Slavery in America

1
Slavery in America
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While the North and South were starting to become
more alike in the 1700s, an invention changed
everything!

• Eli Whitney Invented the cotton gin (short for
  engine) in 1793
• Cotton was not profitable before

Before the cotton gin 1
worker1pound of cotton /day After cotton gin
1 worker10 pounds of
cotton/day
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Cotton production increased

• While the North was experiencing the beginning of
  the Industrial Revolution, the South became more
  and more dependent on Slavery as cotton prices
  skyrocketed

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Cotton was king

• The South understood that Great Britain was tied
  to their cotton production.
• Britains single most important manufactured
  product in the 1850s was cotton!
• This dependence lead to problems, though
• Harmful to the land
• One-crop systemdependent on it too much
• The profits were too high initiallydecreased
  econ. Diversification
• Very few immigrants

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The amount of slaves grew rapidly
Rather than moving away from slavery, the South
became more dependent on it.

• The fact that cotton could now be produced to
  make a profit led more and more people to depend
  on slaves

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True or False

• 7 out of 10 people in the South owned 0 slaves.

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TRUE!!!

• Percentage of Southern White Families Owning
  Slaves in 1860

About 1,150,000 Families owned no slaves
Number of slaves owned
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Then why did so many people support slavery?

• It was known as the peculiar institution. People
  didnt necessarily want it or love it, but they
  depended on it for their economy

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Southern way of life

• Definitely consisted of an aristocracy.
• South had more college students than North
• But their literacy rate was much lowergo figure!

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How did people justify slavery?

• People said that African-Americans were better
  off
• The negro is improvident will not lay up in
  summer for the wants of winter will not
  accumulate in youth for the exigencies of age. He
  would become an insufferable burden to society.
  Society has the right to prevent this, and can
  only do so by subjecting him to domestic
  slaverythe negro race is inferior to the white
  race, and living in their midst, they would be
  far outstripped or outwitted in the chaos of free
  competition. Gradual but certain extermination
  would be their fate. We presume the maddest
  abolitionist does not think the negro's
  providence of habits and money-making capacity at
  all to compare to those of the whites. This
  defect of character would alone justify enslaving
  him, if he is to remain here. In Africa or the
  West Indies, he would become idolatrous, savage
  and cannibal, or be devoured by savages and
  cannibals. At the North he would freeze or
  starve.
• George Fitzhugh

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Were slaves taken care of?

• Which was it better to be, a poor immigrant in
  the North or a Slave in the South?

T-Total Food Consumption M-Meat P-Potatoes G-Grain
NS Clip
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In many ways, then, the worst was to be what?

• A free black in the North
• A free black woman in the North!
• Illinois outlawed the immigration of free blacks
  in the 1848 constitution!

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Story of Celia

• Purchased to be used as a sex slave
• Gave birth to 2 mulattoes
• Eventually, the slave owner is murdered
• She is found guilty
• Not allowed to testify
• Conclusion was that slaves were property
• Hanged in 1855

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How did slaves fight slavery?

• Work slowdownswhat was the incentive to work
  quickly? (Lazy?)
• Subtle ways of fighting the system
• Sabotage projects
• Steal things
• Poison food
• Very few would run away

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The ultimate threat was a rebellion

• 1739-Stono Rebellion-22-25 dead whites in SC
• 1800-rebellion in Virginia-foiled before it
  started
• 1822-Denmark Vesey in Charleston tried but failed
  due to informants
• 1831-Nat Turner led the most brutal one in
  Virginiakilled 60 whites
• 1839-Amistad
• 1859-John Browns raid in Virginia

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If you lived in an area with a lot of slaves, you
would be fearful

• South Carolina had more slaves than whites.
• How do you suppose those people responded to
  slave rebellions and abolitionists both existing?
• John Brown?!

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As the 1800s wore on, people in the North
started to change their views of slavery

• People wanted to turn back to God and do good
  things so there were many reform movements
• Anti-Alcohol, Education Reform, and
  Abolition!!
• William Lloyd Garrison was a leader
• Who started an abolitionist newspaper

NS Clip
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From the 1st issue of the Liberator

• I am aware that many object to the severity of my
  language but is there not cause for severity? I
  will be as harsh as truth, and as uncompromising
  as justice. On this subject, I do not wish to
  think, or to speak, or write, with moderation.
  No! no! Tell a man whose house is on fire to give
  a moderate alarm tell him to moderately rescue
  his wife from the hands of the ravisher tell the
  mother to gradually extricate her babe from the
  fire into which it has fallen but urge me not
  to use moderation in a cause like the present. I
  am in earnest I will not equivocate I will
  not excuse I will not retreat a single inch
  AND I WILL BE HEARD. The apathy of the people is
  enough to make every statue leap from its
  pedestal, and to hasten the resurrection of the
  dead.

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Garrison also started the American Anti-Slavery
Society

• He was one intense reformerwould embrace all
  reformsincluding womens rights
• He welcomed the Grimke sisters and other women to
  speak at the meetings
• Some others (the Tappan brothers) didnt care for
  that and split with the Garrisonians in 1840 and
  formed their own separate society.

The state of Georgia had a 5000 reward for his
arrest!
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Frederick Douglass was also an important
abolitionist

• He was taught to read and write illegally
• Ran away and became a prominent abolitionist
  speaker and writer
• Worked with Garrison but had a split with him
  over the Constitution (Garrison liked to burn it
  and Douglass said it is okay)
• As the abolitionist movement grew, more and more
  Southerners feared for their way of life.

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Then, in 1852, a book came out!
People began seeing slavery as morally wrong.
The Queen of England read it and wept!!!
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With the increase in the influence of the
abolitionists, people began to view slavery as
morally wrong and want to abolish it.

• If you owned slaves in the South, how would you
  begin to feel?

Sectionalism was getting worse as the 1800s
progressed.
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Fear for their way of life emerged as America
expanded. Problems arose over the question of
slavery

• Mexico is the forbidden fruit, if we eat it, our
  political institutions will die.
• John C. Calhoun
• Will the new territories be slave or free?
• Why would people back East care about new states?
• The 1st time this came up was with Missouri in
  1820.

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Problems with expansion of USA
Territory How resolved
Missouri in 1820 wants to become a state Missouri admitted as slave and Maine as free. 3630 will mark all future problems. Missouri Compromise
California and rest of Mexican Cession (from Mexican War) California admitted as free, Stricter Fugitive Slave Law, No more slave trade in D.C and Popular Sovereignty in Mexican Cession. Compromise of 1850
Kansas and Nebraska are being divided into states Congress decides to let the people decide on what they want. This is popular sovereignty 1854 Kansas-Nebraska Act
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These compromises were quick fixes

• didnt solve the issue of slavery
• although many in the north said they would allow
  slavery to stay in the South, they would not
  allow it in the new land. Therefore more
  tension!!!

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Certain events served to increase the tension and
detract from the compromises

• Wilmot Proviso
• Uncle Toms Cabin
• Underground Railroad
• Bleeding Kansas
• Dred Scott Decision
• Harpers Ferry
• Election of Lincoln

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So, was it just slavery?

• These events all had to do with slavery, so was
  slavery the cause?
• No, it was about states rights
• Tariff of Abominations and the Nullification
  crisis had nothing to do with slavery