Transcript CH 12:The Old South & Slavery

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1830-1860
Focus Question:
 How did the rise of cotton cultivation affect the society and
economy of the Old South?
Big Picture:
 1770’s—Tobacco = no profit
 1830’s—Cotton needed by BR & NE
 Cotton…again
o Climate
o No tools
o Cotton gin
o 1810-1830—
Upper South—VA, NC, TN,
AR (relied less on slavery)
Lower or Deep South—SC,
GA, FL, MS, LA, TX
slave pop boom
o Demand in NE
o Corn alternate
crop
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Grew veggies & hemp
Less reliable on slaves
Upper
South
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Lower
South
Settlers from lower south were from upper south
White southerners benefited from 3/5 clause
Abolitionists criticized both regions for slavery
Cotton & sugar = $ = internal slave trade
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Industry
1/3 pop lived in South
Industry in VA & SC
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o All would be farmers
o Tredegar Iron Works
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No workforce
Industry = sell slaves = no $
Education
Refused to pay for public
education
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Educating slaves = illegal
By CW, 60 % of NC illiterate
Focus Question:
 What major social divisions segmented the white South?
Big Picture:
 Four Southern groups: Planters (1%), yeomen, small
farmers, & pine barren folks.
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Used plantation agriculture
Lived in AL & MS
Showed wealth by slave #
“Agents” sold cotton
Cheated— “mulattos”
• 88% of holders had 20+
slaves
• Lawyers, Dr, & Artisans
• Slave use:
• Upland-harvest only
Small
• Lower-more
Slaveholders
• Desired live of Planter
• Took out loans for land
in AL & MS
Planters
Yeomen
Pinebarren Folk
• 10% of Southern whites
• Squatters, raised hogs
• Refused slave-like work
• Nonslaveholders
• Slave use:
• Only at harvest
• Paid slaves
• Depended on family
to work land
• Controlled most
southern land
• Democratic
• Believed in selfsufficiency.
Focus Question:
 Why did nonslaveholding whites feel their futures were tied
to the survival of slavery?
Big Picture:
 North—forces own race into labor.
 South—exploits blacks through slavery.
Focus Question:
 What were the distinctive features of African-American
society & culture in the South?
Big Picture:
 Slave location/labor determined treatment
• Age: 20’s—slave ship
• Africa/Caribbean
• Different language
• No partners
• Females & males
• English language
• Ratio of male to female
equal
• Low birth numbers due
to female malnutrition
• Worked on small,
isolated farms
• Higher birth rates
• Plantation agriculture
• Chesapeake area or
lower South
• Slave trade banned in 1808
1700’s
1830’s
Slave-Owning Population (1850)
Slave-Owning Families (1850)
¾
of all slaves lived on
plantations with 10+
 Men & women
 Sun up to sundown
 Smaller farms: “task
system”
 Larger farms: worked
under an overseer
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Master encouraged “slave
marriage”
o Children
o Discourage runaways
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Law did not protect slaves
(or crimes committed
against them)
Families sold & separated
Sexual abuse from masters
“Fictive Kin”
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High reproduction rate
o Equal ratio
o 2/3 lived to be 10 yo
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Balanced diet of
vegetables and meat.
Resistant to malaria &
yellow fever
o Home remedies
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Lived in crude wooden
cabins
Infected water to do
bacteria and “waste”
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1860—1/3 of free blacks
lived in upper South & ½
of free blacks lived in lower
South.
Easier to get jobs in the
South vs North.
Lived in rural areas.
Carpenters, coopers,
barbers, small traders, and
worked in markets.
Organized own churches
and schools.
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Languages of slaves:
o Pidgin—dropping connector
words & blend of African,
Spanish, and English.
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Religion:
o African slaves worshipped
many religions
o “Witchcraft”
o Water Symbolism—early
slaves were baptized b/c
water was significant in their
religion.
 Religion
o Plantation owners
brought in preachers
• Preach that slaver was
justified by Bible
• Slaves began
interpreting their struggle
as a “test” from god and
master would “get
theirs”
• Similar to Jews who were
enslaved by Romans.
 Black
Music & Dance
o Struggle expressed in
music: drums, clapping
o “Patting the juba”
o Spirituals
• Sung in fields to talk
about escape.
• Underground Railroad:
• Created to help slaves
escape to Canada or
Mexico.
• Harriet Tubman
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.