Slavery and Society, 1800-1860

Slavery and Society, 1800-1860 King Cotton & the Old South Identity Economics Identity Culture Slave Life Population House and Field Community Resistance

King Cotton and the Old South Cotton and the South Climate, geography Profitable England/industry Cotton gin Outlawed int’l trade in 1808

King Cotton and the Old South Economics 60% of U.S. exports Basis of southern economy Linked N & S Linked U.S. & Britain

Cotton, slavery, race identity Southern Identity Rural White privilege “Honor” Fear of uprisings “Dependence”

Cotton Culture “…people live in cotton houses and ride in cotton carriages. They buy cotton, sell cotton, think cotton, eat cotton, drink cotton, and dream cotton. They marry cotton wives and unto them are born cotton children…” British visitor Hiram Fuller’s views of Mobile, AL in 1858

Slavery and Expansion Post 1812 & Indian Removal Westward expansion Missouri Compromise Texas “Independence” Louisiana, ARK, OK, TX Profits used to buy more land, more land=more slaves, more crops=more profit=more land=more slaves=more crops

American Slavery 19/55 signers of the Constitution owned slaves Majority of southern Congressmen owned slaves 4/6 Presidents up to and including Jackson owned slaves $25 million in U.S. revenue vs. $1 billion in slave “property” Shipping & ship building, insurance, banks, factories in the North

Population 1790: 700,000 1850: 4 million 1850: 50% grew cotton 25% of whites had slaves 50% of owners had less than 5 slaves 5% of planters owned 40% of all slaves in south

Slave Life Mortality rates were 3 times higher Life expectancy Blacks 20’s Whites 40’s 25% sick

Slave Codes State laws to limit movement of slaves and define them as property Cannot own a gun Marriages not legally recognized No alcohol Passes to leave plantation Illegal to teach slaves to read or write Legalized homicide as “punishment”

“House slaves” 15%-20% Constant contact Raise children Gendered violence Reading News

“Field Slaves” 75% of slaves 18 hours “Gangs” Overseer Music and group identity

“Virginian Luxuries,” nd. Anonymous

African American Community Family Auctions Fictive kin Tribal culture Music, dance, spirituality

Christianity 2nd Great Awakening Lay preachers Justice, salvation “Call and Response” Gospel African American Methodist Church, 1816

Free Blacks Non-slaves in the South 6% of total Black population 3% of total population Laws limited their rights and citizenship, papers, no access to courts Most descended from blacks freed in Upper South Mainly manual labor Racial hierarchies based on skin color

Resistance Work slow “Sick” Break tools “Theft” Run away Rebellion Gabriel Prosser

Resistance Run away slaves Over 1,000 Upper south Canada West

Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Homes, barns, woods, trails north 19 missions 300 people

Family on Underground Railroad

Slave Rebellions Gabriel Prosser 1800 Denmark Vescey, 1822 Literate Richmond, VA 1000 slaves “Death or liberty” Denmark Vescey, 1822 Telemanque, born in Africa or W. Indies Free, literate, preacher Charleston Missouri Compromise 100 men

Rebellions Nat Turner, 1831 Virginia Literate, preacher Killed 70

Situation in 1850s

Concluding Thoughts Despite dependence on cotton and slavery, Southern economy became more diverse Slavery in Upper South declined Immigration provided cheap & flexible labor Changes to economy made slave owners more worried More rebellions, abolitionists, Westward expansion, made slave codes more harsh