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Slavery and Society, 1800-1860
•King Cotton & the Old South▫Economics▫Identity▫Culture
•Slave Life ▫Population▫House and Field
• Community• Resistance
King Cotton and the Old South
•Cotton and the South▫Climate, geography▫Profitable▫England/industry
•Cotton gin•Outlawed int’l trade
in 1808
King Cotton and the Old South
•Economics▫60% of U.S.
exports▫Basis of southerneconomy
•Linked N & S •Linked U.S. &
Britain
Cotton, slavery, race identity
•Southern Identity ▫Rural▫White privilege▫“Honor”
•Fear of uprisings•“Dependence”
Cotton Culture • “…people live in cotton
houses and ride in cotton carriages. They buy cotton, sell cotton, think cotton, eat cotton, drink cotton, and dream cotton. They marry cotton wives and unto them are born cotton children…”
• British visitor Hiram Fuller’s views of Mobile, AL in 1858
Slavery and Expansion• Post 1812 & Indian
Removal • Westward expansion• Missouri Compromise• Texas “Independence”
• Louisiana, ARK, OK, TX• Profits used to buy more
land, more land=more slaves, more crops=more profit=more land=more slaves=more crops
American Slavery
•19/55 signers of the Constitution owned slaves
•Majority of southern Congressmen owned slaves
•4/6 Presidents up to and including Jackson owned slaves
•$25 million in U.S. revenue vs. $1 billion in slave “property”
•Shipping & ship building, insurance, banks, factories in the North
Population
• 1790: 700,000• 1850: 4 million• 1850: 50% grew cotton• 25% of whites had
slaves• 50% of owners had less than 5 slaves• 5% of planters owned
40% of all slaves in south
Slave Codes
•State laws to limit movement of slaves and define them as property
•Cannot own a gun•Marriages not legally recognized•No alcohol•Passes to leave plantation•Illegal to teach slaves to read or write•Legalized homicide as “punishment”
Christianity
•2nd Great Awakening
•Lay preachers•Justice, salvation•“Call and
Response”•Gospel•African American
Methodist Church, 1816
Free Blacks
•Non-slaves in the South•6% of total Black population•3% of total population•Laws limited their rights and citizenship,
papers, no access to courts•Most descended from blacks freed in
Upper South•Mainly manual labor •Racial hierarchies based on skin color
Slave Rebellions
•Gabriel Prosser 1800▫Literate▫Richmond, VA▫1000 slaves▫“Death or liberty”
•Denmark Vescey, 1822▫Telemanque, born in
Africa or W. Indies▫Free, literate,
preacher▫Charleston▫Missouri Compromise▫100 men
Concluding Thoughts •Despite dependence on cotton and
slavery, Southern economy became more diverse
•Slavery in Upper South declined•Immigration provided cheap & flexible
labor•Changes to economy made slave owners
more worried•More rebellions, abolitionists, Westward
expansion, made slave codes more harsh