CHAPTER 11 THE SOUTH, SLAVERY, AND KING COTTON 1800-1860 Objective • This chapter explores how dependence on agriculture and slavery shaped the distinctive economy and culture of the old south. I-THE DISTINCTIVENESS OF THE OLD SOUTH What set the Old South apart are its regional climate, geography in shaping its culture and economy. Its warm and humid climate was ideal for cultivating profitable crops such as tobacco, cotton, rice, and sugar cane, which led to the plantation system of large commercial agriculture and its dependence upon slave labor. Unlike the North, the South had few large cities, few railroads, few factories, and few schools. I-1 A Biracial Culture The most distinctive feature of the south was its race-based slavery. The majority of southern Whites did not own slaves, but they supported what John C. Calhoun called the South’s “Peculiar Institution” because slavery was so central to their society’s way of life. The Old South also differed from other sections of the country in its high proportion of native-born Americans, both whites and blacks. I-2 Many Souths Three distinct sub-regions with quite different economic interests and diverging degrees of commitment to slavery. The seven states making up the lower south (south Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and, Texas) = intensive cotton production and slave labor. The middle southern states (Virginia, north Carolina, Tennessee, and Arkansas) had diversified agricultural economies including large area without slavery. In the upper or border south (Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri) slavery was beginning to decline by 1860. II-The Cotton Kingdom II-1 King Cotton During the first half of the 19th century, cotton surpassed rice as the most profitable cash crop in the South. The “white gold” drove much of the national economy and the industrial revolution, feeding the mechanized textile mills in New England and Great Britain. “Cotton is a king,” exclaimed the Southern cultivator 1859. By 1860, the center of the “cotton kingdom” stretched from eastern North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia through the fertile Alabama-Mississippi “black Belt” (so called for the color of the fertile soil), through Louisiana, on to Texas, and up to the Mississippi Valley as far as southern Illinois. III- Whites in the Old South III-1 White Planters They had slaves and concentrated wealth in their hands, a wealth based on cotton, rice, tobacco, sugarcane. To be called a planter, one had to own twenty slaves and every 1/30 whites was a planter in 1860. III-2 The White Middle Class some were overseers on largest plantations. The most numerous were small farmers. III-3 “Poor Whites” This is a class that existed, whose wealth was cattle and pigs; spent their time fishing, hunting and drinking whiskey. III-4 The Plantation Mistress Women were in charge of the domestic sphere. Men were abusing slave women. IV-Black Society in the South IV-1 Rural and Urban Slavery The vast majority of slaves worked on large plantations usually supervised by a black “driver” or a white overseer. → They were subjected to bad treatment Slaves living in cities enjoyed greater mobility and freedom than their counterparts in rural areas. IV-2 Slave Women Were seen as profitable because they could have children that could be sold. They too worked very hard. They were under constant threat of sexual abuse. V-Forging a Slave Community V-1 The Slave Family Had no legal status. Although states did not recognize slave marriages, they did not prevent men and women from choosing life partners and forging families within the constraints of the slave system. A slave’s childhood did not last long. After five or six years of age, children were put to work. Children could be sold to different masters. V-2 Slave Religion Slave Culture Was A Mixture Of African And Christian Elements. Alongside The Church They Retained Beliefs In Spirits, Magic Spells And Herbs And Conjuring. African Americans Identified Their Plight With That Of Israelites In Egypt. V-3 Slave Rebellions Denmark Vesey (1767–1822) Denmark Vesey was a freed slave who held meetings to organize what would have been the biggest slave revolt in U.S. History. A slave, Denmark Vesey spent 20 years sailing with his master. In 1800 he purchased his freedom. He allegedly held meetings at his home to collect arms for an uprising he was planning for as many as 9,000 African Americans in South Carolina. The plan was betrayed by several fearful slaves and he and others were seized. Nathanial “Nat” Turner (1800-1831) He was a black American slave who led the only effective, sustained slave rebellion (august 1831) in U.S. History. Spreading terror throughout the white south, his action set off a new wave of oppressive legislation prohibiting the education, movement, and assembly of slaves. V-4 The Lure of Freedom * Thousands of escaped slaves (called “fugitives”) made it to freedom in spite of the obstacles facing them. * On average, some 50,000 enslaved people tried to escape each year. * Frederick Douglass decided that risking death was better than staying in bondage: “I had as well be killed running as die standing.” *Slaves who did not escape found other ways to resist. Focus Questions 1) What factors made the south distinct from the rest of the United States during the early nineteenth century? 2) What role did cotton production and slavery play in the South’s economic and social development? 3) What were the major social groups within southern white society? Why was each group committed to the continuation and expansion of slavery? 4) What was the impact of slavery on the African-Americans, both free and enslaved, throughout the South? 5) How did enslaved people respond to the inhumanity of their situation? THANK YOU.