Slavery and Society, 1800-1860

Slavery and Society, 1800-1860

•King Cotton & the Old South▫Economics▫Identity▫Culture

•Slave Life ▫Population▫House and Field

• Community• Resistance

King Cotton and the Old South

•Cotton and the South▫Climate, geography▫Profitable▫England/industry

•Cotton gin•Outlawed int’l trade

in 1808

King Cotton and the Old South

•Economics▫60% of U.S.

exports▫Basis of southerneconomy

•Linked N & S •Linked U.S. &

Britain

Cotton, slavery, race identity

•Southern Identity ▫Rural▫White privilege▫“Honor”

•Fear of uprisings•“Dependence”

Cotton Culture • “…people live in cotton

houses and ride in cotton carriages. They buy cotton, sell cotton, think cotton, eat cotton, drink cotton, and dream cotton. They marry cotton wives and unto them are born cotton children…”

• British visitor Hiram Fuller’s views of Mobile, AL in 1858

Slavery and Expansion• Post 1812 & Indian

Removal • Westward expansion• Missouri Compromise• Texas “Independence”

• Louisiana, ARK, OK, TX• Profits used to buy more

land, more land=more slaves, more crops=more profit=more land=more slaves=more crops

American Slavery

•19/55 signers of the Constitution owned slaves

•Majority of southern Congressmen owned slaves

•4/6 Presidents up to and including Jackson owned slaves

•$25 million in U.S. revenue vs. $1 billion in slave “property”

•Shipping & ship building, insurance, banks, factories in the North

Population

• 1790: 700,000• 1850: 4 million• 1850: 50% grew cotton• 25% of whites had

slaves• 50% of owners had less than 5 slaves• 5% of planters owned

40% of all slaves in south

Slave Life

•Mortality rates were 3 times higher

•Life expectancy▫Blacks 20’s▫Whites 40’s

•25% sick

Slave Codes

•State laws to limit movement of slaves and define them as property

•Cannot own a gun•Marriages not legally recognized•No alcohol•Passes to leave plantation•Illegal to teach slaves to read or write•Legalized homicide as “punishment”

“House slaves”

•15%-20%•Constant contact•Raise children•Gendered

violence•Reading•News

“Field Slaves”

•75% of slaves•18 hours•“Gangs”•Overseer•Music and group

identity

“Virginian Luxuries,” nd. Anonymous

African American Community

•Family•Auctions•Fictive kin•Tribal culture•Music, dance,

spirituality

Christianity

•2nd Great Awakening

•Lay preachers•Justice, salvation•“Call and

Response”•Gospel•African American

Methodist Church, 1816

Free Blacks

•Non-slaves in the South•6% of total Black population•3% of total population•Laws limited their rights and citizenship,

papers, no access to courts•Most descended from blacks freed in

Upper South•Mainly manual labor •Racial hierarchies based on skin color

Resistance

•Work slow•“Sick”•Break tools•“Theft”•Run away•Rebellion

Gabriel Prosser

Resistance

•Run away slaves

•Over 1,000•Upper south•Canada•West

Harriet Tubman

•Underground Railroad

•Homes, barns, woods, trails north

•19 missions•300 people

Family on Underground Railroad

Slave Rebellions

•Gabriel Prosser 1800▫Literate▫Richmond, VA▫1000 slaves▫“Death or liberty”

•Denmark Vescey, 1822▫Telemanque, born in

Africa or W. Indies▫Free, literate,

preacher▫Charleston▫Missouri Compromise▫100 men

Rebellions

•Nat Turner, 1831▫Virginia▫Literate, preacher▫Killed 70

Situation in 1850s

Concluding Thoughts •Despite dependence on cotton and

slavery, Southern economy became more diverse

•Slavery in Upper South declined•Immigration provided cheap & flexible

labor•Changes to economy made slave owners

more worried•More rebellions, abolitionists, Westward

expansion, made slave codes more harsh