Chapter 13

Slavery and the Old South

● Lower South- South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas.

● Cotton was the main crop.

● Cotton output went from 73,000 bales in 1800 to 2 million bales by mid-century, thanks to better technology (cotton gin and better seed variety) and fertile new land.

● Slave labor accounted for 90 % of cotton production.

● Plantations were large productive areas specializing in a cash crop (cotton, corn, etc.), employed at least 20 slaves, and were the leading economic institutions in the Lower South.

Southern Population

Southern Agriculture

Slaves Using the Cotton Gin

Slaves Picking Cottonon a Mississippi Plantation

“Hauling the Whole Week’s Pickings”William Henry

Brown, 1842

Slaves Workingin a Sugar-Boiling House,

1823

A Georgia Plantation

● Planters were considered the most important social group, made up of less than 5% of white families, yet controlled 40% of the slaves, cotton output, and total agricultural wealth.

● Planters had the best land.

● Gang system- organization and supervision of slave field hands into working teams on Southern plantations.

● Teams were made of men and women, had to work at a steady pace, or be lashed.

The Southern “Belle”

● Average rate of return on money invested on each slave = 10% a year.

● Price of an average male slave in 1815 =$215; in 1860, $900.

● Female slaves of childbearing age were valued almost as high as male slaves.

● Large and very profitable regional market in slaves.

Profits of Slavery

● The South had 10% of the nation’s population as of 1860.

● However, the Lower South had the smallest urban population and the fewest factories.

● From 1820-1860 urban slavery decreased from 22% to 10%.

Changes in Cotton Production

1820

1860

Value of Cotton Exports As % of All US Exports

● Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, Arkansas and North Carolina.

● The Upper South lacked the fertile soil and long growing season needed to grow cotton, rice, and sugar.

● Less need for slaves (slave population was half that of the Lower South)

The Upper South

● After the 1850s, Upper South farmers and planters, used less slave labor and focused more on thrifty, efficient production of grain and livestock.

● Reasons for slave decline● Agricultural reform● Economic diversification● Expansion of urban manufacturing

Slave-Owning Population (1850)

Slave-Owning Families (1850)

Slave Life and Culture● Slave codes- a series of

laws passed mainly in the Southern colonies in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries to define the status of slaves and codify the denial of basic civil rights to them.

● Whippings or lashings were the most common form of punishment.

Runaway Slave Ads

Slave Auction Notice, 1823

Slave tag, SC

Slave Accoutrements

Slave leg irons

Slave shoes

Slave MasterBrands

Slave Accoutrements

Slave muzzle

A slave served as a nurse/nanny to the master’s children

Slaves posing in front of

their cabin on a Southern plantation.

A Slave Family

Slave Auction: Charleston, SC-1856

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.

● Planters gave slaves two sets of clothing (one for summer and one for winter).

● Housing was usual a 15 × 15 foot room cabin for five to six slaves to share.

● 15-20% of plantation slaves were house servants or skilled artisans who had lighter workloads than those in the fields.

● Most important thing to a slave was its family.

● Both parents were present in two-thirds of slave families.

● Most slaves fathers did extra work and risked punishment to better support and defend their families.

● Parents concentrated on teaching their children survival skills

Slave Families and Religion

● A variety of African religions survived in America.

● Most slaves followed the religion of their ancestors, believing in the natural and spiritual worlds, accepting power of ghosts over the living, and relied on chants as a form of expression.

● Many slaves favored to practice the religion of their master.

● No more than 20% of slaves had converted to Christianity.

● Most planters favored Christianity among the slaves only if the planters had control.

Resistance● Gabriel Prosser’s Rebellion-

Slave revolt that failed when Gabriel Prosser, a slave preacher and blacksmith, organized about 50 armed slaves for an attack on Richmond, Virginia, in 1800.

● Prosser and 25 of his followers were executed by state authorities before the revolt took place.

● Denmark Vesey’s Conspiracy- Slave revolt planned to seize control of Charleston in 1822 and escape to freedom in Haiti (a free black republic), but ended up being betrayed by other slaves.

● Vesey was a literate carpenter and lay preacher in Charleston who had bought his freedom

● 75 of the conspirators were executed.

● Nat Turner’s Rebellion- Uprising of slaves in Southampton, Virginia, in the summer of 1831.

● Nat Turner was a literate field hand driven by prophetic visions of black vengeance against white oppressors.

● Went of a murderous rampage in August of 1831, killing Turner’s owner and 60 other white people.

● Turner and about 30 other slaves were executed for the deadly revolt.

● Families of planter families (those who held a minimum of 20 slaves) = 3% of Southern families in 1860.

● Plantation mistresses was in charge of the household staff (cooking, cleaning, gardening, dispensing of medicine and clothing to slaves).

● In some cases, when the master of the plantation went away on business, his wife would manage the plantation accounts.

Free Society

● Planter’s wives complained about isolation from other white women and that managing of slaves was a burden.

● They were also embarrassed by their husbands who kept slave mistresses or sexually abused slave women.

● Three-fourths of Southern white families owned no slaves.

● Farmers formed tight networks of friends and family.

● Yeoman farmers were proud of their independence.

● Interests of yeoman farmers and planters often helped each other in areas where small farms and plantations were.

The White Majority