Southern Slavery

1
Southern Slavery

• Currier Ives, Cotton Plantation

2
Growing Black Population

• 600 increase in black population, 1790-1860
• Less than 700,000 in 1790 4 million by 1860
• 1 out of every 3 Southerners majority in
  Mississippi South Carolina
• Mostly due to natural increase - only 50,000
  smuggled in after 1808
• 260,000 free blacks by 1860 (6 of black
  population)
• Over 10 of all blacks free by 1810, but many
  states forbade manumission in 1820s-1830s
• Required to carry papers very limited in rights
• Could own slaves 3,200 did so
• Many were mulattoes

3
Population of the Southern States
4
Blacks in the North

• Northern states phased out slavery
• Penn. (1780), N.Y. (1799), Conn. N.J. (1804)
  provided for gradual abolition almost all free
  by 1840
• Mass. Supreme Court ruled slavery violated state
  constitution in 1781
• Slavery barred from Northwest Territory (1787)
• Over 3/5 of Northern blacks lived in cities
• Most were unskilled laborers
• Only 5 states allowed black men to vote

5
The Rise of King Cotton

• Eli Whitneys cotton gin made it possible to
  profitably grow short-staple cotton.
• Annual production soared
• 1790 3,000 bales
• 1810 178,000 bales
• 1860 4 million bales
• By 1860, South grew 75 of worlds cotton.

Eli Whitneys Cotton Gin
6
The Cotton Kingdom

• Over ½ grown in Ala., Miss. La.
• ¾ grown by slaves
• 1 million slaves moved to new western
  plantations, 1790-1860
• Mostly young adults
• 60-70 sold
• Equal sex ratio, except for sugar plantations

7
Plantation Profits

• Capitalist agriculture
• 8 annual return on investment, 1820-60
• Demand rose 5 annually
• Benefited rest of U.S.
• Cotton 60 of U.S. exports by 1840
• South became prime market for Northern
  manufactured goods
• Hampered economic development of South
• Few factories
• No public education

Main Plantation Crops
8
Slaveowning Concentrated in Wealthy Hands

• Only 26 of Southern white families owned slaves
  by 1860
• Majority of slaveowners had 5 or fewer
• 2.7 owned 50 or more
• 0.1 owned 200 or more
• Average wealth of slaveowners was 13.9 times that
  of non-slaveowners
• Majority of slaves lived on middling or large
  holdings
• 25 on small holdings (1-9 slaves)
• 50 on middling holdings (10-49 slaves)
• 25 on large holdings (50 or more)

9
Plantation Life

• Supervision varied by size
• Resident masters supervised smaller plantations
  (under 30 slaves)
• Hired overseers ran larger ones
• Foremen (drivers) often slaves
• Lenient treatment mixed with harsh punishment
• Typical rations 1 peck of cornmeal 2.5-4 lb.s
  of bacon per week 4 suits of clothing per year
• Each family had small wooden cabin, cleaned
  regularly to protect health
• Sundays Saturday afternoons off

10
Slave Quarters, Carters Grove Plantation,
Virginia
11
Slave Quarters, Carters Grove Plantation,
Virginia
12
Life as a Slave

• Nuclear families with 7 children on average
• Masters encouraged monogamy to maintain order
• most escapees were young, unmarried men
• Economic imperatives took precedence, however
• 1/3 of all slave marriages broken up by sale of
  spouses in Upper South
• almost ½ of all children separated from at least
  1 parent
• Distinction between field slaves house slaves
  real, but exaggerated
• Field slaves (75) had more freedom but worse
  conditions
• House slaves (25) had better conditions but less
  freedom

Picking cotton
13
The Paradox of Black - White Relations

• Dialectical relationship
• Each shaped the other
• Blacks contributed to broader American culture
  while creating separate subculture
• Whites could never resolve inherent
  contradictions of slavery
• Philosophical contradiction rests on assumption
  that one man completely surrenders his will and
  becomes an extension of another mans will
• Legal contradiction slaves simultaneously people
  property

Plantation near Richmond, VA
14
Justifications for Slavery

• Racism blacks seen as lazy childlike
• Argued slavery civilized Christianized them
• Argued only whipping would make slaves work
• Christian Religion
• Believed Bible condoned slavery
• Thought Curse of Ham (Gen. 920-27) justified
  it
• Feudal Myth
• claimed reciprocal relationship provided for
  slaves needs in exchange for devoted service
• Paternalistic care contrasted with inhumane
  treatment of Northern factory workers

15
Woodcuts from Josiah Priest, In Defense of Slavery
16
Blacks View of Slavery

• Rejected racism, but learned to conform to
  whites expectations to avoid punishment
• Saw Christianity as affirming their equality
  offering promise of earthly freedom as well as
  heavenly redemption
• Blacks neither grateful for care, nor considered
  it payment viewed it as fundamental right
• Used whites rhetoric of feudalism to demand
  better treatment
• Appreciated good masters accepted punishment
  when deserved

Slave manacles
17
Extremely Unfavorable Conditions for Rebellion

• High ratio of whites to blacks, unlike rest of
  the Americas
• Small size dispersed nature of most
  slaveholdings
• Well-armed resident masters who kept close watch
  on their property
• Political stability (except during the
  Revolutionary Civil Wars)

18
Running Away

• 50,000 slaves ran away each year
• 75 of escaped slaves were in teens or 20s
• Most returned to families or tried to pass as
  free blacks in cities
• Some went on strike to negotiate better
  conditions

Underground Railroad map
19
Effects of Slavery on White Relationships

• All whites got benefits of being part of the
  master race
• Racism used to keep nonslaveholding white
  majority in favor of system
• All white men expected to ride slave patrols
• Concept of chivalry defined women as weak in
  need of protection from rapacious black men
• Women had to endure husbands raping of female
  slaves
• Women often biggest critics of slavery as a
  result e.g. Sarah Angelina Grimke