Democracy in Crisis

I believe this government cannot endure, permanently half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved -- I do not expect the house to fall -- but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing or all the other.

Abraham Lincoln, 1858

An elite within an elite

– 3 out of 4 white families owned no slaves– in 1850, majority of slaveowning families had 5 or

fewer– less than 40,000 families possessed 20 or more– and only 2,000 families owned 100 or more

• Planters had:– Best land– Most money– Most political connections, representation, and

influence

• Most whites lived in rugged, hilly land– Subsistence farmers– Outside of market revolution– Ex: western NC, piney woods of Georgia

Why did poor whites go along with slavery?

– Racial solidarity– Democratic participation– Resistance to outside

criticism– “masters of small worlds”

Slavery:

• Limited urbanization, industrialization, immigration

• Made $$$ for planters, Northern merchants and industrialists

• Supplied 3/4 of world’s cotton• Fueled industrialization in North, England,

Europe

Ideology of the South

• Paternalism• Looked to Bible for support• Saw northern industrial society as ugly,

unequal, crass

Slave Life

• Unofficial marriages• Families broken up• Sexual violence• Embrace of Christianity

Slave Revolts• Lead to harsher laws• Slave revolts lead to strict laws• Attack on New Orleans (1811)• Denmark Vesey (1822)• Nat Turner (1831)

Ominous Tides

• Slavery on the rise in America (1820s-1850s)• Receding elsewhere• British Empire bans slavery in 1830s• So does Mexico

Abolitionism Emerges in the North

• William Lloyd Garrison starts The Liberator newspaper just before Turner rebellion

• Mixed race and gender movement• Hated by almost everyone

Remember the Alamo!

• White settlers bring slaves into Texas• Texas = part of Mexico• Texans gain independence to preserve slavery (1836)

Polk the Imperialist

• Democrats win 1844 election on pro-expansion platform

• Pres. James K. Polk wants to buy California from Mexico

The Mexican War (1846-1848)

• Questionable evidence used to launch war on Mexico

• US Army occupies Mexico City• Young Rep. Abraham Lincoln opposes

The Result

• US gains half-million square acres of land• = 1/3 of Mexico• Vindicates “Anglo Saxon” superiority• Indians and others lose rights in conquered

territory