1. The Peculiar Institution and the Nature of Slavery
Topic 7
The Peculiar Institution and the Nature of Slavery

2. How did the population of slaves grow in the antebellum years?

4. While most Southern whites did not own slaves and of those who did most owned only a few, a minority of slave-owners owned a great number of slaves and dominated the life of the state

5. The fact that slavery came to dominate the political and economic thinking of the entire South, shaping its cultural and social patterns, is due to two main reasons:
The great majority of staple crops were produced on plantations employing slave labor, thus giving the owners an influence greater than their numbers would suggest
Non-slave owning whites held out hope that they too, one day, would become wealthy through slave ownership

6. While only a minority of whites owned slaves, the majority of slave owners were small farmers, often working the fields with their few slaves.

7. In antebellum America, what were the slave codes and how were they enforced?

9. Common provisions of Slave Codes:
No standing in courts
Forbidden to own most property
Could never strike a white, even in self-defense
Could never leave plantation without authorization and pass
No commercial rights
No assembly rights without whites present
Education was generally forbidden

10. Slave trial

11. Whipping was a common punishment

17. Slave patrol checking passes

18. What was antebellum slave life like?

19. On small farms slaves performed a variety of tasks and got to know the owners. As a result, slavery was often less harsh

20. House servants on large plantations

21. “gang system” on large plantation

22. Slave overseer

23. Field hands on a large plantation usually worked from sunup to sunset

24. Overseers could be particularly harsh

26. Some slaves were allowed to grow their own food in small gardens during off-work time

27. Slave cabins

28. Clothing was sometimes nothing more than rags, but usually better for house servants

29. Almost no time for any social activities

31. John Canoe celebration

34. Little opportunity for romance or courtship

36. Female slaves as concubines

37. Rape of slaves often produced mixed race offspring, slaves because born to slaves

38. Southern culture placed women on a pedestal with defined gender roles and expectations

39. What were some forms of slave protest and rebellion in the Antebellum Age?

40. Names adopted through the generations in one African-American family

41. Slave resistance took numerous forms, including simply refusing to work or working slowly

42. Slaves tried to run away, often to woods or swamps

43. Denmark Vesey planning his uprising

44. Court transcript in trials of Vesey conspirators

45. Nat Turner

47. The capture of Nat Turner