Chapter 16
Dec 26, 2015
“But this momentous question, like a fi re bell in the night, awakened and fi lled me with terror. I considered it at once as the knell of the Union. It is hushed, indeed, for the moment. But this is a reprieve only, not a fi nal sentence. A geographical l ine, coinciding with a marked principle, moral and political, once conceived and held up to the angry passions of men, will never be obliterated; and every new irritation will mark it deeper and deeper…But as it is, we have the wolf by the ears, and we can neither hold him, nor safely let him go.”
Thomas Jeff erson, April 1820, Monticello Virginia.
MISSOURI COMPROMISE
Minority within a minority Only ¼ of al l slaveowners Plantations organized l ike feudal
manors Extensive division of labor [al l
slaves] Generated large income Mansions built at great expense Wealth measured by slaves in most
cases As much as $1,700 per fi eld hand Sometimes scrimped on l i festyle to
aff ord more slaves Constantly trying to increase land
holdings Debt common unti l Cotton crop
sold Market fl uctuated, price [and
profi t] uncertain Hard to “l ive large” with uncertain
income
PLANTER CLASS
Many kept the books, worked hard contrary to the stereotype
Managed household, supervised slaves
Provided early childhood education
Reminded daily in many cases of husband’s infidelity Mulatto slave children Symbolic of looser sexual
standard for men in South Humiliating to wife, in spite of
which plantation women supported the South all through Civil War
PLANTATION WIVES
Why did the majority of Southerners [who were not slave owners] continue to
support slavery?
Theories:Some hoped to become
slave ownersSome accepted racial
basis of slaveryAccepting slavery meant
accepting permanent social subordination for blacks which meant for poor whites that there was always somebody worse off .
Why did so many southerners fi ght so fi ercely in the civil
war for an institution in which they did not participate?
They feared freed slaves would take jobs from whites.
They figured reprisals from freed slaves for the deprivation of years of slavery.
FAQ
Worked on plantation with at least 10 others Probably side by side men and
women in fieldsWomen might work in the
house, care for master’s children
Work day dawn to duskHousing
Typically log shack, no mattress
Expected to plant some garden for own food
Discipline Frequently administered by an
overseer Usually with a whip
1850 TYPICAL SLAVE EXPERIENCE
Marriages encouraged, but no legal recognition really more encouraged to
breed new slavesBuying and selling
disrupted familiesWives frequently at the
master’s callFamilies sometimes splitNon-related older persons
sometimes fi ll in as “aunt,” ”uncle,” “cousin,” etc. Sometimes fictitious
relationships created as parents are sold away
THE SLAVE FAMILY
Large demand for manual labor, not enough whites to do it across the South
Some slaves hired out, acquired skills
Some in machinery operation
Wages given to ownersSome resentment from free
blacks as slaves generally hired out cheaper
Free Blacks in the old South Most were urban Some earned decent living, a
very few got rich Liberties restricted drastically
for both slaves and free men after Nat Turner’s rebellion
SLAVES OFF THE PLANTATION
1831 Will iam Lloyd Garrison begins publishing The Liberator
Newspaper dedicated to the total abolition of slavery
Garrison exposed to great personal risk for his views
Not all supported social equality for blacks in fact most didn’t
abolitionists frequently hated by other whites
Some Religious leaders raged against alcohol whispered against slavery one such was Lyman Beecher
Frequently people who supported rights for blacks were unwill ing to support women’s rights this issue also divisive to the movement
ABOLITIONIST MOVEMENT
In the very fi rst issue of his anti-slavery newspaper, the Liberator, William Lloyd Garrison stated, "I do not wish to think, or speak, or write, with moderation. . . . I am in earnest -- I will not equivocate -- I will not excuse -- I will not retreat a single inch -- AND I WILL BE HEARD." And Garrison was heard. For more than three decades, from the fi rst issue of his weekly paper in 1831, until after the end of the Civil War in 1865 when the last issue was published, Garrison spoke out eloquently and passionately against slavery and for the rights of America's black inhabitants.
THE LIBERATOR
The Gr imke s isters , f reed the i r s laves, became outspoken opponents of s lavery even speaking in publ ic at a t ime when women didn’ t do so
Bombarded Congress wi th pet i t ions. Southern dominated House of
Representat ives actual ly inst i tuted the gag rule which made i t contrary to House rules to debate s lavery or ment ion the word
Southerners began to use the phrase “our pecul iar inst i tut ion” rather than s lavery
The Gr imke s isters of South Carol ina were two ear ly female abol i t ionists and women's r ights act iv ists , t rave l ing throughout the North, lectur ing about the i r fi rst -hand exper iences with s lavery on the i r fami ly plantat ion. Rece iv ing abuse and r id icule for the i r abol i t ionist act iv i ty , as later women act ive in a range of reform act iv i t ies would fi nd, they both real ized that women would have to create a safe space in the publ ic arena i f they wanted to be eff ect ive abol i t ionists and reformers. So in an often to be repeated story, they both became women's r ights act iv ists .
THE GRIMKE SISTERS