Antebellum South Carolina

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Antebellum South Carolina

• Chapter 12

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Section OneSlavery in South Carolina

• I. Slaves and Work
• A. Slaves were known by the work that they did.
• 1. House Servants cooks, butlers. They were
  on call 24 hours a day.
• 2. Yard Servants worked as blacksmiths,
  carpenters, etc. They lived in the shop where
  they worked.
• 3. Field Hands worked in the fields and lived
  in slave cabins on the street.

By 1850, cotton growing and the plantation system
were more than an economic venture in South
Carolina, they were a way of life. And slavery
was an integral part of that way of life.
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Slaves and work continued

• Field hands were classified once a year by the
  amount of work they did. The overseer was the
  person who was responsible for seeing that slaves
  performed the tasks assigned to them
• 1. Quarter Hands very young and very old.
• 2. Half Hands boys, girls, mothers with young
  children.
• 3. Full Hands full day of work.

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Slaves and work continued

• Plantation work was organized in two ways
• 1. Task System (Rice Plantation) when their
  daily task was completed they could work in their
  gardens or hunt and fish.
• 2. Gang System (Cotton Plantation) they
  worked from sun up to sun down in the cotton
  fields.

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II. Slave Life

1. Most slaves were poorly fed, housed, and clothed.
2. The slaves of planters got clothes twice a year
   and shoes once a year.
3. Slave families had gardens and sometimes were
   allowed to fish and hunt.
4. Slave children were often sold to other planters.
5. Discipline on the plantation was a system of
   rewards and punishments.

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• The men and women slaves received, as their
  monthly allowance of food, eight pounds of pork,
  or its equivalent in fish, and one bushel of corn
  meal. Their yearly clothing consisted of two
  coarse linen shirts, one pair of linen trousers,
  like the shirts, one jacket, one pair of trousers
  for winter, made of coarse negro cloth, one pair
  of stockings, and one pair of shoes the whole of
  which could not have cost more than seven
  dollars. The clothing allowance of the slave
  children was given to their mothers, or the old
  women having the care of them. The children
  unable to work in the field had neither shoes,
  stockings, jackets, nor trousers, given to them
  their clothing consisted of two coarse linen
  shirts per year. When these failed them, they
  went naked until the next allowance-day. Children
  from seven to ten years old, of both sexes,
  almost naked, might be seen at all seasons of the
  year.

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass (1845)
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III. Slave Culture

• The most important unit of slave communities was
  the family.
• Even though slave marriages were against the law
  in some states, most owners allowed their slaves
  to marry.
• Slaves would often participate in an old African
  wedding custom and jump the broom after a
  marriage ceremony.
• By the early 1800s, many slaves were Christians
  and they expressed their religious beliefs
  through the singing of spirituals.
• (Read Slave Music page 303)

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IV. Free Blacks

1. A mothers legal status, slave or free,
   determined her childrens status at birth.
2. Free blacks, fewer than 10,000 in 1860, tended to
   work in cities and towns.
3. Free blacks were often discriminated againstthey
   were denied rights or treated unfairly they
   could not vote in South Carolina.
4. Free black William Ellison, of Statesburg, owned
   more than 50 slaves.

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V. Challenging Slavery

• Slaves rebelled against the slave system by using
  work slowdowns or running away. Some runaways
  returned with-in a few days.
• Why do you suppose they returned to the horrors
  of slavery?
• B. As the number of slaves increased, fears of
  revolts increased Planters lived in fear that a
  slave revolt would occur.
• C. The most violent slave revolt was Nat Turners
  Rebellion which took place in Virginia.
• D. 60 white people in the area were killed. More
  than 100 slaves were killed in an attempt to put
  down the rebellion. Turner was captured and
  later hanged.
• In South Carolina, there were two attempted slave
  revolts. One was the Stono Rebellion and the
  second was the Denmark Vesey Plot.

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Section 2 Class System and Reform

• The Southern Class System
• A. Distinct social classes evolved in the
  South.
• 1. Planters the elite the highest class
• 2. Small farmer the largest group
• 3. Poor whites owned no land often
  became tenant farmers
• B. Slaves were at the of the social ladder and
  free blacks were unsure where they fit.

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Slave Rebellions in S.C.

• Read pages 31 and 102-103 in blue South Carolina
  books
• Copy and answer the following questions
  concerning these two South Carolina slave
  rebellions.
• Explain the Stono Rebellion and its outcome.
• What was put in place as a result of this
  rebellion?
• Who was Denmark Vesey and how did he gain his
  freedom?
• Explain the Denmark Vesey Plot and its outcome.
• How did these two revolts differ? In what ways
  were they the same.

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• Stono Rebellion
• Largest slave uprising prior to American
  Revolution.
• Rebel slaves in SC led by Jemmy killed a
  storekeeper, and stole his guns and powder .
• As they headed south, they recruited nearly 100
  other slaves for their cause.
• The rebellion was put down, however, by a large
  group of farmers.
• 20 slaves were killed during the rebellion and 40
  more were later hanged or executed.
• Harsh slave codes put in place after this revolt

• Denmark Vesey Plot
• http//www.africawithin.com/bios/denmark_vesey.htm
  
• An attempted slave revolt plot headed up by freed
  slave, Denmark Vesey.
• The revolt never actually occurred because there
  was a leak among the conspirators.
• Those orchestrating the plot were rounded up and
  thrown in jail.
• In all 100 people were arrested in connection
  with the rebellion with over 30 of them,
  including Vesey being sentenced to death.

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Slave Codes

• Slave Codes
• Slaves could not meet without a white man present
• Slaves could not travel without written
  permission
• Slaves could not learn to read or write
• Slaves could not raise and store their own food.
• Slaves could not communicate with drums, horns,
  or other loud instruments.

• F. As a result of these rebellions strict slave
  codes were put in place. These codes were put in
  place to prevent any more uprisings by
  controlling slaves.

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VI. Opposition to Slavery

1. Sisters Sarah and Angelina Grimke, raised in a
   slave-holding family, wrote and lectured against
   slavery
2. Slave revolts, such as the Nat Turner, prompted
   most southern whites to keep silent about any
   abolitionist (anti-slavery) views.
3. Many South Carolinians started defending slavery
   as it was attacked by abolitionists.

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II. Reform Movements

• A. Prison reform the mentally ill and real
  criminals were housed in the same jails. The
  mentally ill were moved to asylums.
• B. Education reform there were a few normal
  schools which were public schools with teachers,
  but most schools were still private academies.
• 1. SC had some schools for blacks even though
  it was against the law to educate slaves.
• 2. Some private colleges opened and most were
  church sponsored schools.

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Section 3 Industry and Railroads

• The Start of Industry
• A. The pottery industry was one of the first
  industries in the state.
• B. William Gregg opened a textile mill in
  Graniteville.
• 1. Gregg built and entire village.
• 2. Entire families were hired to work in the
  mill.
• 3. The average workday was 12 hours.
• A Growing Population
• A. Blacks far outnumbered whites in all areas
  of the state.
• B. Most South Carolinians lived in small
  towns.

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III. Railroads

• A. To bring business into Charleston, SC built
  a railroad from Charleston to Hamburg.
• B. In 1833, the SC railroad was 136 miles long
  and was the longest railroad in the world.
• C. The Best Friend of Charleston was the first
  locomotive in SC.
• D. The SC railroads expanded and increased
  trade and economic conditions in the state.