1. THE SOUTH AND THE SLAVERY CONTROVERSY, 1793-1860
Chapter 16

2. 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 industrialization.
Rudimentary financial system.
Inadequate transportation system.

3. Southern Agriculture

4. Cotton is King
In 1787 many in both south and the north thought that slavery was on its way out.
Reasons?
They were WRONG
Impact of Eli Whitney’s cotton gin.

5. King Cotton Cotton becomes dominant cash crop in south
Southern planters buy new land and slaves aggressively
Northern shippers make big profits shipping cotton.
Britain highly dependent on American cotton.
Britain’s most important product in the 1850s was cotton cloth.
About 75% of its cotton came from US.
1/5th of Britain’s workers directly or indirectly got livelihood from cotton processing.

6. Slaves Picking Cotton on a Mississippi Plantation

7. Changes in Cotton Production
1820
1860

8. Value of Cotton Exports As % of All US Exports

9. Slaves Of The Slave System
Problems with plantation system:
“Raped” the land
Economy was monopolistic
System was economically unstable
Led to a dangerous dependence on one crop
South lacked diversity

10. The Planter “Aristocracy”
Before the Civil War planter aristocracy controls government in the South.
1850, only 1733 families owned more than 100 slaves.
Cream of the political and social leadership.
Owned the lion’s share of the wealth.

11. 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%]

12. Whites Without Slaves Why? Majority
Mostly subsistence farmers on poorer land
Bottom of group: “Poor white trash”, “rednecks”, “crackers”
Had no stake in the slave economy, but were some of the strongest supporters of the system
Why?
Mountain whites: very poor, resented slavery, “Hillbillies”

13. Slave-Owning Population (1850)

14. Basement of southern society. Numbers had quadrupled since 1800.
Plantation Slavery
4 Mill. black slaves
Basement of southern society.
Numbers had quadrupled since 1800.
Stagnated the southern economy.
Slave population moved south as prime cotton land shifted to the Deep South.

15. Southern Population (1860)

16. Distribution of Slave Labor in 1850

17. Slaves Working in a Sugar-Boiling House, 1823

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

19. Distribution of Slaves, 1860

20. Slave Life Hard work, ignorance and oppression
No political or legal rights.
Floggings common
Many places illegal to teach them to read.
Slave-breakers.
By 1860 most slaves concentrated in the Deep South.

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

22. Slave Accoutrements
Slave Master Brands
Slave muzzle

23. Anti-Slave Pamphlet

24. Slave Accoutrements
Slave leg irons
Slave tag, SC
Slave shoes

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

26. Slave Rebellions Significance?
There were slave rebellions, but never successful. Often informed upon by other slaves.
1800 Gabriel in Richmond
Denmark Vesey, Charleston in 1822.
Most famous was rebellion by Nat Turner in Va. in 1831.
Significance?

27. Slave Rebellions in the Antebellum South: Nat Turner, 1831

28. Early Abolition Early abolitionism. Quakers.
American Colonization Society (1817)
Liberia freed blacks transported to Africa
Why don’t more American Blacks go back to Africa?.

29. Growth of Abolition In the 1830s abolitionist turned into a crusade.
Why?
Lyman Beecher, head of Lane Theological Seminary, hotbed of early abolitionism. Very influential and father of
Harriet Beecher Stowe
Henry Ward Beecher
Catharine Beecher

30. 1831 William Lloyd Garrison burst onto the scene.
Radical Abolition
1831 William Lloyd Garrison burst onto the scene.
Founded the American Anti-Slavery Society in 1833.

31. Black Abolitionists Sojourner Truth David Walker—Militant.
Frederick Douglas
Greatest of the Black abolitionists
escaped from bondage in 1838 at 21.
Protégé of Garrison
Frederick Douglas

32. The South Lashes Back Before 1830:
More anti-slavery societies in south than north
Southerners openly debated merits of slavery.
After 1830 debate in South ends and many southerners defend as positive good. What changed?
Nat Turners rebellion in 1831
Nullification Crisis
Reaction to Northern criticism
Southern preachers arguing that slavery supported by Bible

33. Southern Pro-Slavery Propaganda

34. The Abolitionist Impact In The North
Abolitionists were not particularly popular in the North for some time. Why?
North had heavy stake in the cotton of the south.
Textile mills relied on southern cotton.
Many northerners feared political controversy.
Many northern politicians carefully distanced themselves from the abolitionists.
Abolitionists harassed
Yet, by 1850 abolitionism had gained strength and taken root as a popular cause.

35. End of Chapter