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Chapter 16. The South and the Slavery Controversy . “Cotton is King”. North & South benefited financially from cotton production. Britain depended on the export. 75% if all cotton from US.
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Chapter 16 The South and the Slavery Controversy
“Cotton is King” • North & South benefited financially from cotton production. • Britain depended on the export. • 75% if all cotton from US. • South well aware of Britain’s dependence and used that as a carrot to remain peaceful with Britain.
South • Oligarchy: ruled by a few. • 1,733 families owned more than 100 slaves. • “Cottonocracy” • Their wealth & influence. • Educate in the finest schools • North • Abroad • Leisure • Widen gap between rich & poor.
Southern Women: Plantation • Command a sizable household staff of mostly female slaves. • Slave/Southern women relationships • Depended on the mistress. • Spectrum: Affectionate to Abusive
Slave System • Southern dependence on slaves was economically very dangerous. • Roughly 10 cents to feed. • Disease could wipe out an entire workforce. • Resented the North • Clothes • Banking system • Shippers • Immigrants
The White Majority • ¼ owned slaves • 1 or 2 slaves • Owned small farms • Raised hogs & corn • Whites who owned no slaves at all • ¾ of all southern whites • However defended slavery. • WHY?????????
Continued…… • They aspired for the “American Dream” • Upward social mobility. • Took pride in their racial superiority • Mountain Whites • Appalachian Mountains • Small farmers • Not supportive of southern society • Indifferent about slavery • Will ultimately fight on the side on the North (Union) during the civil War.
Free Blacks • Slaves without masters • 1860: 250,000 upper South were free • Mulattoes: emancipated children of white planters. • Some purchased their freedom • Owned property • Owned slaves
Southern Issues • Blacks were prohibited: • Working in certain occupations. • Forbidden from testifying against whites in court. • Could be thrown back into slavery at any moment.
North Issues • Blacks were also prohibited in the North: • Several states forbid their entrance. • Denied the right to vote. • Attend public school. • Unpopular in the North even though over 250,000 blacks lived there. • Irish/Black: Job and class competition.
Plantation System • 4 million slaves • African slave trade officially ended in the US in 1808. • Congress outlawed it. • Virginia provided slaves to neighboring states. • Slaves were an investment. • $2 billion • Primary form of wealth • Slave Auction • Families separated • Sold among cattle
Life Under the Lash • Conditions varied greatly. • Worked dawn to dusk • No rights • Minimal protection for abuse or murder • No legal marriages • Flogging common • Not allowed to become educated • Reading brought ideas, and ideas brought discontent. • Influenced by Christianity • Large plantations • Stable family settings • Small farms • Most likely separated from family
The Burdens of Bondage • There were several ways slaves found ways to silently protest and rebel, even though it was small. • Worked slower, just enough to not get the whip. • Stole food from the masters house. • Sabotaged expensive equipment. • Sometimes, poisoned their masters. • Ran away
Early Abolitionism • Early attempts were made by lots of groups to end or curb slavery. • Quakers • American Colonization Society • Created the Republic of Liberia in Africa to send over 15,000 freed blacks to safety. • Many did not want to go. • Theodore Weld • Charles Finney • Beechers: Harriet Beecher Stowe, Uncle Tom’s Cabin
Radical Abolitionist • William Lloyd Garrison • Journalist: Newspaper, The Liberator • He proclaimed that under circumstances would he tolerate the poisonous weed of slavery, but would stamp out at once, root and branch. • Anti-Slavery Society • David Walker: Appeal to the Colored Citizens of the World (1829) “Advocated for a bloody end to white supremacy” • Wendell Phillips • Wouldn’t wear or eat anything produced by slaves. • Sojourner Truth • Freed black slave, fought for emancipation and women’s rights.
Continued……. • Fredrick Douglass • Escaped bondage at the age of 21, joined the abolitionist movement. • Lectured widely for the cause. • Book: Narrative of the Life of Fredrick Douglass