Warm Up – How do cultural and societal differences between peoples cause conflict? Today I am learning about the Antebellum Period because the Antebellum Period sparked the division between the North and the South.

The South's "Peculiar Institution"

Cotton = Slavery

Slave Auction Notice, 1823

The Culture of Slavery Black Christianity [Baptists or Methodists]: * more emotional worship services. * negro spirituals. “Pidgin” or Gullah languages. West African traditions combined with southern lifestyle to make a unique culture Importance of music in their lives. [esp. spirituals]. Trickster tales Southern foods

The Life of Slavery Lowest level of society Worked from sunrise to after sunset * break during rainy weather, winter months, and a few holidays. *Except in the busy season, most owners gave slaves time off on Saturday afternoon and on Sundays. Field hands, servants, cooks, nursemaids, skilled artisans and even factory workers Best interest to keep them healthy and productive Georgia did not legally recognize marriages

Slave Auction: Charleston, SC-1856

A Slave Family

Slave Accoutrements Slave leg irons Slave tag, SC Slave shoes

Slave Accoutrements Slave Master Brands Slave muzzle

Anti-Slave Pamphlet

Slave Resistance & Uprisings

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.].

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

Runaway Slave Ads

Quilt Patterns as Secret Messages The Monkey Wrench pattern, on the left, alerted escapees to gather up tools and prepare to flee; the Drunkard Path design, on the right, warned escapees not to follow a straight route.

Slave Rebellions Throughout the Americas

Slave Rebellions in the Antebellum South Gabriel Prosser 1800 1822

Slave Rebellions in the Antebellum South: Nat Turner, 1831

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].

Southern Pro-Slavery Propaganda

Quick Write – write a diary entry of a day in the life of a slave.

Antebellum Southern Society

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 industry Rudimentary financial system Developing transportation system

Antebellum Social Ladder Planters, bankers, lawyers, and merchants Yeoman farmers Poor whites Free blacks Black slaves

Yeoman Farmer’s Dogtrot Cabin

Slaves posing in front of their cabin on a Southern plantation.

Southern Society (1850) “Slavocracy” [plantation owners] 6,000,000 The “Plain Folk” [white yeoman farmers] Black Freemen 250,000 Black Slaves 3,200,000 Total US Population --> 23,000,000 [9,250,000 in the South = 40%]

Georgian Society (1850) “Slavocracy” [plantation owners] 600,000 The “Plain Folk” [white yeoman farmers] Black Freemen 3,500 Black Slaves 381,600 Total US Population --> 23,000,000 [985,100 in Georgia = 4.3%]

Southern Population (1860)

Antebellum Southern Economy

Graniteville Textile Co. Founded in 1845, it was the South’s first attempt at industrialization in Richmond, VA

Southern Agriculture

Slaves Picking Cotton on a Plantation

Slaves Using the Cotton Gin

The Growth of King Cotton 1820 1860

King Cotton in Georgia Late 1700s – Sea Island Cotton 1793 – Eli Whitney and the Cotton Gin Short-fiber variety grows inland Georgia’s Piedmont and Coastal Plain ideal Georgia’s Fall Line attracted planters – fast moving water could power cotton gins, textile mills, and factories 1820s – Steamboats and 1840s – Railroad By 1850 “Empire State of the South”

Value of Cotton Exports As % of All US Exports

“Hauling the Whole Week’s Pickings” William Henry Brown, 1842

Antebellum Southern Plantation Life

Tara – Plantation Reality or Myth? Hollywood’s Version?

Jarrell Plantation - Reality Jones County, GA Version

Life of a Planter Successful Plantation required hard work Minimum of 20 field slaves Often used overseers or trusted slaves to assist in running the operation Typical plantation home - plain, unpainted, and modestly furnished The wife often oversaw day-to-day needs *food, clothing, and health needs of family and slaves

Slave-Owning Population (1850)

Slave-Owning Families (1850)

A Real Georgia Plantation

Slaves posing in front of their cabin on a Southern plantation.

The Southern “Belle”

The Privileged Class… Elite of Georgian society Enjoyed a comfortable life * barbecues and political gatherings, church functions, frequent visitors, riding , hunting and traveling abroad With a successful plantation, planters could spend time on political office Many prided themselves on an extensive library Young sent to private schools close to home Sons often sent to the North for education and daughters to female seminaries

Scarlet and Mammie (Hollywood Again!)

A Real Mammie & Her Charge

The Ledger of John White Matilda Selby, 9, $400.00 sold to Mr. Covington, St. Louis, $425.00 Brooks Selby, 19, $750.00 Left at Home – Crazy Fred McAfee, 22, $800.00 Sold to Pepidal, Donaldsonville, $1200.00 Howard Barnett, 25, $750.00 Ranaway. Sold out of jail, $540.00 Harriett Barnett, 17, $550.00 Sold to Davenport and Jones, Lafourche, $900.00

Antebellum Southern Society Social Change

Education Legislature called for schools in each county, but did not fund Most Georgians believed education best left to the family, not the government “poor school funds” – many too proud to send their children “old field schools” – rural, one-room schools often built in old cotton fields As late as 1850 – 1 in 5 white adults were illiterate Higher education fared much better…

Old Field School

Higher Education 1785 The General Assembly chartered The University of Georgia (first classes 1801) *with the help of Joseph Henry Lumpkin and T.R.R. Cobb would include one of the premier southern law schools 1828 Medical College of Georgia in Augusta Religious denominations built new colleges * Emory College in 1836 – Methodist * Oglethorpe College in 1835 – Presbyterian * Mercer University in 1837 – Baptist Georgia Female College (Wesleyan College) began classes in Macon in 1839 – Methodist

The University of Georgia

Wesleyan College - Macon

Religion Early Protestant – Presbyterian, Episcopalian, Lutheran, Moravian, and Baptist Early 1800s, the Great Revival swept the South – camp meetings and revivals Predominant churches became the Baptists and Methodists Early on, slaves often attended church services with their master African Methodist Episcopal (AME) and African Methodist Episcopal Zion (AME Zion) developed in North and were anti-slavery Black churches in the South were primarily Baptist and could not preach about slavery

Southern Slave Church

Georgian Social Reform Began to deal with criminals and needy in a more humane approach Abolished laws that allowed for cruel punishments 1817 state opened first penitentiary (repent) 1818 provided blankets, food, clothing, etc. to county prisoners 1842 an asylum was built in Milledgeville 1847 a school for the deaf in Cave Springs 1852 took responsibility for helping the blind at the Georgia Academy for the Blind in Macon

Georgia Academy for the Blind

Georgia Lunatic Asylum

Ticket Out the Door – Which compromise was the best for the nation Ticket Out the Door – Which compromise was the best for the nation? The worst?