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The Antebellum South and
Slavery
MAIN IDEAS
1. Mainly agrarian (little industry)
2. Power Shift from Upper South to Lower South
3. “Cotton Is King!”
4. Slavery the “Peculiar Institution”
“antebellum”
“antebellum”
Latin “before the war”
Cotton Gin 1790 – Eli Whitney One person could clean
50 lbs. cotton per day
Demand for cotton explodes
King Cotton More than half the world’s
cotton produced in South
King Cotton More than half the world’s
cotton produced in South
Cotton as % of all US exports
Cotton Production
Cotton Production
18201820
18601860
Economics Focus on single cash crop
heavily depleted soil Little European immig. Lords of the Lash v.
Lords of the Loom (benefitted from cheap cotton)
Several in North feared a disruption to Southern labor
Planter Aristocracy “Slavocracy” Wide gap between rich & poor 1850 – Only 1,733 families
own more than 100 slaves
White Majority
About 1/4 of white southerners owned slaves
3/4 didn’t but staunchly supported slavery
Why Support Slavery?
Hope to one day buy slaves – “American Dream” at time
Belief in racial superiority
Slaves of the System
Prime field hands $1200 $30,000 - $40,000 today
Four million slaves in 1860(4x as much as 1800)
After 1808 ban on trade, most were born in U.S.
Free Blacks
250,000 by 1860 Owned property Prohibited from some jobs Couldn’t testify against whites Risk of being kidnapped & sold
Free Blacks
Unpopular in North too
Why? Prejudice, Competition for jobs
The Plantation Planters saw slaves as
investments Protected from dangerous work
like roofing, blasting, swamp draining
Who will do this work?
Shift from Upper to Lower South (1 mil. slaves moved)
Life as a Slave Conditions varied by region,
farm, & master Dawn ‘til dusk work No real civil or political rights Families often separated
@ auction
http://www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net/encyclopedia/media-detail.aspx?mediaID=7354
Life as a Slave
Life as a Slave Majority lived on plantations
with twenty or more slaves Some counties in deep south –
over 50% slaves Religion – Mix of Christianity and
African religions African Methodist Episcopal
(AME) Church in areas with Free Blacks
Burdens of Bondage Slave education illegal in many states Fighting back –
working slowly, stealing food/supplies,
breaking tools, escape
Slave Rebellions Handful before Civil War
1822 – Denmark Vesey Rebellion
Plot in Charleston, SC Discovered before it began Leaders hanged
Slave Rebellions
1831 – Nat Turner Rebellion Killed whites in Virginia Resulted in stricter controls,
fear among whites
Early Abolitionism
Colonization – Returning Blacks to Africa (Liberia)
U.S. – Last major country with slavery
Inspired by Second Great Awakening
Radical Abolitionism
William Lloyd Garrison – Published The Liberator – anti-slavery newspaper
1833 – American Anti-Slavery Society
Radical Abolitionism Sojourner Truth 1851 – “Ain’t I a Woman?”
http://etc.usf.edu/lit2go/contents/4200/4262/4262.html
Radical Abolitionism
Harriet Tubman “Black Moses” Conductor on
Underground RR
http://thesavvysistah.com/inspiration/savvy-sistahs-soar-harriet-tubman/
Radical Abolitionism Frederick Douglass Escaped Slavery Wrote Narrative of the Life of
Frederick Douglass Supported political end to
slavery
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4h2962.html
Frederick Douglass
Copyright Matt López 2008
Frederick Douglass
Copyright Matt López 2008
Frederick Douglass
Copyright Matt López 2008
Dates of Abolition Worldwide
Dates of Abolition Worldwide1804 - slavery ended in North
1807 - end of US slave trade
1820s – Cent. & S. America
1833: British empire
1830’s: French empire
1861: Russian serfs emancipated
South Lashes Back
Worried after Nat Turner, slave codes were tightened
After Nullification Crisis, South feels targeted
Defense of slavery as a “good” using Biblical quotes
South Lashes Back
Slaves are “happy,” get to work outside, need direction
Northern workers are “slaves to low wages,” trapped inside
Southern post offices required to destroy abolitionist newspapers
Gag Resolution – 1836-1844 Southern reps push
resolution through House Slavery can not be debated Former President and current
Rep. John Quincy Adams fought to repeal resolution
Abolitionist Impact in North Radical abolitionists attacked in
north. Many Northern politicos
avoided radical abolition, supported ban in new territories – “Free Soilers”
Conflict over Popular Sovereignty
Future Clash
What happens next???
MAIN IDEAS
1. Mainly agrarian (little industry)
2. Power Shift from Upper South to Lower South
3. “Cotton Is King!”
4. Slavery the “Peculiar Institution”
