
• Global Trade (England)

5
Contd

• Cotton Gin fueled the demand
• To meet trading demands, farmers moved further
  west for more fertile land
• 1820 South was the worlds largest producer of
  cotton!

6
Slavery in Latin America

• Sugar was to Latin America as cotton was to the
  Southern United States
• Women and men performed the same manual labor
• Increase of death rates in the field
• Continued the slave trade until 1870
• Brazil until 1888

7
Migration within the South

• Many families moved Southwest during the 1800s
• Economic hardships in the upper South (tobacco
  and cotton)
• Move out west
• Grow corn and wheat and sell slaves

8
End of the slave trade

• External Slave trade ended 1/1/1808
• Internal slave trade increases
• Slaves moved from upper south to lower south
• Split families
• Became a multi million dollar industry
• Slavery increased due to reproduction

9
Growth of Slave population

• 18201.5 million
• 1860 4 million
• South was dependent on cotton and slavery
• 15 of slaves worked outside of agriculture
• Mining, lumbering, construction, dock steamship
  labor, iron and tobacco factories

10
The Limits of Slavery

• Limited the Souths economy
• 1860 35 of the population of US
• 15 of manufacturing in the US
• Some noticed the danger of a narrow economy

11
Planter Class (Plantation Owners)

• Paternalism
• Social Hierarchy and obligations
• Tried to mimic Englands Aristocracy

12
Planter Class

• Men
• Had to take care of those below him
• Treat them humanely
• Obedience in return
• Plantation Wife
• Lady-like virtues
• feminine

13
Planter Class

• Masculine Code
• Hunting
• Gambling
• Politics
• War
• Horse Racing
• Duels were common

14
Slavery, Class, and Yeoman Farmers

• Economic, social, political dependent on slaves
• Largest group in the South owned 10 slaves or
  less (70)Yeoman Farmers

15
Yeoman Farmers

• Struggled for political power
• Their political issues focused on local matters
• Worked with the slaves in the fields
• Evangelical Christians
• Spiritual Equality

16
Nonslaveholding South

• Poorer land
• Far from commercial centers
• Self-sufficient
• Traded goods for cash and necessary items
• Methodists and Baptists
• Politically marginalized

17
Contd

• Were not going to challenge the planter class for
  political power
• Most fought for the Confederacy during the Civil
  War
• Some guerilla groups were Unionists

18
Herdsmen

• Raised hogs and other livestock
• Hogs considered beneath Planter Class
• Sold pork and bacon to local slave owners
• Value of hogs was high

19
Poorest Whites

• 10 of the population
• Isolated areas, very poor land
• Poor nutrition
• Hook worm, malaria
• Reputation for being lazy, shiftless, and
  illiterate

20
Changing Classes

• Almost impossible to do
• Planter class had the political power and land
• High prices made it difficult to enter this class
• Common Belief in the South All classes of whites
  were better than African Americans

21
Justifying Slavery

• Necessary Evil
• History
• Slavery in Egypt, Rome, and Greece
• Constitution allowed for slavery
• Science
• African Americans were made to be inferior

22
Contd

• Sociological
• Children who needed to be taken care of
• Master would take care of them
• Justification were against the principles the
  U.S. was founded (independence, freedom, justice)

23
Slave Life

• Fed just enough
• Not well rested
• Worked in all weather
• Summer 14 hour days
• Winter10 hour days
• Harvest 18 hour days

24
Contd

• Worked in gangs 20-25
• Task system each slave had a specific task to
  complete daily
• Over seer would whip slaves that fell behind
• 10-15 lashes

25
Contd

• Expected to pick 130-150 lbs of cotton a day
• House slaves (women)
• Worked in or near the Big House
• Maids, cook, seamstress, laundry
• Males skilled laborers
• Blacksmith, mechanics, stonemasons, weavers

26
Slave Homes

• 1 room crude log cabin
• More than 1 family in a cabin
• Clothing given once or twice a year
• Shoes
• Shirt
• pants

27
Diet

• Insufficient
• Per week
• Corn meal
• 3-4 lbs of pork/bacon
• Some molasses, sweet potato
• Able to grow some vegetables, fish or hunt

28
Poor Diet led to

• Theft of food
• Eating dirt?worms
• Skin disorders
• Sore eyes
• Vitamin deficiencies
• Mental illness

29
Women

• Suffered more than men
• Pregnancies
• 3 week recovery period
• No lifting
• Not always followed
• Slave infant mortality rate was twice as high as
  white infants

30
Christianity

• Some cases had their own churches separate from
  whites
• Other cases Masters set up churches on the
  plantation

31
Song

• Many songs had hidden meanings
• Singing did not necessarily mean they were happy

32
Enduring Family

• Passes on family traditions, names, customs, etc.
• Protect each other from abuses by their masters

33
Resistance

• Forms of Protest
• Breaking tools
• Burning houses
• Working slowly
• Faking illness
• Stealing food
• Poisoning masters

34
Runaways

• Some ran away multiple times
• Some joined the Seminole Indians in Florida
• Maroons intermarried, helped each other

35
Underground Railroad

• Organized by abolitionists
• Safe houses and stations where runaway slaves
  could rest, eat, sleep before continuing
• Harriet Tubmanconductor
• 19 trips
• Helped 300 slaves

36
Contd

• They escaped to the North and Canada
• Not sure of the actual numbers that escaped but
  it was not large

37
Revolts

• Ultimate resistance
• Dangerous
• Some were turned in by fellow slaves
• Denmark Vessey-1822 (South Carolina)

38
Turners Rebellion

• Southampton County, VA (1831)
• Nat Turnerskilled, unmarried, religious
• Called on by a higher being for a great purpose
• August Night
• Killed his master and the entire family
• 55 white men, women and children were killed

39
Contd

• Twice as many slaves were killed
• Turner hid for two weeks, but was caught then
  executed
• White Families felt less safe

40
Free African Americans

• 12 of the African American population were not
  slaves
• Fugitive Slave law
• Most lived in the upper South
• Some went to Canada or the West Indies
• Viewed as a threat to whites
• Lived in poor areas
• Barred from certain jobs

41
Contd

• Few lived in lower Southern cities
• New Orleans
• Charleston
• Respectable, earned their freedom, some even
  owned slaves.
• Formed their own schools, churches, societies

42
Contd

• Urban whites looked to limit their freedom
• Push them out of cities
• Bann them from a lot of places

43
They were not really free

• In most states they could not
• Vote
• Bear arms
• Buy liquor
• Assemble
• Form societies
• Testify against whites
• Speak in public

44
Churches

• Where the most freedom could be obtained
• The African American Methodist Episcopal (AME)
  Church
• Membership grew in the decades before the Civil
  War

45
Catholics

• Large Catholic presence in Baltimore and New
  Orleans
• Priests
• Sisters
• Preachers used their position to preach about
  freedom