SLAVES AND MASTERS
The Divided Society of the Old South
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Wealth divides white Southerners
by class
White society also divided by region
Black society also divided with
about 6% free
Race divides all Southerners by
caste
Slave Concentration, 1820
The Growth of Slavery
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Cotton gin makes
cotton production
profitable.
New territory is being
opened for slavery.
Slavery is fundamental
to the growth of
cotton.
Owning slaves seen as
way to economic
prosperity.
Eli Whitney and Slavery
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Inventor of the cotton
gin
It will make cotton
production efficiently and
cost effective which will
drive the demand for
slaves
Whitney will also
introduce a rifle with
interchangeable parts
which will aid in
producing weapons
quickly for the American
Civil War
The Rise of the Cotton Kingdom
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"Short-staple" cotton drives cotton boom
Cotton gin makes seed extraction easy
Year-round requirements suited to slave labor
Cotton in Georgia, South Carolina, Alabama,
Mississippi, Arkansas, Louisiana, east Texas
Large planters dominate cotton production
1850--South produces 75% of world's cotton,
cotton the most important U.S. business
The Value of Cotton Exports as a Percentage of All U.S. Exports
Slave Concentration, 1820
Slave Concentration by 1860
Distribution of Slave Labor, 1850
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50% “Cotton
White Society in the Antebellum South
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Only a small percentage of slave
owners lived in aristocratic
mansions
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less than 1% of the white population
owned 50 or more slaves
Most Southern whites were yeomen
farmers
The Planters' World
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Big planters set tone, values of
Southern life
Planter wealth based on
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commerce
land speculation
slave-trading
cotton planting
Plantations managed as businesses
Romantic ideals imitated only by richest
Planters and Paternalism
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Planters pride themselves on
paternalism
Better living standard for Southern
slaves than others in Western
Hemisphere
Relatively decent treatment due in part
to their increasing economic value after
1808
Planters actually deal little with slaves
Slaves managed by overseers
Violent coercion accepted by all planters
Small Slaveholders
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Slave conditions worst with fewer
than 20
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slaves share the master's poverty
slaves at the complete mercy of the
master
Masters often worked alongside the
slaves
Most slaves would have preferred
the economic and cultural stability
of the plantation
Yeoman Farmers
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Small farmers resent large planters
Some aspire to planter status
Many saw slavery as guaranteeing
their own liberty and independence
The "Profitability" Issue
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Slavery not profitable for South as a
whole
White small farmers have lower
living standards than most Northern
farmers
Profits from cotton not welldistributed
Slave system results in waste of
human resources, Southern
underdevelopment
Slavery and Industrialization
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Southerners resent dependence on
Northern industry, commerce
Southerners project industrial schemes
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some propose using free white labor
others propose the use of slaves
Slaves work in southern factories
High cotton profits discourage shift to
industry
Worlds in Conflict
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Separate Southern worlds
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planters
slaves
less affluent whites
free blacks
Held together by plantation
economy, web of customary
relationships
Slavery and the Southern Economy
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White Southerners perceived their
economic interests to be tied to
slavery
Lower South: slave plantation
society
Upper South: farming and slavetrading region
A Closed Mind
and a Closed Society
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Planters fear growth of abolitionism
Planters encourage closing of ranks
Slavery defended as a positive good
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Africans depicted as inferior
slavery defended with Bible
slavery a humane asylum to improve Africans
Slavery superior to Northern wage labor
Contrary points of view suppressed
Defending Slavery
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Southern planters feared revolts & the
growth of abolitionism & used a new
defense slavery:
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It was sanctioned in the Bible
Constitution did not prohibit it
Slavery was a “natural” way of life for
“inferior” Africans
Slavery was more humane than Northern
industrial exploitation
Defending Slavery
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Proslavery Southerners protected South
against anti-slavery ideas:
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Feared abolitionist propaganda would inspire
slave rebellions or inspire the yeoman to
support abolition
Increased restrictions on blacks by making it
illegal to teach slaves to read & write
Banned church services & meetings without
supervision
Free Blacks in the Old South
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Southern free blacks severely restricted
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Repression increased as time passed
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Sense of solidarity with slaves
Generally unable to help
Had to register with the state & carry “freedom”
papers
Were excluded from certain jobs
Subjected to re-enslavement & fraudulent
“recapture”
By 1860 some state legislatures were
proposing laws to force free blacks to
emigrate or be enslaved
Slaves’ Daily Life and Labor
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90% of slaves lived on plantations
or farms
Most slaves on cotton plantations
worked sunup to sundown, 6
days/week
About 75% of slaves were field
workers, about 5% worked in
industry
Urban slaves had more autonomy
than rural slaves
Conditions of Slavery
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Lived in crude quarters that left them
exposed to bad weather and disease.
Diets consisted of cornmeal and salt
pork.
The weather conditions of the South
made health problems like yellow fever,
dysentery, and malaria common.
Slave codes reinforced the concept that
slaves were property and prevented
slaves from having any rights.
The Plantation System
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Plantations were
diverse economically
and self sufficient.
Slaves were organized
into specialized gangs
that performed
specific duties.
Productivity was tied
to maintaining
discipline.
Field Slaves
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Majority were field slaves and worked dawn to dusk. Some
worked under the task system which required slaves to
complete a specific job once done they were free to manage
own affairs.
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Did skilled work like carpentry and ironsmithing and unskilled
work like tending the crops.
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The women also had to care of their families by cooking,
tending house and taking care of the children too!
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Masters hired out slaves to perform other duties and keep the
slave’s wages.
House Slaves
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Household slaves cooked,
cleaned, and nursed the
master's children.
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Are constantly watched by
their masters and
mistresses. Had far less
privacy than those who
worked the fields.
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House slaves faced
beatings, verbal abuse
and sometimes assault.
Slave Quarters
The Big House
Slave Families, Kinship, and Community
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Normal family life difficult for slaves
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fathers cannot always protect children
families vulnerable to breakup by masters
Most reared in strong, two-parent families
Extended families provide nurture,
support amid horror of slavery
Slave culture a family culture that
provided a sense of community
African American Religion
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Black Christianity the cornerstone of
an emerging African American
culture
Whites fear religion’s subversive
potential, try to supervise churches
and preaching
Slave religion kept secret from
whites
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reaffirmed the inherent joy of life
preaches the inevitable day of
liberation
Slave Resistance
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Slaves worked slowly,
broke tools, faked
illness and destroyed
crops.
Many stole livestock,
food, or valuables,
burned buildings or
killed their masters.
They pursued
education! Learning to
read is a powerful
tool!
Resistance and Rebellion
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Run away often aided by the
Underground Railroad
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Stories, songs asserting equality
Slave Punishment
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Slaves were punished for
not working fast, being
late, talking back, running
away, and other reasons.
Slave punishment
included whippings,
torture, mutilation,
imprisonment, the threat
of abusing a loved one
and being sold away.
Resistance and Rebellion
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1800--Gabriel Prosser
1822--Denmark Vesey
1831--Nat Turner
Slave Rebellions and Uprisings, 1800-1831
Gabriel Prosser’s Rebellion
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Gabriel Prosser plans
the first major slave
rebellion.
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Gabriel wanted to
create an independent
black state in Virginia
on August 30, 1800.
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Gabriel and 26 of his
companions are
hanged.
Denmark Vesey’s Rebellion
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Minister who plans
rebellion with over
1,000 members.
Informant betrays
revolt. Most faced
deportations and
hangings.
South is paranoid about
slave revolts and Slave
Laws.
Nat Turner’s Rebellion
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Nat Turner claimed to
have visions and was
ordered by God to
rebel.
In August 1831, led a
revolt in which 57
men, women and
children are hacked to
death.
The rebellion causes
the South to pass strict
Slave Codes.
The Internal Slave Trade
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Mixed farming in Virginia and
Maryland
Need less labor, more capital
Upper South sells slaves to lower
South
Virginia, Maryland, and Kentucky
take on characteristics of
industrializing North
Sectional loyalty of upper South
uncertain
Conclusions
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The post-1793 cotton boom transformed
the American economy & Southern
society:
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Cotton facilitated westward expansion & the
entrenchment of African slavery in the South
In the 1830s, the South became increasingly
defensive about perceived Northern
attempts to end slavery