Foner Chapter 11

The Old SouthEmergence of slavery as “peculiar institution”

• Cotton and the growth of southern slavery--LABOR SYSTEM– Central place of cotton in world economy– Southern dominance of world cotton supply– Emergence of United States as center of new world slavery– In the 1800s, cotton replaced sugar ad the slave labor major crop

• Rise of internal slave trade– Pace and magnitude– Geographical patterns– Public visibility– Integral place in southern commerce– Importance to Cotton Kingdom

The Old South (cont’d)

• Slavery’s impact on national life– Political– Economic

• Cotton (and slavery) helped North’s growth– Commerce– Manufacturing

• South-by 1860 almost 4 million slaves– Southern economy depended on slavery– Vitality of plantation economy– Limits on industrialization, immigration, and urban

growth

– The New Orleans exception

Plain folk

– Regional loyalty– Remoteness from market revolution; self-sufficiency– Class strata

• Isolated poor• Yeomanry

– Relation to planter elite (kinship)• Alienation• Bonds

– Racial– Familial– Political– Regional

– Investment in slave system• Material• Ideological-same belief in slavery

Planter elite

– Measures of regional dominance• Scale of slave ownership (250+/200 or more)• Size and quality of landholding

– Large plantations (w overseer) versus small family farm• Income• Political power

– Economic engagement in world market– Paternalistic, non-competitive ethos

• Defining features• Contributing factors• Influence on southern values

– Intellectual life

Proslavery argument

– Rising currency in southern thought– Elements of

• Racial assumptions• Biblical themes• Notions of human progress• Prospects for equality among whites

– Shift to more hierarchical defense of slavery• Assertion slavery was essential to human progress

– Economic– cultural

Life under slavery

• Slaves and the law– General patterns

• Status as property (worked as early as 10 yo• Pervasive denial of legal rights• Power of slave owners over enforcement• Law as mechanism of master’s control

– Nineteenth-century trends• Legislation to humanize bondage

– Features– Contributing factors

• Legislation to tighten bondage– Features– Contributing factors

Life under slavery (cont’d)

• Slave labor– Diversity of occupations– Agricultural

• Small farms vs. plantations• Gang labor (cotton, sugar) vs. task labor (rice)

– Urban• Relative autonomy and independence• Growing reputation as threat to slave system

• Modes of order and discipline– Physical punishment– Manipulation of divisions– Material incentives– Threat of sale

Free black population

– Size– Social and civil stature

• Blurry line between slavery and freedom• Broad denial of legal rights

– Growing reputation as threat to slave system– Regional variations

• Lower South– Small numbers– Concentration in cities– Free black elite

• Upper South– Concentration in farmlands– Ties to slave community

Slave culture• General features

– Central arenas• Family• Church

– Chief functions• Survival of bondage• Preservation of self-esteem• Transmission of collective values across generations

– Sources• African heritage• American values and experiences

• Slave family-often stayed together– Demographic foundation– Legal constraints– Resiliency– Distinctive kinship patterns– Vulnerability to break-up through sale– Gender roles

Assertion of gender roles where possible: Explain:Women and men alike suffered a sense of powerlessness

Slave culture (cont’d)• Slave religion

– Practices• Black preachers on plantations• Urban black churches

– Influences• Fusion of African and Christian traditions• Religious revivals in South

– Slaves’ version of Christianity• Solace amid bondage• Hope for liberation• Sympathy for the oppressed• Brotherhood and equality

– Negation of masters’ pro-slavery version• Desire for freedom and justice

– As expressed in folk tales, spirituals– Reflection of American language of freedom

Resistance to slavery• “Day-to-day”; “silent sabotage”—most common• Escape

– Obstacles– Destinations

• Southern cities• Remote areas within South• North

– Underground Railroad• Resourcefulness• Harriet Tubman

– Large-scale collective escape• Infrequency of• Amistad episode

– Joseph Cinquez

Resistance to slavery (cont’d)• Slave revolts

– Major nineteenth-century episodes• Gabriel’s Rebellion• Louisiana sugar plantation slave rebellion• Denmark Vesey conspiracy (reflected American and

African influences circulating at the time)• Nat Turner’s Rebellion

– Notable patterns• Infrequency• Blend of African and American influences• Link between open rebellion and quieter resistance• Bleak prospects for success in South

Aftermath of Nat Turner’s rebellion in South

– Delayed due to illness– Religious images– White panic through out the South– Took place outsied the hear of plantation osuth– Prompted widespread assaults on slaves– Tightening of restrictions on blacks (slave and free)– Stifling of slavery debate, abolitionism