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Slavery and Abolition. When is evil so enormous, that it must be denounced, even at the risk of bloodshed and butchery?. “If you put a chain around the neck of a slave, the other end fastens itself around your own.” (Emerson, 1841). Characteristics of the Antebellum South.
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Slavery and Abolition When is evil so enormous, that it must be denounced, even at the risk of bloodshed and butchery?
“If you put a chain around the neck of a slave, the other end fastens itself around your own.” (Emerson, 1841)
Characteristics of the Antebellum South • Primarily agrarian. • Economic power shifted from the “upper South” to the “lower South.” • “Cotton Is King!” * 1860 5 mil. bales a yr.(57% of total US exports). • Very slow development of industrialization. • Limited financial system. • Inadequate transportation system.
KING COTTON • 1793: Eli Whitney’s Cotton Gin • Economic Impact: • Cotton ½ of all exports after 1840 • ½ World’s supply of cotton • 1/5 of British population tied to cotton industry • 75% of all British cotton came from American South
Slave Trade • 1808 – Slave Trade outlawed by Congress • Where did increase in slaves come from? • Natural Reproduction • Smuggling • A HUGE INVESTMENT
PLANTATION AGRICULTURE • “Land Butchery” – Cotton growing destroyed the land • Monopolistic – big got bigger, small got smaller • Financial Instability • Slaves were a heavy investment • One-Crop Economy • Resented North for getting rich at the South’s expense
Southern Society (1850) “Slavocracy”[planter aristocracy] 6,000,000 The “Plain Folk”[white yeoman farmers] Black Freemen 250,000 Black Slaves3,200,000 Total US Population 23,000,000[9,250,000 in the South = 40%]
SOCIAL STRUCTURE OF THE SOUTH • Who owned slaves? • ¼ of white southerners • Planter “Aristocracy” • 1/3 of Slave owners • Sir Walter Scott – glorified feudal society • Southern Women • Smaller Slave owners • 2/3 of slave owners • Less than 10 slaves • Small formers, similar to small farmers of the north
SOCIAL STRUCTURE OF THE SOUTH • 3/4 of whites owned no slaves • Lived isolated lives • “white trash”, “hillbillies, “crackers”, “clay eaters” • Shiftless, listless, lazy – Actually sick – malnourished • Biggest defenders of slave system – WHY? • Mountain Whites • Lived far from cotton kingdom • Hated planters and slaves • Civil War “Rich man’s war but a poor man’s fight” • Unionists
SOCIAL STRUCTURE OF THE SOUTH • Free Blacks • South: • 250,000 in 1860 • Mulattoes – emancipated children of white planters • Purchased freedom • New Orleans – many owned property • “Third Race” • North: • 250,000 • States forbade their entrance • Especially hated by the Irish • Race Prejudice
What specific information about slaves and slavery can you see in (or infer from) these photographs?
SLAVE LIFE • Singing, Dancing, Banjos • Whippings • Family Life • Auctions • Separation of Families • Uncle Tom’s Cabin • By Harriet Beecher Stowe
Abolitionist Movement 1816 American Colonization Society created (gradual, voluntary emancipation. British Colonization Society symbol
Abolitionist Movement • Create a free slave state in Liberia, WestAfrica. • No real anti-slavery sentiment in the North in the 1820s & 1830s. Gradualists Immediatists
William Lloyd Garrison (1801-1879) • Slavery & Masonryundermined republicanvalues. • Immediate emancipation with NO compensation. • Slavery was a moral, notan economic issue. R2-4
The Liberator Premiere issue January 1, 1831 R2-5
Other White Abolitionists Lewis Tappan James Birney • Liberty Party. • Ran for President in 1840 & 1844. Arthur Tappan
Black Abolitionists David Walker(1785-1830) 1829Appeal to the Coloured Citizens of the World Fight for freedom rather than wait to be set free by whites.
Frederick Douglass (1817-1895) 1845 The Narrative of the Life Of Frederick Douglass 1847 “The North Star” R2-12
Sojourner Truth (1787-1883)or Isabella Baumfree 1850 The Narrative of Sojourner Truth R2-10
Harriet Tubman(1820-1913) • Helped over 300 slaves to freedom. • $40,000 bounty on her head. • Served as a Union spy during the Civil War. “Moses”
The Underground Railroad • “Conductor”==== leader of the escape • “Passengers”==== escaping slaves • “Tracks”==== routes • “Trains”==== farm wagons transporting the escaping slaves • “Depots”==== safe houses to rest/sleep