Chapter 16 Overview The South and the Slavery Controversy

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Chapter 16 OverviewThe South and the Slavery
Controversy
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Part 1. The Cotton Kingdom
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Why cotton?

• Naturally, southern farmers wanted a profitable,
  reliable crop. They found that crop in cotton.
• Other crop choices were flawed
• Tobacco badly depleted the soil prices were
  unreliable.
• Rice could only be grown along water
• Sugar required a substantial investment to farm,
  making it a "rich man's crop."

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Cotton Gin1793 (Eli Whitney)
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Why Cotton?

• Eli Whitney's cotton gin, invented in 1793,
  allowed 50 times more cotton to be produced per
  day. The machine separated the cotton from its
  seeds.
• Demand for cotton from British and American
  textile mills was very strong. (textiles are
  woven cloth).
• The Southern climate was perfect for cotton
  growing.
• Cotton was compatible with corn growing.

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The Effects of the Cotton Boom

• In 1800, cotton accounted for 7 of all U.S.
  Exports. By 1860, cotton accounted for 57 of
  U.S. exports.
• Slavery was not required to grow cotton. In
  fact, an estimated 35-50 of cotton farmers owned
  no slaves in 1860.
• Slavery made it possible to harvest more cotton
  and to do it quickly. Plantations with many
  slaves could increase their profits
  significantly.
• By 1830, cotton employed about 3/4 of Southern
  Slaves.
• In 1790, there were about 700,000 slaves in the
  U.S. By 1860, there were about 4,000,000.
• In 1860, the 12 wealthiest counties in the U.S.
  were all in the South.

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Part 2. Social Classes in the Old South
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The Planter Aristocracy

• Only 1,733 families owned more than 100 slaves in
  1850.
• Large slave-owners dominated the Old South
  politically and economically
• Sought the best soil and moved frequently
• Planters were susceptible to debt and overly
  dependent on one crop

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Small Slaveholders

• About ¼ of southerners lived in slave-owning
  families
• In 1860, 88 of al slaveholders owned fewer than
  20 slaves
• Most hoped to become larger planters

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Non-Slave Owning Whites

• About ¾ of southern whites did not own slaves
• Often relegated to the worst land
• Often subsistence farmers
• Saw slavery as a path to upward mobility
• Proud to be white

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Free Blacks

• About 6 of Southern blacks were free
• Many were located in the cities
• Economic opportunities existed, but so did severe
  discrimination
• Restrictions tightened after Nat Turner rebellion

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Slaves

• There were about 4 Million slaves in1860
• Slaves were the primary form of wealth in the
  South
• Discussion What were the greatest cruelties of
  slavery?

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Resistance

• What were the most common forms of slave
  resistance?
• Why wasnt violent rebellion more common?

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Nat Turner Revolt

• Nat Turner was an American slave whose failed
  slave rebellion in Virginia in 1831 was the most
  remarkable instance of black resistance to
  enslavement in the antebellum South. The rebels
  traveled from house to house, freeing slaves and
  killing all the white people they found. Because
  the slaves did not want to alert anyone to their
  presence as they carried out their attacks, they
  used knives, hatchets, axes, and blunt
  instruments instead of firearms. Turner called on
  his group to "kill all whites." Until Turner and
  his brigade of slaves met resistance at the hands
  of a white militia, 55 white men, women and
  children were killed.

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Abolitionism

• During the pre-Civil War years, the movement to
  abolish slavery gained momentum in the North.
• Abolitionists disagreed in their approach.
• While many Northerners wanted slavery to be
  restricted, few saw themselves as abolitionists.

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The Southern Response

• Abolitionists were seen as a threat not only to
  the future of slavery, but also as a source of
  potential slave revolts.
• Southerners increasingly defended slavery in the
  face of this foreign attack.
• What were the major southern pro-slavery
  arguments?