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The South and Slavery. 4, 5. King Cotton Reigns. 4, 6, 39, 60. Slavery Expands and Cotton Becomes King. Cotton Gin Trade Cotton exported to England; $ from sale of cotton used to buy northern goods Britain heavily dependent on cotton to feed its textile factories (80% came from U.S.)
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The South and Slavery 4, 5 King Cotton Reigns 4, 6, 39, 60
Slavery Expands and Cotton Becomes King • Cotton Gin • Trade • Cotton exported to England; $ from sale of cotton used to buy northern goods • Britain heavily dependent on cotton to feed its textile factories (80% came from U.S.) • Cotton accounted for 50% of all American exports after 1840. • South produced 75% of world’s cotton.
Slave Rebellions • Stono Rebellion, 1739 • South Carolina slaves fled toward Florida killing whites along way • Gabriel Prosser, 1800 • Rebellion did not materialize and Prosser and 26 others were hanged. • Denmark Vesey 1822. • A slave informer advised his master of the plot • Vesey and 30 others publicly hanged
Slave Rebellions • Nat Turner’s revolt -- 1831 • Sixty Virginians slaughtered, mostly children and women • Wave of killing slowed down revolt’s aim of capturing armory • Largest slave revolt ever in the South • Over 100 slaves were killed in response; Turner was hanged. • Southern states made it increasingly difficult for masters to free their slaves
Slave Rebellion Cont. • The most common form of resistance on the part of black American slaves prior to the Civil War • passive resistance, including breaking tools and slightly slowing the pace of work
The Planter "Aristocracy" • South an oligarchy • Ruled by wealthy plantation owners • 1850, only 1,733 families owned more than 100 slaves; yet dominated southern politics
Peculiar Institution • Economic structure of South was monopolistic, dominated by wealthy plantation owners • Plantation system • Risky : Slaves might die of disease, injure themselves, or run away. • System required heavy investment of capital • One-crop economy (cotton) • Discouraged a diversification of agriculture and esp. manufacturing
Peculiar Institution • Southerners resentful the North made huge profits at their expense • Resented being so dependent on northern manufactures & markets • Repelled large-scale European immigration • Only 4.4% of foreign-born part of South’s pop. in 1860; 18.7% in North.
Plantation Slavery • Nearly 4 million slaves by 1860; quadrupled in number since 1800 • Legal imports of slaves ended in 1808 • Countless slaves smuggled in despite death penalty for slavers • Burdens of slavery • Slaves deprived of dignity and sense of responsibility that free people have • suffered cruel physical and psychological treatment • Denied an education since • seen as dangerous to give slaves ideas of freedom
Plantation Slavery Cont • The increase in the South's slave labor force between 1810 and 1860 • Natural population increase of American-born slave • White slave owners often fathered sizable mulatto population. • Most remained slaves • Slaves seen as valuable assets and primary source of wealth • Slave auctions one of most revolting aspects of slavery • Punishment often brutal to send a message to other slaves not to defy master’s authority
The White Majority • By 1860, only 1/4 of white southerners owned slaves or belonged to slave-owning families • Small slave owners made up a majority of masters. • 75% of white southerners owned no slaves at all. • Mostly subsistence farmers; didn’t participate in market economy
The White Majority • Fiercely defended the slave system as it proved white superiority • Poor whites took comfort that they were "equal" to wealthy neighbors • Poor Southern whites someday hoped to own slaves and realize the "American dream."
