1. By: Ms. Susan M. Pojer and Mrs. Morrison
Chapter 16
The Antebellum South
By: Ms. Susan M. Pojer and Mrs. Morrison

2. Early Emancipation in the North

3. Missouri Compromise, 1820

4. Antebellum
Southern
Society

5. 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) (U.S. provides 90% of world’s cotton supply).
Very slow development of industrialization.
Rudimentary financial system.
Inadequate transportation system.

6. Southern Society (1850)
“Slavocracy” [plantation owners – only 25% of southerners owned slaves]
The “Plain Folk” [white yeoman farmers]
Planter class controlled politics – big gap between rich and poor
6,000,000
If a yeoman farmer owned any slaves, they would work right alongside of them
Black Freemen
250,000
Black Slaves 3,200,000
Total US Population  23,000,000 [9,250,000 in the South = 40%]

7. Immigrants go to the north for factory jobs – there is no reason for them to go to the south
Most in the south were subsistence farmers – mostly corn
They had the dream of owning slaves – they were hired for the dangerous work – didn’t want slaves to be free because then they would be even with poor whites (racism)

8. Southern Population

9. Antebellum
Southern
Economy

10. Graniteville Textile Co.
Founded in 1845, it was the South’s first attempt at industrialization in Richmond, VA

11. Southern Agriculture

12. Slaves Using the Cotton Gin

13. Changes in Cotton Production
1820
1860
Southern planters owed northern bankers about $300 million – so they don’t want secession

14. Value of Cotton Exports As % of All US Exports
England was dependent on U.S. cotton for manufacturing – that is why the South thought England would help them in the Civil War
New England was dependent upon cotton in order to make manufactured goods
The South becomes a one-crop economy

15. “Hauling the Whole Week’s Pickings” William Henry Brown, 1842

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

17. Slavery: the “Peculiar Institution” – in some legislatures the term “slavery” was improper, so this was used to replace it
John C. Calhoun – 1837 speech in the U.S. Senate – defended slavery as a “positive good” – argued that institution served to civilize and nurture African Americans who could not take care of themselves
Britain had abolished the slave trade (but not slavery itself) and the Royal Navy created a West Africa Squadron that hunted down slave ships

18. Slave Auction Notice, 1823

19. Slave Accoutrements
Strong-willed slaves were sometimes sent to men called “breakers” who would beat them until they were submissive
Slave Master Brands
Slave muzzle

20. Anti-Slave Pamphlet

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

22. Antebellum
Southern
Plantation Life

23. Slave-Owning Population (1850)
Slaves cost about $1,200 each
Slaves may injure themselves or break machinery to get out of work
Most of the slave population came from reproduction (chattel slavery)
Slave experience varied from master to master, but whipping was the universal punishment

24. Slave-Owning Families (1850)

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

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

27. Scarlet and Mammie (Hollywood Again!)

28. A Real Mammie & Her Charge

29. The Southern “Belle”

30. A Slave Family Slaves had a responsorial style of preaching
Slave families were separated in slave auctions (Uncle Tom’s Cabin)
Slaves had a responsorial style of preaching

31. The Ledger of John White
Matilda Selby, 9, $ sold to Mr. Covington, St. Louis, $425.00
Brooks Selby, 19, $ Left at Home – Crazy
Fred McAfee, 22, $ Sold to Pepidal, Donaldsonville, $
Howard Barnett, 25, $ Ranaway. Sold out of jail, $540.00
Harriett Barnett, 17, $ Sold to Davenport and Jones, Lafourche, $900.00

32. US Laws Regarding Slavery
U. S. Constitution: * 3/5s compromise [I.2] * fugitive slave clause [IV.2]
1793  Fugitive Slave Act.
1850  stronger Fugitive Slave Act.
1836 Southern congressmen passed a “gag resolution” – could not debate slavery in Congress

33. Southern Slavery--> An Aberration?
1780s: 1st antislavery society created in Phila.
By 1804: slavery eliminated from last northern state.
1807: the legal termination of the slave trade, enforced by the Royal Navy.
1820s: newly indep. Republics of Central & So. America declared their slaves free.
1833: slavery abolished throughout the British Empire.
1844: slavery abolished in the Fr. colonies.
1861: the serfs of Russia were emancipated.

34. Slavery Was Less Efficient in the U. S. than Elsewhere
High cost of keeping slaves from escaping.
GOAL  raise the “exit cost.”
Slave patrols.
Southern Black Codes.
Cut off a toe or a foot.

35. Every great dream begins with a dreamer.
Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world.
I freed a thousand slaves I could have freed a thousand more if only they knew they were slaves.
I grew up like a neglected weed - ignorant of liberty, having no experience of it.
Harriet Tubman

37. Free Blacks
Many free black were mulattos - some purchased their freedom
Were prohibited in working in certain occupations
Sometimes kidnapped back into slavery – Fugitive Slave Law of 1850
Hated by many northerners also – especially the Irish – Frederick Douglass was mobbed by northern whites

38. Abolitionist Movement
American Colonization Society created (gradual, voluntary emancipation)
Create a free slave state in Liberia, West Africa – not a success because not many free blacks wanted to leave America
No real anti-slavery sentiment in the North in the 1820s & 1830s – 2nd Great Awakening brought slavery to peoples’ attention as a sin
British Colonization Society symbol

39. Anti-Slavery Alphabet

40. William Lloyd Garrison (1801-1879)
Slavery undermined republican values.
Immediate emancipation with NO compensation.
Slavery was a moral, not an economic issue.
1833 founded American Anti-Slavery Society
R2-4

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

42. Other White Abolitionists
Lewis Tappan
James Birney
Liberty Party.
Ran for President in & 1844.
Arthur Tappan

43. In 1852 Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote ___________________
This made Northerners outraged at the harshness of slavery. It put a human face on slavery. Sold over ______________ copies the first year
Uncle Tom’s Cabin
300,000

44. Theodore Dwight Weld One of the leading abolitionists
Published American Slavery As It Is in 1839 (with the Grimke sisters)
Wrote pamphlets for the American Anti-Slavery Society
Some historians say that he was more influential than Garrison, but he was less famous because many of his works were anonymous

45. Black Abolitionists David Walker (1785-1830) 1829 
Appeal to the Coloured Citizens of the World
Fight for freedom rather than wait to be set free by whites.

46. Frederick Douglass (1817-1895)
1845  The Narrative of the Life Of Frederick Douglass
1847  “The North Star”
R2-12

47. Sojourner Truth (1787-1883) or Isabella Baumfree
1850  The Narrative of Sojourner Truth
R2-10

48. Slave
Resistance
&
Uprisings

49. Slave Resistance
“SAMBO” pattern of behavior used as a charade in front of whites [the innocent, laughing black man caricature – bulging eyes, thick lips, big smile, etc.].

50. Slave Resistance
Refusal to work hard.
Isolated acts of sabotage.
Escape via the Underground Railroad.
Poison master’s food

51. Runaway Slave Ads

52. 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.

53. Slave Rebellions in the Antebellum South
Both of these rebellions cause the states of VA & SC to pass stricter slave laws
Gabriel Prosser 1800 – Richmond, VA
Unsuccessful revolt
1822 – South Carolina – unsuccessful – large in scale

54. Slave Rebellions in the Antebellum South: Nat Turner, 1831
Killed 60 whites – men, women and
children
He was captured and hanged for his crimes

55. The Culture of Slavery
Black Christianity [Baptists or Methodists]: * more emotional worship services – response style of preaching * negro spirituals.
“Pidgin” or Gullah languages.
Nuclear family with extended kin links,where possible.
Importance of music in their lives. [esp. spirituals].
Kept some African roots –
No marrying 1st cousin

56. Southern Pro-Slavery Propaganda
Apologists view of slavery = nothing wrong with slavery – blacks should be thankful they were in America – cited Bible
Southern whites said slaves were better off than the northern “wage slaves” in factories; didn’t have to worry about unemployment; took care of them in old age

57. After Nat Turner’s rebellion, slave states tightened their slave codes
In 1836, the House of Representatives passed the Gag Resolution which required all anti-slavery appeals to be tabled without further discussion.
Frederick Douglass wrote about a slaveowner named Covey who bought a female slave as a breeder:
“At this addition to the human stock Covey and his wife were ecstatic with joy. No one dreamed of reproaching the woman or finding fault with the hired man, Bill Smith, the father of the twins, for Mr. Covey himself had locked the two up together every night, thus inviting the result.”