Chapter 16

“But this momentous question, like a fi re bell in the night, awakened and fi lled me with terror. I considered it at once as the knell of the Union. It is hushed, indeed, for the moment. But this is a reprieve only, not a fi nal sentence. A geographical l ine, coinciding with a marked principle, moral and political, once conceived and held up to the angry passions of men, will never be obliterated; and every new irritation will mark it deeper and deeper…But as it is, we have the wolf by the ears, and we can neither hold him, nor safely let him go.”

Thomas Jeff erson, April 1820, Monticello Virginia.

MISSOURI COMPROMISE

Minority within a minority Only ¼ of al l slaveowners Plantations organized l ike feudal

manors Extensive division of labor [al l

slaves] Generated large income Mansions built at great expense Wealth measured by slaves in most

cases As much as $1,700 per fi eld hand Sometimes scrimped on l i festyle to

aff ord more slaves Constantly trying to increase land

holdings Debt common unti l Cotton crop

sold Market fl uctuated, price [and

profi t] uncertain Hard to “l ive large” with uncertain

income

PLANTER CLASS

Many kept the books, worked hard contrary to the stereotype

Managed household, supervised slaves

Provided early childhood education

Reminded daily in many cases of husband’s infidelity Mulatto slave children Symbolic of looser sexual

standard for men in South Humiliating to wife, in spite of

which plantation women supported the South all through Civil War

PLANTATION WIVES

Why did the majority of Southerners [who were not slave owners] continue to

support slavery?

Theories:Some hoped to become

slave ownersSome accepted racial

basis of slaveryAccepting slavery meant

accepting permanent social subordination for blacks which meant for poor whites that there was always somebody worse off .

Why did so many southerners fi ght so fi ercely in the civil

war for an institution in which they did not participate?

They feared freed slaves would take jobs from whites.

They figured reprisals from freed slaves for the deprivation of years of slavery.

FAQ

Worked on plantation with at least 10 others Probably side by side men and

women in fieldsWomen might work in the

house, care for master’s children

Work day dawn to duskHousing

Typically log shack, no mattress

Expected to plant some garden for own food

Discipline Frequently administered by an

overseer Usually with a whip

1850 TYPICAL SLAVE EXPERIENCE

Marriages encouraged, but no legal recognition really more encouraged to

breed new slavesBuying and selling

disrupted familiesWives frequently at the

master’s callFamilies sometimes splitNon-related older persons

sometimes fi ll in as “aunt,” ”uncle,” “cousin,” etc. Sometimes fictitious

relationships created as parents are sold away

THE SLAVE FAMILY

Large demand for manual labor, not enough whites to do it across the South

Some slaves hired out, acquired skills

Some in machinery operation

Wages given to ownersSome resentment from free

blacks as slaves generally hired out cheaper

Free Blacks in the old South Most were urban Some earned decent living, a

very few got rich Liberties restricted drastically

for both slaves and free men after Nat Turner’s rebellion

SLAVES OFF THE PLANTATION

1831 Will iam Lloyd Garrison begins publishing The Liberator

Newspaper dedicated to the total abolition of slavery

Garrison exposed to great personal risk for his views

Not all supported social equality for blacks in fact most didn’t

abolitionists frequently hated by other whites

Some Religious leaders raged against alcohol whispered against slavery one such was Lyman Beecher

Frequently people who supported rights for blacks were unwill ing to support women’s rights this issue also divisive to the movement

ABOLITIONIST MOVEMENT

In the very fi rst issue of his anti-slavery newspaper, the Liberator, William Lloyd Garrison stated, "I do not wish to think, or speak, or write, with moderation. . . . I am in earnest -- I will not equivocate -- I will not excuse -- I will not retreat a single inch -- AND I WILL BE HEARD." And Garrison was heard. For more than three decades, from the fi rst issue of his weekly paper in 1831, until after the end of the Civil War in 1865 when the last issue was published, Garrison spoke out eloquently and passionately against slavery and for the rights of America's black inhabitants.

THE LIBERATOR

The Gr imke s isters , f reed the i r s laves, became outspoken opponents of s lavery even speaking in publ ic at a t ime when women didn’ t do so

Bombarded Congress wi th pet i t ions. Southern dominated House of

Representat ives actual ly inst i tuted the gag rule which made i t contrary to House rules to debate s lavery or ment ion the word

Southerners began to use the phrase “our pecul iar inst i tut ion” rather than s lavery

The Gr imke s isters of South Carol ina were two ear ly female abol i t ionists and women's r ights act iv ists , t rave l ing throughout the North, lectur ing about the i r fi rst -hand exper iences with s lavery on the i r fami ly plantat ion. Rece iv ing abuse and r id icule for the i r abol i t ionist act iv i ty , as later women act ive in a range of reform act iv i t ies would fi nd, they both real ized that women would have to create a safe space in the publ ic arena i f they wanted to be eff ect ive abol i t ionists and reformers. So in an often to be repeated story, they both became women's r ights act iv ists .

THE GRIMKE SISTERS