1793 1808 1800s 1847

Garrison’s Liberator

Cotton Gin Underground Railroad

1831

Nat Turner’s Revolt

1831

Douglass’North Star

Slavery in Antebellum America

End of Slave Trade

Theme 1:The rise of “King Cotton” in

the South resulted in an explosion of slavery and a complex social order that deeply affected whites as well as blacks.

I. Rise of “King Cotton” A. Slavery prior to 1793 B. Eli Whitney’s cotton gin

1. Impact: resulted in the explosion of slavery

2. Cotton kingdom developed

into a huge agricultural

factory

Cotton Exports from the U.S., 1815-1860

DISTRIBUTION OF SLAVES, 1860

3. Huge domestic slave trade emerged

-- Importation of slaves from Africa had been abolished in 1808

C. Trade1. Much cotton exported to Britain who was

heavily dependent on U.S. supply

2. For a time, prosperity of North and South

seemed to rest on slavery3. Cotton accounted for

57% of all U.S. exports by 1860

-- South produced 75% of the world’s cotton

“Peculiar Institution”A. The planter aristocracy 1. Planters dominated

politically and economically

2. Carried on early “Cavalier”

tradition of early Virginia

B. Plantation system1. Enormous investment of

capital in slaves -- Risks

2. One-crop economy3. Attracted few European

immigrants

II. The Three South's: Slaves of the Slave SystemA. Generalizations

1. Further north, the cooler climate meant

fewer slaves; less commitment to maintaining slavery

2. Further south, the warmer climate meant more slaves; heavy commitment to maintaining slavery

3. Mountain whites along Appalachian Mountain range were the least committed to slavery

4. Southward flow of slaves continued from 1790 to 1860

5. The South was NOT a monolithic political and cultural entity-- Only interference from outsiders tended to unify southerners

The Three Souths

B. Border South: DE, MD, KY, MO

1. Fewer plantations than in lower south (tobacco)

-- Cotton plantations scarce

2. Unionists overcame disunionists during

the Civil War3. Fewest # of slaves in the South: 17% of

population4. 22% of white families

owned slaves

C. Middle South: VA, NC, TN, AK 1. Each state: 1 sect like Border; 1 section like Lower South 2. Unionists prevailed when Lincoln was elected; Disunionists prevailed when the war began 3. Slaves = 30% of population

4. 36% of white families owned slaves

D. Lower South: SC, FL, GA, AL, MS, LA,TX Known as the

Black Belt 1. Most slaves concentrated in

“cotton belt” along river valleys 2. Cotton was king; also sugar & rice 3. Disunionists prevailed after

Lincoln was elected in 1860 4. Slaves = 47% of population 5. 43% of white families owned

slaves

G. The White Majority1. Feared more slave revolts2. Infuriated by abolitionist

propaganda3. Belief in racial superiority

. The White MajorityA. Only 25% owned slaves by 1860B. 75% were non-slaveowners

1. Location & type of farming

2. Conditions3. Why defend slavery?

C. Mountain whites1. Location & farming2. Political affiliation

Free Blacks:Slaves without MastersA. 250,000 in the South in 1860

-- Border South had the mostB. Discrimination in the SouthC. 250,000 in the North in 1860 -- PhiladelphiaD. Discrimination in the North

-- Often denied education and suffrage; segregation

existed in some states

D. Afro-American slave culture

1. West-African culture2. Family3. Oral traditions4. Religion

5. Music

C. Plantation slavery1. Nearly 4 million slaves by 1860

a. Slave trade abolished in 1808

b. Increase in slave population due to natural reproduction 2. Slaves seen as valuable “property”

a. Slave auctionsb. Floggings and Breakers

The Value of the Stock of Slaves in the U.S., 1805-

1860

Value of Slaves in 2004 Dollars

Year 2004 (adjusted for inflation)

1810 - $316, $4,490 1820 - $610, $11,100 1830 - $577, $12,000 1840 - $997 $19,300 1850 - $1,286, $25,300 1860 - $3,059 $55,900

3. Brutal punishments4. New western areas were the

harshest

E. Burdens of the slave system1. Denial of individual dignity2. Slaves denied education3. Slaves at times sabotaged

the master’s plantation4. Many tried to escape

F. Slave revolts1. Stono Rebellion,

1739

2. Gabriel Prosser, 18003. Denmark Vesey, 18224. Nat Turner, 1831

Theme 2:The abolitionist

movement in the North proved unpopular in both the North and the South. Eventually the movement appealed to a growing minority of northerners who came to see slavery as a moral evil and sought to prevent the spread of slavery into the western territories.

VI. Early AbolitionismA. First abolition movements:

Quakers in Pennsylvania

This is the cover page to the "Constitution and Minutes of the Pennsylvania Society for promoting the Abolition of

Slavery and the relief of Free Negroes unlawfully held in

Bondage" (PAS) when it reorganized in 1787.

Early Emancipation in the North

Legal Status of Slavery, 1861

B. American Colonization Society founded in 1817

1. Sought to recolonize freed slaves overseas

2. Liberia

3. Supporters of colonization

C. Rise of abolitionism in 1830’s1. Most important reform

movement of the Second Great Awakening

-- Reformers saw slavery as a sin

2. Abolitionists were inspired by Britain’s freeing of its slaves in 1833

Radical abolitionism 1. Sought immediate and

uncompensated abolition of slavery

2. William Lloyd Garrisona. The Liberator,

1831b. Views

“I am in earnest -- I will not equivocate -- I will not excuse -- I will not retreat a single inch -- AND I WILL BE HEARD.” -- William Lloyd Garrison, 1831

3. American Anti-Slavery Society

a. Founded by radical abolitionists

b. Theodore Weld -- American Slavery As It

Is (1839)

Icon of the American Anti-Slavery Society (1832-

1865)

c. Wendell Phillips (“abolition’s golden

trumpet”)

d. Angelina and Sarah Grimke

i. Only white southern female abolitionists

ii. Some traditionalists were opposed to females playing a public role in the movement

e. Arthur and Lewis Tappan -- Funded the American

Anti- Slavery Society and the Liberator

f. The movement eventually split along gender lines

3. David Walker: Appeal to the Colored Citizens of the World (1829)

4. Sojourner Truth5. Elijah Lovejoy6. Martin Delaney

Wood engraving of a mob in Alton, Illinois destroying

the warehouse containing

Lovejoy’s printing press

7. Frederick Douglass a. Greatest of the black

abolitionists -- North Star

b. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass

(1845) c. Sought practical approach comparedto radical abolitionists d. Looked to politics

to end slavery

8. Eventually, most abolitionists favored war to end slavery

The South lashes backA. Pre-1830s, more abolitionism in South than North

B. Abolitionism silenced after 1830C. Causes for southern concern

1. Nat Turner2. Nullification crisis of 18323. Increased abolitionist literature circulating in

the South

D. Abolitionist literature was banned in the Southern

mail system E. Defense of slavery

1. Bible & Aristotle2. Good for “barbaric”

Africans3. Master-slave relationships

resembled family

4. George Fitzhugh -- Slaves were better-off

than “northern wage slaves”

F. Gag resolution, 1836

U.S. Congressman and former president John Quincy Adams

led the eight-year fight to kill the Gag

Resolution

Abolitionist impact in the NorthA. Abolitionists unpopular in many parts of the North

1. Reverence for Constitution2. Ideal of Union3. Economic dependence on

SouthB. Mob outbursts in response to

extreme abolitionists

C. Most politicians avoided the issue of abolitionism. Why?D. Effect on northern mind by 1850

1. A significant minority saw slavery as a moral

evil and undemocratic2. The “Free-Soil” Party

emerged by 1848 based on the anti- extension of slavery into the western territories

-- “ Free-soil” movement morphed into

the Republican part in the 1850s

3. Prigg v. Pennsylvania (1842) -- “personal liberty laws 4. By 1850, southerners

demanded a new stronger fugitive slave law

E. Underground Railroad 1. Chain of anti-slavery homes

used to aid runaway slaves

2. Harriet Tubman