The Question of Slavery: The Voice of Abolition is Raised

Characteristics of the Antebellum South Primarily agrarian. Economic power shifted from the “upper South” to the “lower South.” “Cotton Is King!” * 1860 5 mil. bales a yr. (57% of total US exports). Very slow development of industrialization. Rudimentary financial system. Inadequate transportation system.

Southern Population

What’s growin’ down on the farm??

Cotton Production in the South by 1860

Slave Owning Families by 1850

slave holders in the South Smaller slave owners made up the majority of slave holders in the South Their goal was to achieve.. The American Dream through slave ownership -become larger land owners -gain political strength = part of the oligarchy

The Plantation myth Not every Plantation was like Tara in Gone With the Wind…

Mountain Plantation Home Typical plantation home

Gone With The Wind’s Tara Interior

Typical slave quarters

Interior of Slave Quarters

The Fields

Larger Plantations

A real Georgia Plantation

The Culture of Slavery Black Christianity [Baptists or Methodists]: * more emotional worship services. * negro spirituals. “Pidgin” or Gullah languages. Nuclear family with extended kin links, where possible. Importance of music in their lives. [esp. spirituals].

pattern of behavior used as a charade in front of whites Slave Resistance “SAMBO” pattern of behavior used as a charade in front of whites [the innocent, laughing black man caricature – bulging eyes, thick lips, big smile, etc.].

Isolated acts of sabotage. Escape via the Underground Railroad. Refusal to work hard. Isolated acts of sabotage. Escape via the Underground Railroad.

Harriet Tubman (1820-1913) “Moses” Helped over 300 slaves to freedom. $40,000 bounty on her head. Served as a Union spy during the Civil War. “Moses”

The Underground Railroad “Conductor” ==== leader of the escape “Passengers” ==== escaping slaves “Tracks” ==== routes “Trains” ==== farm wagons transporting the escaping slaves “Depots” ==== safe houses to rest/sleep

Runaway Slave Ads

Several Northern governments passed laws to undermine the FSA! The Fugitive Slave Act Part of the Compromise 1850 Allowed slave owners to retrieve “property” in any territory (free or slave) Was based upon a simple description Fugitives were denied trial by jury & unable to present evidence (free blacks could be enslaved) Several Northern governments passed laws to undermine the FSA!

No real anti-slavery sentiment in the North The Abolitionist Movement 1816  American Colonization Society called for gradual, voluntary emancipation. No real anti-slavery sentiment in the North in the 1820s & 1830s. William Lloyd Garrison (1801-1879)

Garrison’s Position….. Garrison’s anti-slavery paper Premiere issue  Slavery & Masonry undermined republican values. Immediate emancipation with NO compensation. Slavery was a moral, not an economic issue. Garrison’s anti-slavery paper Premiere issue  January 1, 1831

Frederick Douglass Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass Born into slavery in Maryland Escaped to the North Took up the cause of abolition North Star – newspaper Recruiter for the 54th Mass. "Right is of no Sex — Truth is of no Color — God is the Father of us all, and we are all brethren."

Sojourner Truth (1787-1883) or Isabella Baumfree Originally a slave in New York Ran away but was emancipated under NY law in 1827 Became a traveling missionary then an abolitionist speaker Ain’t I a Woman Petitioned on Women’s rights, abolition, & prisoner rights