Chapter 11APUSH

Mrs. 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)

Southern AgricultureSouthern AgricultureSouthern AgricultureSouthern Agriculture

Value of Cotton Exports Value of Cotton Exports As % of All US ExportsAs % of All US Exports

Value of Cotton Exports Value of Cotton Exports As % of All US ExportsAs % of All US Exports

• 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

A Real Georgia A Real Georgia PlantationPlantation

A Real Georgia A Real Georgia PlantationPlantation

Small Farmers

• “Plain Folk”• Owned few slaves; ¾ owned none• Planted subsistence or small cash

crops• “Hill people”: backcountry, did not

support secession

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

1 2+ 5+ 10+ 20+ 50+

Non Slaveholders SlaveholdersChart: Total Deaths

About 1,150,000 About 1,150,000 Southern white families Southern white families owned no slaves---75%owned no slaves---75%

About 384,000 Southern About 384,000 Southern white families owned 1 white families owned 1

slave or more---25%slave or more---25%

Total of 1,534,000 Southern white families in 1860……A total population of 7,981,000….

Total of 1,534,000 Southern white families in 1860……A total population of 7,981,000….

(Number of slaves)(Number of slaves)

%%

Chart/slave owners

•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.

384,000384,000

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

•No political or civil rights to No political or civil rights to protect slavesprotect slaves

•U.S. was the largest slave U.S. was the largest slave institution in the world by institution in the world by

18601860

•U.S. produced 7/8’s of U.S. produced 7/8’s of world’s cotton supplyworld’s cotton supply

•Peculiar Institution, to own Peculiar Institution, to own another human being is another human being is

immoral.immoral.

•Cotton is King/King CottonCotton is King/King Cotton

•South was not willing to South was not willing to changechange

•Always felt isolated and Always felt isolated and threatened from the rest of threatened from the rest of

the U.S.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 Slaves posing in posing in front of front of

their cabin their cabin on a on a

Southern Southern plantation.plantation.

Slaves Slaves posing in posing in front of front of

their cabin their cabin on a on a

Southern Southern plantation.plantation.

Slave MasterBrands

Slave AccoutrementsSlave AccoutrementsSlave AccoutrementsSlave Accoutrements

Slave muzzle

Slave tag, SC

Slave AccoutrementsSlave AccoutrementsSlave AccoutrementsSlave Accoutrements

Slave leg irons

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 RRThe Underground RailroadUnderground 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 Underground RailroadRailroad between 1830 and 1860

at 50,000.

•Underground RailroadUnderground Railroad provided food, shelter, and hiding places to runaway slaves as they escaped to

Canada

•Violated the Fugitive Slave LawFugitive Slave Law

Map/Underground RR

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

Nat Turner Nat Turner RebellionRebellion

Arrest of Nat Arrest of Nat TurnerTurner

Tree Nat Tree Nat Turner was Turner was

hung onhung on

Slave Revolts/Turner

Slave Culture

• Language & music important• Way of coping with enslavement• Religion – developed own version of

Christianity- more emotional- emphasized dream of freedom &

deliverance