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Slavery and Society, 1800-1860

Slavery and Society, 1800-1860. Slavery and Society, 1800-1860. King Cotton & the Old South Economics Identity Culture. Slave Life Population House and Field Community Resistance. King Cotton and the Old South. Cotton and the South Climate, geography Profitable England/industry

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Slavery and Society, 1800-1860

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  1. Slavery and Society, 1800-1860

  2. Slavery and Society, 1800-1860 • King Cotton & the Old South • Economics • Identity • Culture • Slave Life • Population • House and Field • Community • Resistance

  3. King Cotton and the Old South • Cotton and the South • Climate, geography • Profitable • England/industry • Cotton gin • Outlawed int’l trade in 1808

  4. King Cotton and the Old South • Economics • 60% of U.S. exports • Basis of southern economy • Linked N & S • Linked U.S. & Britain

  5. Cotton, slavery, race identity • Southern Identity • Rural • White privilege • “Honor” • Fear of uprisings • “Dependence”

  6. Cotton Culture • “…people live in cotton houses and ride in cotton carriages. They buy cotton, sell cotton, think cotton, eat cotton, drink cotton, and dream cotton. They marry cotton wives and unto them are born cotton children…” • British visitor Hiram Fuller’s views of Mobile, AL in 1858

  7. Slavery and Expansion • Post 1812 & Indian Removal • Westward expansion • Missouri Compromise • Texas “Independence” • Louisiana, ARK, OK, TX • Profits used to buy more land, more land=more slaves, more crops=more profit=more land=more slaves=more crops

  8. American Slavery • 19/55 signers of the Constitution owned slaves • Majority of southern Congressmen owned slaves • 4/6 Presidents up to and including Jackson owned slaves • $25 million in U.S. revenue vs. $1 billion in slave “property” • Shipping & ship building, insurance, banks, factories in the North

  9. Population • 1790: 700,000 • 1850: 4 million • 1850: 50% grew cotton • 25% of whites had slaves • 50% of owners had less than 5 slaves • 5% of planters owned 40% of all slaves in south

  10. Slave Life • Mortality rates were 3 times higher • Life expectancy • Blacks 20’s • Whites 40’s • 25% sick

  11. Slave Codes • State laws to limit movement of slaves and define them as property • Cannot own a gun • Marriages not legally recognized • No alcohol • Passes to leave plantation • Illegal to teach slaves to read or write • Legalized homicide as “punishment”

  12. “House slaves” • 15%-20% • Constant contact • Raise children • Gendered violence • Reading • News

  13. “Field Slaves” • 75% of slaves • 18 hours • “Gangs” • Overseer • Music and group identity

  14. “Virginian Luxuries,” nd. Anonymous

  15. African American Community • Family • Auctions • Fictive kin • Tribal culture • Music, dance, spirituality

  16. Christianity • 2nd Great Awakening • Lay preachers • Justice, salvation • “Call and Response” • Gospel • African American Methodist Church, 1816

  17. Free Blacks • Non-slaves in the South • 6% of total Black population • 3% of total population • Laws limited their rights and citizenship, papers, no access to courts • Most descended from blacks freed in Upper South • Mainly manual labor • Racial hierarchies based on skin color

  18. Resistance • Work slow • “Sick” • Break tools • “Theft” • Run away • Rebellion Gabriel Prosser

  19. Resistance • Run away slaves • Over 1,000 • Upper south • Canada • West

  20. Harriet Tubman • Underground Railroad • Homes, barns, woods, trails north • 19 missions • 300 people

  21. Family on Underground Railroad

  22. Slave Rebellions • Gabriel Prosser 1800 • Literate • Richmond, VA • 1000 slaves • “Death or liberty” • Denmark Vescey, 1822 • Telemanque, born in Africa or W. Indies • Free, literate, preacher • Charleston • Missouri Compromise • 100 men

  23. Rebellions • Nat Turner, 1831 • Virginia • Literate, preacher • Killed 70

  24. Situation in 1850s

  25. Concluding Thoughts • Despite dependence on cotton and slavery, Southern economy became more diverse • Slavery in Upper South declined • Immigration provided cheap & flexible labor • Changes to economy made slave owners more worried • More rebellions, abolitionists, Westward expansion, made slave codes more harsh

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