Out of Many Chapter 10

 Slavery had long dominated southern life  Slaves grew tobacco, rice & indigo while the slave owners made fortunes  Slave system waned until cotton entered & became highly profitable  Dominant crop in MD, DE, VA, NC, SC, GA, KY, TN, MO, AL, MS, LA, AR, FL, & TX  Created a regional culture quite different from that of the North

 Cotton had one drawback: the seeds were so difficult to remove  Took 1 day to hand-clean 1 lb. of cotton  Eli Whitney, Yale graduate, northerner  Hired as a tutor for a southern plantation  Catherine Greene, widow, plantation owner  1793, built the cotton engine, or “gin”  Catherine suggested making the teeth out of wire  Suddenly you could clean 50 lbs. of cotton per day

 New land was wanted because cotton rapidly depleted the soil  “Alabama Fever”  Southern farmers rushed to the exceptionally fertile lands of Alabama & Mississippi  One of the swiftest migrations  Slaves cleared the land, drained swaps, built houses & barns, & planted the first crops  Settlement of the Old Southwest took place at the expense of the region’s Indian population

 Worldwide demand for cotton supported slavery  Export of cotton a dynamic part of American economy  Financed northern industrial development  Northern industry directly connected to slavery  Cotton & slavery tied up capital leaving the South lagging behind the North in urban pop., industrialization, canals, & railroads

 The demand for cotton was a result of the technological & social changes that we know today as the Industrial Revolution  A Series of inventions resulted in the mechanized spinning & weaving of cloth  The ability to produce large amounts of cotton cloth revolutionized the world economy  By the time of the Civil War, cotton accounted for nearly 60% of the US’s exports  As cotton boomed, it provided capital for the new factories in the North

 After the Rev. War, the northern states abolished slavery & many slave owners in the Upper South freed their slaves  Jefferson thought that a “total emancipation with the consent of the masters” wasn’t too far in the future  January 1, 1808 – slave trade was constitutionally abolished in the US  A small number of slaves continued to be smuggled in from Africa  But, for the most part, now depended on natural increase  The South was being consumed by cotton  Did not see the need to invest in risky businesses like canals & railroads  Did not industrialize as quickly as the North did  Cotton created a distinctive regional culture.  Slave states were losing political dominance because their population was not keeping up with that of the North

 In 1850, 55% of all slaves were engaged in cotton growing  Seventy-five percent of slaves worked as field hands, from sunup to sundown, performing the heavy labor needed for getting out a cotton crop.  Some slaves worked as house servants.  About 1/3 of the female slave pop. in VA were servants  Needed them to maintain their newly “rich” lifestyles  Some slaves were skilled workers.  Weavers, seamstresses, carpenters, blacksmiths, mechanics  Lumberjacks, miners, & deckhands  The wages of the slave belonged to the master, not the slave  Not surprisingly, many suffered from poor health.

 As the expansion in the Southwest accelerated, so did the demand for slaves in the newly settled regions  Upper South (DE, KY, MD, VA, & TN) slave owners sold slaves “down the river”  More slaves – est. 1 million – were uprooted by this internal slave trade & forced to migrate than were brought to N. America during the entire time the international slave trade was legal

 If they weren’t traveling down the Mississippi River on steamboat, slaves travelled by foot  They were often chained together in groups of 50 or more  Were a common sight on southern roads  Once they arrived at their destination, they were carefully inspected by potential buyers & sold at auction to the highest bidder  Many owners sold slaves & separated slave families not out of necessity but to increase their profits  The sheer size & profitability of the internal slave trade made a mockery of southern claims for the benevolence of the slave system

A coffle of slaves sold west from South Carolina

 African American values & attitudes, and especially their own forms of Christianity, played a vital part in shaping a culture of endurance and resistance  Most lived on plantations with 20+ slaves  Even though slaves were considered property, only the most brutal masters refused to see the humanity of their slaves  White masters learned to live w/ the 2 key institutions of African American communities:  The Family  Church

Hermitage plantation slave cabins, Savannah, GA - each 2 rooms, bedroom & kitchen

 Growth of African American slave pop. Was due to the high fertility rates of African American women (though not as high as white women)  Mortality rates of slave children under five twice that of white counterparts  Due to the mothers being inadequately nourished, working too hard, & were too frequently pregnant  Infectious diseases endemic in the South  Life expectancy for whites years  Life expectancy for blacks years  Malnutrition & lack of basic sanitation took a high toll on slaves

 Slavery was a lifelong labor system  Owners argued that by feeding & housing them from birth to death, they were more humane than their northern counterparts  Children lived with their parents  Would play with one another & the white children of the plantation until their were about 7 years old  At age 12, they were considered full grown & put to work on the fields or in their designated occupation

 Marriage not legally recognized but encouraged among slaves  frequently not respected by masters  a haven of love and intimacy for the slaves  Parents gave children a supportive and protective kinship network.  Parents made great efforts to teach & protect their children  The internal slave trade made separation a constant danger  Slave families were often split up.  Separated children drew upon supportive networks of family and friends.

 Slaves were not permitted to practice African religions, though numerous survivals did work their way into the slaves’ folk culture.  The first and second Great Awakenings introduced Christianity to many slaves.  In the 1790s, African American churches began emerging.  Whites hoped religion would make the slaves obedient.  Slaves found a liberating message that strengthened their sense of community and offered them spiritual freedom.

An 1860 slave burial “drawn from life” at the plantation of LA Gov. Tucker

 Most slaves understood that they could not escape bondage.  About 1,000 per year escaped, mostly from the upper South.  Running away and hiding in the swamps or woods for about a week and then returning was more common  Harriet Tubman – gained fame by serving as a scout, spay & nurse during Civil War

 A few slaves organized revolts.  Gabriel Prosser and Denmark Vesey organized large-scale conspiracies to attack whites in Richmond and Charleston that failed.  Nat Turner led the most famous slave revolt in Southampton County, Virginia in  Turner used religious imagery to lead slaves as they killed 55 whites.  After Turner’s revolt, white southerners continually were reminded by the threat of slave insurrection.

Nat Turner’s Rebellion 1831

 By 1860, there were nearly 250,000 free African Americans, mainly working as tenants or farm laborers.  In cities, free African American communities flourished but had a precarious position as their members lacked basic civil rights.  Throughout the South, state legislatures tightened black codes  Laws passed by states & municipalities denying many rights of citizenship to free black people  Could not carry firearms, purchase slaves (unless members of their own family), liable to criminal penalties meted out to slaves, could not testify against whites

 The Middle Class  A commercial middle class of merchants, bankers, factors, and lawyers  arose to sell southern crops on the world market  lived in cities that acted as shipping centers for agricultural goods  Poor White People  Between 30 to 50 percent of southern whites were landless.  These poor whites lived a marginal existence as laborers and tenants.  They engaged in complex and sometimes clandestine relations with slaves.  Some yeomen hoped to acquire slaves themselves, but many were content with self sufficient non-market agriculture.  Yeomen supported slavery because they believed that it brought them higher status.

 Yeoman  Two-thirds of all southern whites lived in non- slaveholding families.  Most yeomen were self- sufficient farmers.  Their goal was economic independence  The strong sense of community was reinforced by close kin connections and bartering.

 Small Slave Owners  Most slaveholders owned only a few slaves.  Bad crops or high prices that curtailed or increased income affected slave-holding status  Middle class professionals had an easier time climbing the ladder of success.

 The Planter Elite  Most slaveholders inherited their wealth but sought to expand it.  As slavery spread so did the slave-owning elite  The extraordinary concentration of wealth created an elite lifestyle.  Most wealthy planters lived fairly isolated lives.  Some planters cultivated an image of gracious living in the style of English aristocrats, but plantations were large enterprises that required much attention to a variety of tasks.  Plantations aimed to be self-sufficient.

 Following southern paternalism, in theory, each plantation was a family with the white master at its head.  The plantation mistress ran her own household but did not challenge her husband’s authority.  With slaves to do much of the labor conventionally assigned to women, it is no surprise that plantation mistresses accepted the system.  Were responsible for arrangements for visitors

 The slave system rested on coercion and violence.  Slave women were vulnerable to sexual exploitation, though long-term relationships developed.  Children of master-slave relationships seldom were publicly acknowledged and often remained in bondage

Abolitionist engraving by Alex Lawson: “Barbarity committed on a free African, who was found on the ensuing morning, by the side of the road, dead!”

 Slavery gave rise to various pro-slavery arguments including:  in the post-Revolution era, Southern whites found justifications in the Bible or classical Greece and Rome  the Constitution recognized slavery and that they were defending property rights  by the 1830s arguments developed that slavery was good for the slaves.  George Fitzhugh contrasted slavery, which created a community of interests, with the heartless individualism that ruled the lives of northern factory workers.

 Despite efforts to stifle debate, some southern whites objected to slavery.  The growing cost of slaves meant that the percentage of slaveholders was declining and class divisions widening.  Hinton Rowan Helper denounced the institution.

In six southern states, slaves comprised over 40 percent of the total population.