Southern Culture and Slavery Chapter 16

Objective #1 Explain the economic strengths and weaknesses of the “Cotton Kingdom.”

Objective #2 Describe the southern social hierarchy.

Objective #3 Describe the nature of African American life, both free and slave, before the Civil War.

Objective #4 Describe the abolitionist movement and the southern reaction to the abolitionist movement during the Antebellum Period.

Early Emancipation in the North

Missouri Compromise, 1820

Characteristics of the Antebellum South 1.Primarily agrarian. 2.Economic power shifted from the “upper South” to the “lower South.” 3.“Cotton Is King!” * 1860  5 mil. bales a yr. (57% of total US exports). 4.Very slow development of industrialization. 5.Rudimentary financial system. 6.Inadequate transportation system.

Cotton Gin Invented by Eli Whitney, ties Southern economy to “King Cotton” Plantation system Only plantations could afford gins, so gap between rich and poor was wide

Southern Agriculture

Changes in Cotton Production

Southern Cotton Half of our country’s exports by 1840 Largest producer of cotton in the worl 75% of England’s cotton came from U.S. South Benefitted Northern textile mills Tied Southern economy to cotton. Very little industry

Value of Cotton Exports As % of All US Exports

Southern Economy Chained to Cotton Quick profits Lots of bountiful land Very reliant on slavery –Number of slaves in 1820: 1.5 million –Number of slaves in 1860: 4 million –75% in agriculture (55% cotton) –Domestic servants, mining, industry

The Cotton System Relied on international markets Heavy investment in slaves Dangerous to depend on one-crop economy –Lots of land speculation –Lots of debt

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

Southern Hierarchy 1850: 1700 families owned 100 or more slaves Controlled political and social leadership Rich often sent kids to private school

Slave-Owning Families (1850)

Yeoman Farmer 70% of farmers owned less than 100 acres 2/3 of hog raising in South 75% of southern whites owned no slaves and lived on family farms Resembled northern farmers Worked the land along side slaves Many forced to sell land to plantations and move West or North

A Group Below Yeoman Farmers Sometimes called “Hillbillies”, “Dirt Eaters”, “Poor White Trash” Lived in marshes, barrens of South Grew vegetables, fished, hunted, hired themselves as farm hands Poor diet, bad living conditions Higher rate of disease School attendance rates were lower Perception of being lazy

Whites Without Slaves Protected system Some wanted to own slaves Protect “racial superiority” Some who lived in Appalachian Mountains were detached from slavery and cotton plantations –Some of these would be abolitionists –Some just detested slavery and the plantation system

Free Blacks 250,000 in South –Many were mulatto –Purchased freedom –Racism limited job opportunities –Denied civil rights 250,000 in North –Mulatto, born into freedom, ran away –Purchased freedom or ran away –Racism limited job opportunities –Denied civil rights

Plantation Slavery 4 million slaves in 1860 Southerners invested nearly $2 billion into slavery by 1860 Slaves –Work from dusk til dawn –No civil or political rights –Punishment for not working hard

Southern Population

Slave Families Most had 2-parent households in Deep South More likely to form African-American culture on plantations Smaller farms meant more contact with whites, separation from families

A Slave Family

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

The Culture of Slavery 1.Black Christianity [Baptists or Methodists]: * more emotional worship services. * negro spirituals. 2.“Pidgin” or Gullah languages. 3.Nuclear family with extended kin links, where possible. 4.Importance of music in their lives. [esp. spirituals].

Early Abolition By 1820: 120 abolitionist groups in the U.S. Most advocated a slow, moderate ending of slavery (“Gradualists”) Payment to slaveholders Did not advocate equality for blacks

Abolitionist Movement  1817  American Colonization Society created (gradual, voluntary emancipation. British Colonization Society symbol Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, John Marshall, James Monroe

Abolitionist Movement eCreate a free slave state in Liberia, West Africa. eCapital was Monrovia eNo real anti-slavery sentiment in the North in the 1820s & 1830s. GradualistsImmediatists

William Lloyd Garrison ( ) eSlavery undermined republican values. eSlaves were Americans, not Africans eDeserve equal rights eImmediate emancipation with NO compensation. eSlavery was a moral, not an economic issue. R2-4

The Liberator Premiere issue  January 1, 1831 R2-5

The Tree of Slavery—Loaded with the Sum of All Villanies!

Black Abolitionists David Walker ( ) 1829  Appeal to the Coloured Citizens of the World Fight for freedom rather than wait to be set free by whites.

Anti-Slave Pamphlet

Southern Pro-Slavery Propaganda

Slave Rebellions in the Antebellum South: Nat Turner, 1831

Nat Turner’s Revolt (1831) Bloodiest slave rebellion in American History Turner and 60 slaves attack plantations of Virginia 55 whites killed Turner’s men were captured or lynched Anti-slavery propaganda and abolitionists blamed

Frederick Douglass ( ) 1845  The Narrative of the Life Of Frederick Douglass 1847  “The North Star” R2-12

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

Harriet Tubman ( ) eHelped over 300 slaves to freedom. e$40,000 bounty on her head. eServed as a Union spy during the Civil War. “Moses”

The Underground Railroad

Leading Escaping Slaves Along the Underground Railroad

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.

Runaway Slave Ads

Abolitionist Impact on North Unpopular at first –North dependent on South –South owed Northern creditors $300 million Propaganda began to change some Northern attitudes Many did not want slavery expanded into territories Republican party formed in 1850s “Free-Soilers” growing in strength and numbers

Opposition to Abolitionists Grows Many felt ending slavery would hurt Southern economy and society Abolitionist propaganda made illegal “Gag Rule” in House (1836) Attacks on Abolitionists –Considered outside agitators Some Northerners did not want job and housing competition –Mainly working class whites