Ch. 11
Antebellum South
Southern Economy
• While the South created more wealth from
thriving cash crops, trade, and ties to textiles,
it was still primarily an agrarian society.
– The south grew, but did not develop
– More sensitive about traditions and ways of life
than the North.
Economy cont.
• Centers of wealth and power shifted in the South
in the mid 1800s from tobacco farmers of North
Atlantic States to cotton farmers of deep Piedmont
regions.
– Economy might have become more commercial except
for development of short staple cotton and the cotton
gin.
• 1820 – 500,000 bales of cotton produced nationwide
• 1860 – 5 million bales of cotton produced
– Any attempt at a commercialized industry was only to
serve as help to plantation society.
Southern Dependence on North
• Perceptive southerners knew the South could not
survive without Northern industry.
– Limited movements advocated more industrial
development and independence from North
• DeBow’s Review: published by B.D. DeBow
– New Orleans resident, published his magazine
advocating southern commercial expansion.
– Magazine itself was printed in New York because no
publisher in New Orleans could handle the volume.
– Northern manufacturers advertised in the magazine.
Cavalier Image
• Multiple reasons for lack of commercial growth,
mainly hot climate and prosperity of agriculture.
• Southern whites also preferred to think of their
society as more refined than the rapidly growing
North.
– Viewed their culture as chivalrous, traditional, and
leisurely.
– This is more of a myth than the reality.
Planter Aristocracy
• Even by 1860 fewer than ¼ of Southern population
actually owned slaves.
– Most of those who did only had 1 or 2.
• Popular view of this elite class only applied to a
select few
– All others deferred to this elite class.
• Aristocracy compared to upper-class lords of
Europe.
– View was actually a myth, most deep southern families
hadn’t owned their land more than 1 generation.
Reality of Southern Plantations
• Grandeur of large plantations and extravagant
lifestyles was more of a facade.
– Northern tobacco families may have owned land for
longer periods and actually enjoyed the status.
• Deeper south, cotton plantations were highly
competitive, difficult to manage, and just as risky
as Northern industrial endeavors.
– Many were in debt most of the time.
• Intense struggle to obtain and maintain elite status
and the myth made them all the more defensive.
Cult of Honor
• Aristocracy viewed the “old south” as modern
medieval chivalry
– 1. Wealthy upper class
– 2. military careers (modern day knights)
– 3. the rest of society.
• Held the white women and honor in high
regard.
• Developed strict codes of honor that enabled
duels to remain legal long after outlawed in
the North.
Brooks vs. Sumner
• Sen. Charles Sumner (Massachusetts) gave speech
on the Senate floor admonishing slavery.
– Referred to Sen. Andrew Butler of South Carolina
(ardent supporter of slavery) as a modern day Don
Quixote marrying a prostitute and mistaking her for a
lady.
• Rep. Preston Brooks (South Carolina) was Butler’s
nephew and felt need to defend family honor.
– Attacked Sumner at his desk in Senate Chamber with a
cane.
• Brooks was viewed as a hero throughout the South
Typical Southerner
• Not a great planter/slave-owner, small yeoman
farmer.
– ¾ of all white families owned no slaves
– Those who did worked closely by their side and
treated them well because they were expensive.
• Few of these families ever made it out of their
socio-economic status.
Overall
• Few white southerners actually gained from the
institution of slavery.
– But they were uneducated, poor, and dependent on the
aristocracy.
– Needed access to the gins, markets for their limited
goods, credit for needs.
• Rare occasions of Southern “Hill People” in
foothills of Appalachians or Ozarks that were cut
off from these needs and resisted slavery.
– Some didn’t support secession and fought for North.
Slavery
• Slavery often referred to as “peculiar institution”
since it was uniquely different and only in South.
– By mid 1800s only a few South American countries and
Caribbean islands hadn’t outlawed it.
• While many tried to promote the positives of the
institution, much evidence remains that the black
people disliked it intensely.
– Multiple forms of resistance that most whites mistook or
never understood.
Slave Codes
• Slaves can’t hold property, leave masters’ premises
without permission.
• Slaves are not permitted out after dark, not allowed
to congregate with other slaves except for church.
• Slaves not allowed to carry firearms
• Slaves may NOT strike a white person, not even in
self defense.
• Slaves may not testify in court against a white
person.
• Whites may not teach slaves to read, write, or
arithmetic.
Slave Codes Cont.
• Said nothing about slave marriage or divorces
• If an owner killed a slave during punishment, it was
not considered a crime.
• Anyone even suspected of having black ancestry
was simply considered black.
• Codes appeared harsh and strict, but actual
enforcement was rarely so.
– Enforcement of slave codes was left to each owner’s
discretion and most owners were relatively lenient.
Slave’s Perspective vs. Master’s
Perspective
• Most masters only owned a few slaves, so they
viewed the institution as it existed on small farms.
– Close bonds where masters worked closely with their
slaves and took care to make sure they stayed healthy.
• Most slaves preferred to live on large plantations.
– Shear size allowed them to develop culture apart from
whites and have privacy.
– Vast majority of slaves lived on larger plantations by
1860.
• Relationships were much less intimate for the
average slave than for the average master.
Plantation Systems
• Nearly every plantation operated within 2 basic
systems.
• Task System: slaves given a task to perform, once
finished they were free for the day.
– this system predominant in rice plantations
• Gang System: Broken into groups run by “Head
Drivers” or Overseers and worked until they were
satisfied for the day.
– This system was far more common.
Women Slaves
• Slave women had particularly difficult lives.
– Often fathers were from other plantations or sold
shortly after childbirth. (often by design)
• Single parenting became the norm.
– Expected to work in fields, especially during
harvest time, then care for domestic duties as well
– Often served as midwives, and basic medical
assistance.
– Held in high regard within slave communities.
Conditions of Slavery
• Material conditions of slavery were better than
those of factory workers in the North.
• Considerably better than peasants and laborers in
Europe.
• Far better than any slaves in Caribbean or S.
America
– Slave trade was allowed to continue there, so owners
had no incentive to take care of their slaves.
• North American slave population was the only one
to grow though natural reproduction.
– Read pg. 305 regarding hired labor!
Urban Slavery vs. Rural Slavery
• Rural plantation slaves were kept isolated.
– Rarely, if ever, met free blacks or lower class whites
• In cities, slaves were expected to run errands and
accomplish public tasks
– Much more difficult to keep them from mingling with
free blacks and lower class populations, almost
impossible to keep areas separate.
• By 1860 many cities had either done away with
slavery or declined drastically since it wasn’t worth
the trouble.
Slave Resistance
• Psychological and emotional toll – many
yearned for freedom regardless of
contentment with owners.
– Feelings of helplessness prevalent.
• Complex reactions led to stereotypes
– Sambo: shuffle feet, head hung low, scratching
head.
• Portrayed the ignorant subservient slave but was
actually an act.
Resistance Cont.
• The Rebel: the slave that can never bring
themselves to accept or even accommodate owners
• Revolts were actually very rare.
– Only the Nat Turner Revolt of 1831 actually came to
fruition, and it was quickly put down.
• Possibility of revolt terrorized white population still.
• Escapes rarely succeeded, even after development
of the Underground Railroad.
– Especially from the deeper south.
Resistance Cont.
• The most common form of resistance was
predominantly passive aggressive.
– Intentionally break tools, refusal to give maximum
effort, losing equipment, completing tasks improperly
• White owners simply mistook this for patterns of
lazy behavior and never fully understood the true
meanings.
Black Culture
• Pidgin: slave language, was a combination of the
multiple African dialects and English – barely
audible.
– Elements of African language remained long after slave
trade ended and native Africans were gone.
• Music: slave spirituals, incorporated religious
elements to appease white people, but rhythms
and beats reflected African culture.
– Privately the songs reflected the resentment of
bondage, but helplessness
Culture
• Religion: Even religious ceremonies were
different.
– Revolved around Christianity to appease whites,
but mixed in elements of voodoo and African
elements.
• Family: slave family structure revolved around
extended family kinships.
– Rarely were allowed to even know biological
families, always under possibility of being sold
– Identified family more as community of slaves.