The South

1. The South

2. Introduction • Nat Turner’s Rebellion • Aug. 1831 • 60 whites were killed • Created a panic among whites about slave insurrections

3. Introduction (cont.) • The Upper South relied less on slavery and cotton than the Lower South • Upper South seceded from the Union more hesitantly • From 1832 on, what united and created the region the “Old South” was its defense of slavery • Its “peculiar institution”

4. Introduction (cont.) 1.) How did the rise of cotton cultivation affect the society and economy of the Old South? 2.) What major social divisions segmented the white South? 3.) Why did nonslaveholding whites feel their futures were tied to the survival of slavery? 4.) What were the distinctive features of African-American society and culture in the South?

5. King Cotton • Introduction • The main cash crop of the colonial South was tobacco • Tobacco declined in the late 1700’s • Cotton culture revived southern agriculture • Encouraged rapid expansion southward and westward • Cotton growing was stimulated by: • the growth of the British textile industry • Development of the cotton gin • Removal of Indians form southern and western lands

6. The Lure of Cotton • The climate of the Lower South was ideal for growing cotton • Intense demand in Britain kept prices high • Cotton could be grown profitably on any scale • With or without slave labor • Cotton cultivation and the institution of slavery did increase side by side • Cotton and corn were often grown together so that the South did not have to spend money on imported food

15. Ties Between the Lower and Upper South • The Upper South identified with the Lower South rather than the free states: • Many of the Lower South residents had migrated from the Upper South • All southern whites benefited form the 3/5’s clause in the Constitution • Almost all southerners resented the criticism form northern abolitionists • The residents of the Upper South enjoyed a large, profitable business in the sale of slaves to the Lower South

16. The North and South Diverge • While the North was rapidly industrializing and urbanizing, the South remained primarily rural and agricultural • Slaves could be and were employed in southern factories • Much of the South’s capital was tied up in slave ownership • Not available for investment in industrial development

17. The Social Groups of the White South • Introduction • In 1860 • 1/4 of southern whites owned slaves • 1% of southern whites owned 100 or more • The whites of the Old South fit into 4 classes: • 1.) planters • Owners of more than 20 slaves • 2.) small slaveholders • 3.) yeoman • Nonslaveholding small family farmers • 4.) people of the pine barrens

18. Planters • The plantation was almost a factory in the field • High degree of division of labor • The pursuit of profit led planters to: • look constantly for additional and more fertile land • Organize their slave crews as efficiently as possible • Seek favorable merchant-banker connections

19. Planter and Plantation Mistresses (cont.) • Psychological strains that plantation agriculture placed on planters and their wives included: • Isolation from other whites of their class • Frequent moves • Crude living conditions • Especially those who lived on the new frontier • Responsibilities of running a major economic enterprise

20. The Small Slaveholders • There were many more small slaveholders than planter • “In 1860, 88% of all slaveholders owned fewer than 20 slaves.” • In the upland regions • Small slaveholders tended to identify with the more numerous yeomen • In the low country and delta • They identified with the planters • Aspired to rise into that class • Sometimes they did

21. The Yeoman • Nonslaveholding family farmers • Largest group among southern whites • Most yeoman grew some crops for sale • A few were only subsistence farmers • Farms ranged in size from 50 to 200 acres • Congregated in the upland, hilly, and less fertile regions • Proud • Self-sufficient

22. The People of the Pine Barrens • Made up about 10% of white population • Did not own land or slaves • Squatted on unfenced land • Subsistence farming • Grazed hogs and cattle • Grew corn • Refused to work as hired help for others • Survived in this manner

23. Social Relations in the White South • Introduction • Southern white society showed a mixture of aristocratic and democratic elements • There were great differences in wealth between classes • Most whites did own land • Planters were overrepresented in state legislatures

24. Conflict over Slavery • There was a potential for conflict between slaveholders and nonslaveholders • But the majority of nonslaveholding southerners supported slavery • Why? • Some hoped to become slaveholders • Many feared freedmen would demand social and political equality with whites • Feared a race war

25. Conflict over Slavery (cont.) • Throughout the South there was a fear of a race war • Many whites also shared racist beliefs about blacks • Feared that emancipation would be followed by a race war • Which would endanger the lives of all whites

26. The Proslavery Argument • The proslavery argument was also used as a tool to unite southern whites behind the institution • The proslavery argument was constructed by southern intellectuals between 1830 and 1860 • The argument claimed that slavery was a positive good rather than a necessary evil

27. The Proslavery Argument (cont.) • It claimed that slavery was sanctioned by history and the bible • Southern slaves were treated better than northern factory “wage slaves” • By the 1830’s, most southern churches had adopted the proslavery position

28. The Proslavery Argument (cont.) • Southerners persuaded themselves of the righteousness of their “peculiar institution” • They also increasingly suppressed all public criticism of slavery • They seized and destroyed abolitionist literature mailed to the South • Smashed the presses of southern antislavery newspapers

29. The Maturing of the Plantation System • The institution of slavery changed between 1700 and 1830 • In the earlier period • the majority of the black population was recent African or Caribbean arrivals • Disproportionately young males • Spoke little English • Isolated on small farms

30. The Maturing of the Plantation System (cont.) • By 1830 • There was a more even balance between males and females • Most were American born and English speaking • Most worked on large plantations • These changes facilitated a more rapid natural increase in the black population

31. Work and Discipline of Plantation Slaves • No other 19th century Americans worked as many hours under as harsh discipline as slave field hands • Either worked in gang labor or under the task system • Slave craftsmen and domestics on the plantations • had higher status • easier work • but also were subjected at times to physical brutality

32. Life on the Margin: Free Blacks in the Old South • Not all blacks in the Old South were slaves • More than 250,000 free blacks in 1860 • From the 1830’s on, the position of the free black in the South deteriorated • Southern law forbade teaching blacks (free or slave) to read

33. Life on the Margin (cont.) • Obstacles were put in the way of manumission (freedom) • Free blacks were barred from entering or remaining in many states • Many of the post-Civil War black leaders came from this group

34. Slave Resistance • Nat Turner’s 1831 rebellion was the only one in which whites were killed • 2 earlier planned insurrections were betrayed before they got underway • Gabriel Prosser’s (1800) • Denmark Vesey’s (1822)

35. Slave Resistance (cont.) • The Old South experienced far fewer uprisings than South America and the Caribbean • Slaves did not form a large majority anywhere in the South • Whites had all the weapons and soldiers • Blacks were reluctant to endanger their families • Black rarely had allies in southern Indians and never in nonslaveholding whites

36. Slave Resistance (cont.) • More than be either running away or violent revolt, • slaves resisted slavery by furtive means: • Theft • Negligence • Arson • Poisoning • Work stoppages and slowdowns

37. The Language of Slaves • During the colonial period, verbal communication between slaves was difficult • Variety of African languages they spoke • By the time most slaves were American-born, they had developed their own language • Pidgin English • This was an indispensable tool for communication • A bridge to a distinctive black culture

38. African American Religion • By 1800 many had been converted to Christianity • Methodists and Baptists • Masters hoped that by preaching Christian humility and acceptance to their slaves, they could make blacks docile and obedient • This did not work • Many of the rebels and their followers were devout Christians • It did serve as a unifying force • A source of hope and comfort

39. Conclusion • Slavery is what unified the Old South • Though the majority of white southerners owned no slaves, they had become convinced that the perpetuation of the “peculiar institution” was in the best interests of the entire South • Northerners believed that slavery made the South backward and bankrupt • Southern whites reacted to outside criticism by defending slavery as a benevolent way to handle the innate inferiority of the black race

40. Conclusion (cont.) • While most of slaves did not revolt or escape successfully, they did engage in covert resistance • White masters hoped black conversion to Christianity would render their slaves submissive • When blacks accepted Christianity, they read into it the message that slavery was an injustice