Chapter 6 Section 4 THE DEBATE OVER SLAVERY

SLAVERY IN THE SOUTH  Slave trade outlawed in 1808—US slave population was self- sustaining  Slave owners had an economic incentive to treat slaves somewhat reasonably—excessive cruelty or violence would damage their “investment”  Daily routine  Physical labor during the daylight hours  Only a small % of slaves (less than 10%) worked in non-agricultural settings (domestic servants, some industry)  Women not only did the physical labor of male slaves but also had to maintain their households (cook, clean, care for their family, etc)  Culture and religion  Fusion of various African and European influences  Slaves were the target of evangelists during the Second Great Awakening

AFRICAN RESISTANCE TO SLAVERY  What options would you have to resist slavery if you were an enslaved person?  Passive Resistance  Intentionally slowing production on plantations  Sabotaging equipment  Running away  Active Resistance: Slave rebellions  Gabriel’s Rebellion—Virginia 1800  Denmark Vessey (freed black)—Charleston SC 1822  Nat Turner’s Rebellion—Virginia 1831  All slave revolts failed  Negative Side of slave revolts  Led to more restrictions on freed blacks and slaves—prohibition of educating slaves for example  Led to harsh backlash against ideas of manumission, emancipation, and abolitionism  Made slave owners feel that their way of life was under attack, caused them to defend slavery even more forcefully than they did before

EARLY EFFORTS TO END SLAVERY  Revolutionary War  Manumission in some of the Southern states  Gradual emancipation in the North  Gradualism  Idea that slaves should be freed slowly over time (all people born as slaves freed on their 18 th birthday for example)  Slave owners should be compensated for their lost “property”  American Colonization Society 1817  Liberia 1822  Popular during the 1830s and early 1840s  Problems with this idea?

NEW IDEA TO END SLAVERY: ABOLITIONISM  Idea that slavery should be abolished immediately, everywhere  Causes of abolitionism?  2 nd Great Awakening  Abolitionist movements in other countries—especially Great Britain (abolished slavery )  Who were the abolitionists?  Similar to other reforms of the antebellum era—middle class  Morally opposed to slavery  African Americans  Beginning of the abolitionist movement  William Lloyd Garrison, The Liberator  American Antislavery Society 1833  Black Abolitionists  Frederick Douglass—freed slave, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass  Sojourner Truth—freed female slave, worked for women’s rights and abolitionism  Harriet Tubman—escaped slave, leader on the Underground Railroad

 Abolitionists=morally opposed to slavery  Thought slavery was evil, and opposed it everywhere no matter what  Believed in the basic equality of all races  Other People=economically opposed to slavery  What would slaves do to the wages of ordinary workers?  Would small middle class farmers with no slaves be able to compete with large plantation owners who had lots of slaves?  What would happen to the chance of getting a good job out West if slavery spread to the western territories?  Free Soilers  Middle and lower class northerners  Economically opposed to slavery  OK with slavery where it already existed, didn’t want it to spread anywhere new (wanted the West to be FREE SOIL)  Were often extremely racist—hated African Americans more than most white southerners did  Most people in the North who opposed slavery were Free Soilers, not abolitionists (Abraham Lincoln during his early life was a Free Soiler) OTHER PEOPLE OPPOSED TO SLAVERY: THE FREE SOILERS

RESPONSES TO ABOLITIONISM (NORTH AND SOUTH)  South  Similar to southern response to slave revolts—led to a backlash against moderates who wanted to end slavery  Southern post-masters destroyed abolitionist literature sent in the mail  Abolitionists attacked, blamed for encouraging slave revolts  North  Most northerners were NOT abolitionists  Garrison, Douglass, Truth all attacked by angry mobs in the North, Elijah Lovejoy attacked and killed 1837  Why hostility to abolitionism in the North?  Economic ties to the South and slavery  Racism  Feared competition with freed blacks—especially among poor immigrants (Irish)  Feared challenges to the established social/political order

 Abolitionists were always a minority in America (even in the North) until the end of the Civil War  Made the status of slavery and its extension to new territories and states a major political issue  Over time many people in the North came to be opposed to slavery (although they weren’t in favor of abolitionism) due to the abolitionists—led to political conflicts over slavery  In the South the abolitionists increased tensions against the North, helped make the South feel isolated and under attack  Abolitionist/Anti-Slavery political parties started small but would eventually gain power throughout the 1840s and 1850s  Liberty Party 1840, 1844 elections—moral abolitionists  Free Soil Party 1848—moral abolitionists, plus Free Soilers  Republican Party 1854—Free Soil Party plus others (business leaders) EFFECTS OF THE ABOLITIONIST MOVEMENT

SLAVERY AND SOCIAL DIVISIONS IN THE SOUTH  Most white southerners—about 75% did not own any slaves  Of the 25% of white southerners who did own slaves most owned only a handful  About one half of 1% of the Southern white population owned the majority of slaves in the South

SLAVERY AND SOCIAL DIVISIONS IN THE SOUTH (CONT.)  Planter Elite—1-3% of white population  Top of the social ladder, owned large amounts of slaves, dominated society, politics, and the economy  Yeoman (Middle Class) Farmers—20-25% of white population  Might own a handful of slaves might not own any  Poor Whites—70-75% of white population  Lower class  Owned no slaves  Worked on small farms in agriculturally unproductive areas of the South  Free Blacks—250,000  Freed slaves, slaves who had purchased their freedom, etc.  Precarious social and legal standing--had few legal rights, faced discrimination and harassment  Slaves—4 million  Other groups  Mountain whites  poor/middle class whites living in the Appalachian mountain region  Despised the planter elite and slaves

 Most white southerners didn’t own slaves, in fact slavery kept many whites stuck in poverty, but the vast majority of white southerners supported slavery, why?  Racism  Lower class whites no matter how poor were still better than slaves  Economic motives  The economic well being of the entire South was dependent on slavery (or so people thought)  As long as slavery existed there was a chance that a poor white could acquire a slave or two and use them to become wealthy (or so they thought)  Why the need to spread slavery out West, why not just have slavery where it was already?  Southern economy was based on agriculture, over time the soil lost its nutrients, Southerners constantly needed new land to cultivate  No more slave states would mean the existing slave states would get outvoted in Congress on a whole list of issues that were important to them (tariffs, internal improvements, taxes, future expansion, etc.) THE PARADOX OF SOUTHERN SUPPORT FOR SLAVERY: WHY?

 Anti-Slavery  Slavery was morally wrong any slavery anywhere was unacceptable  Spreading slavery out west would make it impossible for northern farmers to get good paying jobs, or to become independent middle- class farmers  Slavery needed to either be eliminated everywhere or at least confined to the states where it already existed  Pro-Slavery  If slavery wasn’t constantly expanding to new states it would be slowly dying off  Southerners NEEDED slavery to expand to sustain their economy and keep their political power  Slavery needed to be spread to the new territories out west IMPOSSIBLE TO COMPROMISE(?): SLAVERY VS. ANTI-SLAVERY