340 likes | 348 Views
Explore the economic development and social dynamics of the South in the 1800s, focusing on the impact of slavery and the cotton industry. Learn about the different classes of white society, the lives of slaves, and the resistance they faced.
E N D
Chapter 11APUSHMrs. Price “Whenever I hear anyone arguing for slavery, I feel a strong impulse to see it tried on him personally.” – Abraham Lincoln
Southern Economy • Shift to Cotton • Most important economic development • Short-staple cotton
Shift in Economic Power: Lower South • Upper South: relied on tobacco (unstable market) • Coastal South: relied on rice (irrigation, long growing season) • Gulf Coast: sugar (heavy competition)
In 1820s: cotton production spread rapidly • By 1850s: most important Southern crop • Dominated deep south & prompted population migration
Other Economic Development • Textile & Iron manufacturing - Insignificant compared to agriculture - Upper south • Everything linked to plantation economy
Inadequate Transportation System • Little investment in internal improvements • Few canals, roads unsuitable • Railroads expanded in 1840s-1850s; most lines short & local • Principal means of transportation: water
Some warned of unequal relationship between North & South • James B.D. DeBow
Why was the South so different? • Profitability of agriculture • Southerners had capital invested in land & slaves • Other arguments (climate, work habits)
White Society in the South • Planter Class • Small Farmers • The Poor
Planter Class • Whites who owned 40-50 slaves & 800+ acres • Controlled political, economic, & social life
Small Farmers • “Plain Folk” • Owned few slaves; ¾ owned none • Planted subsistence or small cash crops • “Hill people”: backcountry, did not support secession
Chart: Total Deaths % OF SOUTHERN WHITE FAMILIES OWNING SLAVES IN 1860 % About 1,150,000 Southern white families owned no slaves---75% About 384,000 Southern white families owned 1 slave or more---25% (Number of slaves) Total of 1,534,000 Southern white families in 1860……A total population of 7,981,000….
Chart/slave owners FACTS ON SLAVERY • Out of the 25% of slaveowners, here is the breakdown of the number of slaves. • 75% owned 1 to 9 slaves. • 22% owned 10 to 49 owned slaves. • 3% owned 50 or more slaves. 384,000 1860
The Poor • 500,000 in 1850 • Lived on marginal lands • Few owned lands
Free Blacks • 1861: 250,000 in South • Mostly in VA & MD • Bought freedom or set free by masters • 1833: laws changed & it became more difficult to set free slaves (after Turner Rebellion)
Slavery • Isolated South from rest of American society • Slave codes: regulated slavery (enforcement was spotty) - Could not teach them to read or write - Could not congregate after dark - Could not own a firearm
Picture/Cotton Kingdom FACTS ON SLAVERY • No political or civil rights to protect slaves • U.S. was the largest slave institution in the world by 1860 • U.S. produced 7/8’s of world’s cotton supply • Peculiar Institution, to own another human being is immoral. • Cotton is King/King Cotton • South was not willing to change • Always felt isolated and threatened from the rest of the U.S.
2 Systems of Slave Labor • Task System - Rice • Gang System - Cotton, Tobacco, Sugar
Life of Slaves • Were given food & clothing • Lived in cabins • High death rate • Financial incentive to protect slaves (importation banned) • Used hired labor for dangerous tasks
Slaves posing in front of their cabin on a Southern plantation.
Slave Accoutrements Slave MasterBrands Slave muzzle
Slave Accoutrements Slave leg irons Slave tag, SC Slave shoes
Slaves in Cities • Hired out as laborers or worked in textile mills • Slavery in cities declined as cities grew
Slave Trade • Markets: New Orleans, Mobile, Galveston, & Natchez • $500 – 1700 for a good field hand • Illegal smuggling continued until 1850s
Slave Resistance • Dominant response: adaptation & resistance • Running away (The Underground Railroad) • refusal to work hard, acts of sabotage, stealing
Map/Underground RR • The Underground Railroad existed as early as 1786. It was started by the Quakers and spread through most of the North by 1830. • One estimate places the number of African Americans who escaped through the Underground Railroad between 1830 and 1860 at 50,000. • Underground Railroad provided food, shelter, and hiding places to runaway slaves as they escaped to Canada • Violated the Fugitive Slave Law
Slave Revolts • 1800: Gabriel Prosser - Richmond, VA - plan to seize arsenal thwarted • 1822: Denmark Vesey - Charleston, SC - planned uprising discovered
Nat Turner (1831) • Southampton County, VA • Slave preacher tried to begin a slave uprising • Armed revolt; killed 60 whites • Lasted 2 days • 3,000+ of state militia were sent to put down the rebellion • Over 100 blacks were executed; Turner was captured 6 weeks later
Slave Revolts/Turner SLAVE REVOLTS Arrest of Nat Turner Tree Nat Turner was hung on Nat Turner Rebellion
Slave Culture • Language & music important • Way of coping with enslavement • Religion – developed own version of Christianity - more emotional - emphasized dream of freedom & deliverance