Lesson 4.3: Daily Life in the

South

Today’s Essential Question: What was

life like for the various social classes of the

South?

Vocabulary• stratified – layered• resistance – the act of opposing or

standing up to• overseer – person who watches over

or supervises other people, especially at work

• cash crops – crops that are raised for sale rather than for personal use

Check for Understanding• What is today’s Essential Question?• What is one cash crop grown in

California?• What is one food item that could be

described as stratified?• Who is an overseer in your life?• In what ways do students demonstrate

resistance to teachers?

What We Already Know

In the early 1800s, most of America was made up of

small farms, just as Thomas Jefferson

envisioned it.

What We Already Know

New England’s economy was based on the

manufacture of textiles and other

products.

What We Already Know

Slavery was an important part of America’s history.

• The South’s soil and almost year-round growing season were ideal for crops like rice and tobacco.

The Plantation Economy

• Large, self-sufficient plantations developed, making large cities rare in the South.

Manufactured goods were imported by Southerners.

Unlike New Englanders, Southerners grew cash crops.

• Cash crops are raised for sale rather than for personal use.

• The labor required to produce these crops led to a slave-based economy.

Southerners grew cash crops.

• The first great cash crop grown in the South was tobacco.

• Later, cotton will the number one cash crop cultivated.

Get your whiteboards and markers ready!

9. What was the first great cash crop grown in the South?

A. Rice B. TobaccoC. CottonD. WheatE. Corn

Crops like tobacco and cotton required many workers to cultivate.

Crops like tobacco and cotton required many workers to cultivate.

Before the 1660s, planters used indentured

servants on their plantations.

• Indentured servants ran away from plantations to start their own farms.

• Efforts to force Native Americans to work on the plantations were unsuccessful.

• European diseases caused many Native Americans to die.

In the 1660s, Southerners began to import large numbers of African slaves.

The population of African slaves grew rapidly.

• By 1750, enslaved Africans made up about 40 percent of the South’s population.

• Plantation farming quickly expanded all across the South.

Get your whiteboards and markers ready!

10. What factors led Southern planters to use the labor of enslaved Africans? A. Indentured white servants often ran

away from the plantations.B. Their crops required many workers to

cultivate.C. Slaves were cheaper to purchase than

indentured servants were to hire.D. Colonists found Native Americans

unsuitable as workers.

Choose the response that is NOT true!

Lesson 4.3b: Southern Society and Slavery

Today we will identify the social classes of the South and the harshness of slave life.

Southern society was a stratified (layered) society.

Planters

Small farmers & businessmen

Poor whites

Free blacks and slaves

Plantation owners held most of the economic power in the South, even

though they were only a small part of the total population.

• The South was the birthplace of representative government in America.

• But only planters held real political power in the Southern states.

• These small landowners couldn’t compete with planters and moved west.

• Poor whites owned no land or own very poor land.

Small farmers and businessmen made

up the South’s middle class.

Many slaves and free blacks lived in the South.

Free blacks actually outnumbered the planter class.

Life under slavery was difficult.

On large plantations, slaves toiled in groups of about 20 to 25 under the supervision of overseers,

who whipped them if they did not appear to be working hard enough.

Life under slavery was difficult.

Slaves did exhausting work, often for 15 hours a day at the peak of the harvest

season.

Life under slavery was difficult.

• Slaves usually lived in small, one-room cabins.

Life under slavery was difficult.• Since a slave might receive only around a quarter

bushel of corn and a pound of pork per week, some planters allowed their slaves to raise their own potatoes, greens, fruit, or chickens.

• Africans preserved many customs and beliefs from their homelands, such as music, dances, stories, and religions.

• African kinship customs became the basis of slave family culture, and was a source of strength even when families were separated.

Slave Resistance

• Slaves found ways to resist their captors.• They worked slowly, or pretended to be ill.• They broke tools, damaged goods, or

purposely carried out orders the wrong way.• They tried to run away, or even rose up in

rebellion.

One of the most famous incidents was the Stono Rebellion.

• In September 1739, about 20 slaves armed with guns and other weapons killed several planter families.

• They marched south, loudly inviting other slaves to join them in seeking freedom in Spanish-held Florida.

• By late that afternoon, however, a white militia attacked the escaping slaves, and many slaves died in the fighting.

Get your whiteboards and markers ready!

11. In what four ways did slaves resist slavery?

A. They worked slowly or inefficiently.B. They led secret nights raids to free other

slaves.C. They broke tools or damaged goods.D. They stood up to their masters and

refused to work.E. They wrote letters to political leaders

protesting their circumstances.F. They purposely carried out orders the

wrong way.G. They carried out rebellions against whites.

Be sure to choose four!