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9. Slavery and the Old South. Slavery and the Old South. Building a Diverse Cotton Kingdom Missouri Compromise Morning: Master and Mistress in the Big House Noon: Slaves in House and Fields Night: Slaves in Their Quarters Resistance and Freedom Conclusion: Douglass’s Dream of Freedom.
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9 Slavery and the Old South
Slavery and the Old South • Building a Diverse Cotton Kingdom • Missouri Compromise • Morning: Master and Mistress in the Big House • Noon: Slaves in House and Fields • Night: Slaves in Their Quarters • Resistance and Freedom • Conclusion: Douglass’s Dream of Freedom
The Diverse Cotton Kingdom • Different “Souths” • Upper South • Lower South • Coastal v. pine forests v. Appalachians • Urban v.rural • But all predominantly agricultural
The Expansion of Slavery • Economy strong, based mainly on cotton • Industrialization increased demand • Gulf States now more attractive • Slavery increasingly a fixed institution
Slavery in Latin America • Widespread use of slaves • Arising from decimation of Indian populations • Sugar used slave labor • Extremely harsh use of black labor • Slave population decreases • Mining in Bolivia • Slavery persists longer in Latin America • Abolished last in Cuba and Brazil
White and Black Migrations • Southerners move into Texas • Displace Native Americans and Mexicans • Old tobacco and cotton fields exhausted • Internal slave trade • From Virginia to the lower South • Importing slaves ended, 1808
Missouri Compromise • Slavery an issue often sidestepped • Missouri applies for admission, 1819 • Northwest Ordinance had kept slavery out • Territory west of Mississippi not covered • Conflict over power of Congress • Three-month debate
Missouri Compromise (cont'd) • Compromise • Missouri to be a slave state • Maine a free state • Line between slave and free drawn at 36°30’
Southern Dependence on Slavery • Developing rhetoric • Slavery profitable • Often chosen over free white and black labor • Increasing dependence on cotton
The Planter Class • Distinct culture • More paternalistic • Father and dependants • Masculine code
Slavery and Class • Number of slave-holding families declined to 25% • Slavery still a mark of status • Goal is to own slaves and large plantation • Middling classes • Treating blacks as inferiors raises their status • Yeoman farmers
Slavery and Class (cont'd) • 75% of southerners have no slaves • Live in isolation • Work small farms, often as tenants
Morning: Master andMistress in the Big House • Approach to understanding Antebellum South • Examine interactions through the day • Allows examination of separate societies
Justifications for Slavery • Biblical – descendants of Ham • Historical – as an old tradition • Legal – based on Constitution • Pseudoscientific – supposed racial inferiority • Sociological – blacks as children • Claims that “wage slaves” were worse off
Noon: Slaves in House and Fields • Task system • For example, a certain quantity of cotton • House slaves better off in material terms • Poor health • Some concern for slaves as commodities • Wide range of physical punishments • Sexual abuse
Night: Slaves in Their Quarters • Religion • Used by whites for control • But takes a different turn • Song • Important form of expression • Theme of bondage and deliverance • Family
Forms of Protest • Breaking tools, missing work • Flight • Often for short terms • Intermarriage with Seminole Indians • Underground Railroad • Revolts • Demark Vesey, 1822 • Nat Turner, 1831
Slave Revolts, Maroons, and the Abolition of Slavery in the Americas, 1790–1888
Free Blacks • Numbers of free blacks double • 500,000 by 1860 • Half in the South • Urban black communities • Most free blacks in the South in rural areas • Churches critical in black society • Active urban communities
Conclusion:Douglass’s Dream of Freedom • Frederick Douglass • Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, 1845 • Escape to freedom • Many different notions of a better society • Explored in next chapter