Essential Question:

1

• Essential Question
• What was life like in the antebellum South?
• Warm-Up Question
• Rank order the success of these American
  presidents Jefferson, Madison, Monroe
• Provide evidence for each

2
The Southern Antebellum Economy King Cotton
Slavery
Ante means before
Bellum means the war
3
The Rise of King Cotton
Southern cotton fueled both the English
American Industrial Revolutions

• King Cotton was the dynamic force driving the
  American economy from 1790-1840
• The South provided ¾ of worlds cotton
• Southern cotton stimulated the growth of Northern
  textile industry, shipping, marketing
• Slave population grew 300

4
The Value of Cotton Exports as a Percentage of
All U.S. Exports
5
The Rise of King Cotton

• The introduction of short-staple cotton
  strengthened the economy
• Cotton could now be grown anywhere in the South
• The cotton gin (1793) made seed extraction easy
• The potential for profits led to a cotton boom
  the expansion of slavery in the South

Southern way of life
White Southerners perceived their economic
interests to be tied to slavery
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Slaves Using the Cotton Gin
7
Southern Agriculture
Cotton expansion led to Alabama Fever
from 1816 to 1820
Southern expansion boomed again from 1832 to 1838
into Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas
and again in the mid-1850s into Texas
8
Slave Concentration, 1820
Slave Concentration by 1860
The Black Belt
9
The Internal Slave Trade

• The Upper South grew tobacco was less dependent
  on cotton slave labor
• As slave prices rose, Upper South developed an
  internal slave trade to provide surplus slaves
  to the Lower South
• Virginia, Maryland, Kentucky began to take on
  characteristics of the industrializing North
  became divided in their support of slavery

10
Slavery in a Changing World

• Antebellum regional differences
• By 1820, all Northern states abolished slavery
• The South lagged behind the North in cities,
  industry, railroads
• Southern population grew slower than in the North
  West

The South lagged by choice because these were
risky investments, but cotton was safe
Southern politicians feared being permanently
outvoted in Congress
By 1860, only 15 of U.S. factories were in the
South
By 1860, only 35 of railroads were in the South
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Antebellum Southern SocietyWhites
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The Divided Society of the Old South

• American slavery was deeply rooted in the
  Southern economy but slavery divided the South
• By casteblack or white
• By classownership of slaves
• By regionslavery was more deeply entrenched
  along the Black Belt from GA to TX

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Southern Society in 1850
Slave-ocracy(plantation owners)
6,000,000
The Plain Folk(small slave-owners yeoman
farmers)
250,000
Black Freemen
3,200,000
Black Slaves
U.S. population in 1850 was 23,000,0009,500,000
lived in the South (40)
14
Southern White Class Structure, 1860
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White Society in South

• Only a small percentage of whites owned large
  plantations
• Less than 1 of the white population owned 50
  slaves
• Most whites were yeomen farmers who supported
  slavery because they hired slaves or felt
  reassured that there was a lower class than them

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Small Slaveholders

• Only about 25 of the Southern white population
  owned slaves
• 88 of slave owners had fewer than 20 slaves
  (most 1-2 slaves)
• But slave conditions were worse because slaves
  shared their master's poverty
• Most slaves would have preferred the economic
  stability kinship of the plantation

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If these were the living conditions for slaves on
a plantation, what were conditions like on small
farms?
18
Yeomen Farmers

• About 75 of Southern whites were small, yeoman
  farmers who did not own slaves
• Most yeomen resented the aristocratic planters
  but hoped to become wealthy planters
• Many saw slavery as a way of keeping blacks in
  their place
• Many saw abolition as a threat to their Southern
  way of life

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Antebellum Southern SocietySlaves
20
The World of Southern Blacks

• While very few whites were plantation owners,
  most slaves lived on plantations
• 90 of slaves lived on farms in which owner had
  20 slaves
• 15 of slaves served as house slaves (domestic
  servants)
• 10 of slaves worked in industry, lumbering,
  construction

2.4 of slaves worked on large plantations with
200 slaves
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Distribution of Slave Labor, 1850
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50 of all slaves lived in the Black Belt
(Cotton Belt)
23
Slaves Picking Cottonon a Mississippi Plantation
Hauling the Whole Weeks PickingsWilliam Henry
Brown, 1842
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Slaves Workingin a Sugar-Boiling House, 1823
Some slaves could hire out their overtime hours
for pay (Underground Economy)
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Slave Families Community

• Normal family life was difficult
• Families were vulnerable to breakup by their
  masters
• On large plantations, slaves were able to retain
  their African cultures were mostly part of
  two-parent families
• But on smaller farms, extended families provided
  support or adoption of unrelated slaves

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A Slave Family
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African American Religion

• Black Christianity was the center of
  African-American culture
• Richard Allen created African Methodist Episcopal
  (AME) Church but was largely composed of free
  urban African-Americans
• On plantations, whites supervised religious
  messages, but the real slave religion was
  practiced at night in secret preached about the
  inevitable day of liberation

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Supervised Plantation Religion
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Free Blacks in the Old South

• Southern free blacks were severely restricted
• Had to register with the state carry freedom
  papers
• Were excluded from certain jobs
• Subjected to re-enslavement fraudulent
  recapture
• By 1860 some states proposed laws to force free
  blacks to leave the state or be enslaved

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Defending Slavery?
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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

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Pro-Slavery Propaganda
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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

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Slavery in the NorthEarly Emancipation Movements
In 1787, the Articles of Confederation outlawed
slavery in the northwest
By 1804, nine states emancipated slaves or
adopted gradual emancipation plans
Before the American Revolution, slaves were
present in each of the 13 American colonies
In 1817, a group of ministers politicians
formed the American Colonization Society to
resettle free blacks in West Africa
In 1808, the USA Britain in outlawed the
African slave trade
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Anti-Slave Arguments
Leg Irons
Slave ID Tag
Slave muzzle
36
Resistance Rebellion

• The most common form of slave rebellion was
  passive resistance
• Work slowdowns sabotage
• Poisoning of masters
• Running away was common among slaves Runaway
  slaves were aided by the Underground Railroad

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Quilt Patterns Showed Secret Messages
The Drunkard Path design warned escapees not to
follow a straight route
The Monkey Wrench pattern told slaves to gather
up tools and prepare to flee
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Resistance and Rebellion
At the last minute, the plan failed, Prosser was
captured, no whites died

• Between 1800-1831, 3 major slave revolts
  occurred
• Gabriel Prosser (1800) planned a violent march on
  Richmond
• Denmark Vesey (1822) created an extensive plot to
  arm free slaves in SC (no white deaths)
• Nat Turner (1831) led a band of slaves from farm
  to farm killed 60 whites

A change discovery revealed the plot no whites
died
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Slave Rebellions in the SouthNat Turner,
1831
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Conclusions Worlds in Conflict
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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

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Discussion Questions

• How did American agriculture change from the
  colonial era to the Era of Good Feelings?
• Which early 19th century change will have the
  greater impact on American history Eli Whitneys
  cotton gin OR Jeffersons Louisiana Purchase?
  Explain