Plantation Life and the Paternalistic System

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Plantation Life and the Paternalistic System
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Yeoman Farmer

• The largest group of slave owners were the yeoman
  farmers who were moving from subsistence
  agriculture to commercial production.
• Most commonly they could not afford a large
  number of slaves, so only had a few, and many
  times left to work themselves.
• The yeoman farmer was always economically
  vulnerable, as a poor crop or a downturn in
  cotton price would cause them to have to sell
  their slaves.
• Already wealthy middle-class had better
  opportunity because of investment capital.

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Planter Elite

• Two types of slave owning elite
• 1. Those that had inherited their wealth, very
  few were self-made men
• 2. Growing group as they expanded westward into
  Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana called
  nabobs, made up the Natchez.

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The Natchez

• They consciously worked to establish and maintain
  a lifestyle that was similar to the English
  aristocracy.
• Large plantations with spacious/elegant mansion,
  and hospitable.
• Men participated in hunting, politics, and
  soldiering, and this led to acts of bravado such
  as duels.
• Women were expected to be gentle, charming, and
  always welcoming.
• Image was false slaves actually were what
  maintained the wealth, and it was far from a
  welcoming system.
• Aimed to be like the yeoman farms
  self-sufficient producing the food and clothing
  for those there as well as the cash crop.

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One of the ways Charleston attempted to control
its African American population was to require
all slaves to wear badges showing their
occupation. After 1848, free black people also
had to wear badges, which were decorated,
ironically, with a liberty cap. SOURCECourtesy
of the American Numismatic Society of New York.
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Paternalistic South

• Slave owner who was the head of the household,
  and his mistress who was his helpmate.
• Everyone else on the plantation was a member of
  the family and was to be regarded with humanity.
• Included slave who like children were required to
  do their work and do what they were told.
• Slave owner and his wife spoke of slavery as a
  burden and a duty.
• Slave owners by extension expected not only
  obedience, but gratitude from all the members of
  their family.

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Plantation Mistress

• The plantation mistress had a lot of
  responsibility, but they carried little
  authority. The master-slave relationship was an
  illustration of their lives as well.
• Spent most time tending to family (including
  slaves) and supervising their performance.
• The wife was always expected to be obedient and
  respectful to her husband, because after-all, if
  she wasnt why would the slaves be?
• The women were also typically isolated from their
  kin. Responsibilities dictated that they would
  rarely leave husbands were much more likely to.
  

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Slave Woman White Mistress Relationship

• Most slave women were forced to leave their
  husband and child to serve the mistresses home.
• While African-American Women took care of some of
  the most intimate things (children) there was
  little if any genuine sympathy or understanding
  of black women by the white women.
• When white women talked of the curse of slavery
  most were speaking not of the evils of the
  institution, but instead all of the extra work
  that was expected of them.
• Women known to be brutal in their treatment of
  the slaves as well.

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Violence and Coercion

• Most slaves were treated with great brutality.
  Owners who killed their slaves were occasionally
  brought to trial, (usually acquitted), but no
  legal action was taken in cases of extreme abuse,
  excessive punishment, and rape.
• Rape was most common abuse of women slaves.
• Masters would rarely admit to fathering a child,
  and there was nothing abused woman, or white
  woman could do.
• Abusive father passed traits to son.
• Only humanity that survived was due to
  African-American community.

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South Carolina Slavery Defense

• The lives and the existence of the whites and the
  slaves were intertwined in the South.
• William Henry Trescot stated, they were more
  likely to secede from the Union than they were to
  eliminate slavery.

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This 1841 proslavery cartoon contrasts healthy,
well-cared-for African American slaves with
unemployed British factory workers living in
desperate poverty. The comparison between
contented southern slaves and miserable northern
wage slaves was frequently made by proslavery
advocates. SOURCELibrary of Congress.
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Pro-Slavery Argument

• Looked to justify slavery it was in the Bible,
  in Ancient Greece and Rome.
• Best argument it was in the Constitution -
  allowing slave importation for 20 years, the 3/5
  Compromise, and a provision for the returning of
  fugitive slaves.
• Southerners saw the Denmark Vesy Conspiracy two
  years later as a manifestation of the Northern
  anti-slavery sentiment.

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Southern Unity

• South began to pull together partially based on
  blaming northern anti-slavery forces orYankee
  peddlers and traders.
• The Liberator debuted in 1831 by editor William
  Lloyd Garrison.
• British stopped all slavery in West Indies in
  1834.
• South Carolina began discussing secession.
• Tried to stop all anti-slavery ideas from
  spreading
• Illegal to teach slaves.
• Illegal to go to social gathering without a white
  person present.
• Gag rule no southern Congressman allowed to
  discuss or debate slavery.