SLAVES AND MASTERS

1. SLAVES AND MASTERS

2. The South as American Counterpoint • Shrouded in Myth: “Gone with the Wind” versus “Simon Legree” • Distinctive Features: heat, humidity, staple crop agriculture, native born populations, race • Colonial Economics

3. The Divided Society of the Old South • Wealth divides white Southerners by class • White society also divided by region • Black society also divided with about 6% free • Race divides all Southerners by caste

4. Slavery the Peculiar Institution Slavery the System The Slave Experience Resistance

5. The Growth of Slavery • Cotton gin makes cotton production profitable. • New territory is being opened for slavery. • Slavery is fundamental to the growth of cotton. • Owning slaves seen as way to economic prosperity.

6. Eli Whitney and Slavery • Inventor of the cotton gin • It will make cotton production efficiently and cost effective which will drive the demand for slaves • Whitney will also introduce a rifle with interchangeable parts which will aid in producing weapons quickly for the American Civil War

7. Anglo Justifications for Slavery • Racial • Blacks are seen as “brutes” and should be controlled • Religious • Bible scripture provides examples of slavery • Scientific • Blacks are inferior to whites • Paternalism • Blacks are being taken care of

8. Slave Concentration by 1860 Slave Concentration, 1820

9. Distribution of Slave Labor, 1850

10. 50% of all slaves lived in the Black Belt (“Cotton Belt”)

11. Slaves’ Daily Life and Labor • 90% of slaves lived on plantations or farms • Most slaves on cotton plantations worked sunup to sundown, 6 days/week • About 75% of slaves were field workers, about 5% worked in industry • Urban slaves had more autonomy than rural slaves

12. Conditions of Slavery • Lived in crude quarters that left them exposed to bad weather and disease. • Diets consisted of cornmeal and salt pork. • The weather conditions of the South made health problems like yellow fever, dysentery, and malaria common. • Slave codes reinforced the concept that slaves were property and prevented slaves from having any rights.

13. The Plantation System • Plantations were diverse economically and self sufficient. • Slaves were organized into specialized gangs that performed specific duties. • Productivity was tied to maintaining discipline.

14. Field Slaves • Majority were field slaves and worked dawn to dusk. Some worked under the task system which required slaves to complete a specific job once done they were free to manage own affairs. • Did skilled work like carpentry and ironsmithing and unskilled work like tending the crops. • The women also had to care of their families by cooking, tending house and taking care of the children too! • Masters hired out slaves to perform other duties and keep the slave’s wages.

15. House Slaves • Household slaves cooked, cleaned, and nursed the master's children. • Are constantly watched by their masters and mistresses. Had far less privacy than those who worked the fields. • House slaves faced beatings, verbal abuse and sexual assault.

16. Slave Quarters

17. The Big House

18. Slave Families, Kinship, and Community • Normal family life difficult for slaves • fathers cannot always protect children • families vulnerable to breakup by masters • Most reared in strong, two-parent families • Extended families provide nurture, support amid horror of slavery • Slave culture a family culture that provided a sense of community

19. African American Religion • Black Christianity the cornerstone of an emerging African American culture • Whites fear religion’s subversive potential, try to supervise churches and preaching • Slave religion kept secret from whites • reaffirmed the inherent joy of life • preaches the inevitable day of liberation

20. Slave Resistance • Slaves worked slowly, broke tools, faked illness and destroyed crops. • Many stole livestock, food, or valuables, burned buildings or killed their masters. • They pursued education! Learning to read is a powerful tool!

21. Resistance and Rebellion • Run away often aided by the Underground Railroad • Stories, songs asserting equality

22. Slave Punishment • Slaves were punished for not working fast, being late, talking back, running away, and other reasons. • Slave punishment included whippings, torture, mutilation, imprisonment, the threat of abusing a loved one and being sold away.

23. Resistance and Rebellion • 1800--Gabriel Prosser • 1822--Denmark Vesey • 1831--Nat Turner

24. Slave Rebellions and Uprisings, 1800-1831

25. Gabriel Prosser’s Rebellion • Gabriel Prosser plans the first major slave rebellion. • Gabriel wanted to create an independent black state in Virginia on August 30, 1800. • Gabriel and 26 of his companions are hanged.

26. Denmark Vesey’s Rebellion • Minister who plans rebellion with over 1,000 members. • Informant betrays revolt. Most faced deportations and hangings. • South is paranoid about slave revolts and Slave Laws.

27. Nat Turner’s Rebellion • Nat Turner claimed to have visions and was ordered by God to rebel. • In August 1831, led a revolt in which 57 men, women and children are hacked to death. • The rebellion causes the South to pass strict Slave Codes.

28. Free Blacks in the Old South • Southern free blacks severely restricted • Sense of solidarity with slaves • Generally unable to help • Repression increased as time passed • Had to register with the state & carry “freedom” papers • Were excluded from certain jobs • Subjected to re-enslavement & fraudulent “recapture” • By 1860 some state legislatures were proposing laws to force free blacks to emigrate or be enslaved

29. White Society in the Antebellum South • Only a small percentage of slave owners lived in aristocratic mansions • less than 1% of the white population owned 50 or more slaves • Most Southern whites were yeomen farmers

30. The Planters' World • Big planters set tone, values of Southern life • Planter wealth based on • commerce • land speculation • slave-trading • cotton planting • Plantations managed as businesses • Romantic ideals imitated only by richest

31. The Value of Cotton Exports as a Percentage of All U.S. Exports

32. Planters and Paternalism • Planters pride themselves on paternalism • Better living standard for Southern slaves than others in Western Hemisphere • Relatively decent treatment due in part to their increasing economic value after 1808 • Planters actually deal little with slaves • Slaves managed by overseers • Violent coercion accepted by all planters

33. Small Slaveholders • Slave conditions worst with fewer than 20 • slaves share the master's poverty • slaves at the complete mercy of the master • Masters often worked alongside the slaves • Most slaves would have preferred the economic and cultural stability of the plantation

34. Yeoman Farmers • Small farmers resent large planters • Some aspire to planter status • Many saw slavery as guaranteeing their own liberty and independence • Slavery viewed as a system for keeping blacks "in their place"

35. A Closed Mind and a Closed Society • Planters fear growth of abolitionism • Planters encourage closing of ranks • Slavery defended as a positive good • Africans depicted as inferior • slavery defended with Bible • slavery a humane asylum to improve Africans • Slavery superior to Northern wage labor • Contrary points of view suppressed

36. Slavery and the Southern Economy • White Southerners perceived their economic interests to be tied to slavery • Lower South: slave plantation society • Upper South: farming and slave-trading region

37. The Internal Slave Trade • Mixed farming in Virginia and Maryland • Need less labor, more capital • Upper South sells slaves to lower South • Virginia, Maryland, and Kentucky take on characteristics of industrializing North • Sectional loyalty of upper South uncertain

38. Slave Concentration, 1820

39. The Rise of the Cotton Kingdom • "Short-staple" cotton drives cotton boom • Cotton gin makes seed extraction easy • Year-round requirements suited to slave labor • Cotton in Georgia, South Carolina, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, Louisiana, east Texas • Large planters dominate cotton production • 1850--South produces 75% of world's cotton, cotton the most important U.S. business

40. Slave Concentration, 1860

41. Slavery and Industrialization • Southerners resent dependence on Northern industry, commerce • Southerners project industrial schemes • some propose using free white labor • others propose the use of slaves • Slaves work in southern factories • High cotton profits discourage shift to industry

42. The "Profitability" Issue • Slavery not profitable for South as a whole • White small farmers have lower living standards than most Northern farmers • Profits from cotton not well-distributed • Slave system results in waste of human resources, Southern underdevelopment

43. Defending Slavery • Southern planters feared revolts & the growth of abolitionism & used a new defense slavery: • It was sanctioned in the Bible • Constitution did not prohibit it • Slavery was a “natural” way of life for “inferior” Africans • Slavery was more humane than Northern industrial exploitation

44. Defending Slavery • Proslavery Southerners protected South against anti-slavery ideas: • Feared abolitionist propaganda would inspire slave rebellions or inspire the yeoman to support abolition • Increased restrictions on blacks by making it illegal to teach slaves to read & write • Banned church services & meetings without supervision

45. Conclusions • The post-1793 cotton boom transformed the American economy & Southern society: • Cotton facilitated westward expansion & the entrenchment of African slavery in the South • In the 1830s, the South became increasingly defensive about perceived Northern attempts to end slavery

46. Worlds in Conflict • Separate Southern worlds • planters • slaves • less affluent whites • free blacks • Held together by plantation economy, web of customary relationships