KALEIDOSCOPE – DIVIDED AGRARIAN COTTON BOOM The Old South
Jan 15, 2016
KALEIDOSCOPE – DIVIDEDAGRARIAN
COTTON BOOM
The Old South
Essential Questions: Was slavery profitable? How do cotton and slave holding
shape southern culture? What is the nature of white social
structure? What is the interaction between
white and slave culture like? What are the characteristics of
slave culture? What factors made the South a
“Closed” society? How does southern society contrast
with that developing in the North?
Two Souths
Upper South Agriculturally
diverseSlave trade Second Middle
Passage
Lower South Cotton Dependant Opportunity “white gold”
King Cotton
Great profit but skewed opportunity One way to gain wealth S. remains rural & agrarian – fewer
immigrants – little for free white labor
No manufacturing opportunities Single crop dependant Dependant on N. for capital &
market
Critics: dependence on N.
“The South Grew, But Did Not develop.”
DeBow Need for
diversification1845 – First textile
mill - Richmond
Gregg Need for
industrialization
Slavery
System to control & manage labor Essential to the profitability of the large
plantation25% - slave holding75% non-slave-holding 1-3% = gentry---controls political,
economic and social system
Southern Agriculture
18201820
18601860
Southern Society (1850)Southern Society (1850)Southern Society (1850)Southern Society (1850)
The “Plain Folk”The “Plain Folk”[white yeoman farmers][white yeoman farmers]
““Slavocracy”Slavocracy”[plantation owners][plantation owners]
Black FreemenBlack Freemen
Black SlavesBlack Slaves3,200,0003,200,000
Total US Population --> Total US Population --> 23,000,00023,000,000
[9,250,000 in the South = 40%][9,250,000 in the South = 40%]
6,000,0006,000,000
250,000250,000
Value of Cotton Exports Value of Cotton Exports As % of All US ExportsAs % of All US Exports
Value of Cotton Exports Value of Cotton Exports As % of All US ExportsAs % of All US Exports
White Social Structure
Planter Elite – planter = 20 slaves; 800-1000 acres Self made businessmen Chivalry & paternalism Limited contact w/ slaves (overseers)
Plantation Mistress Isolated Many responsibilities Miscegenation Benefit from slave - holding
White Social Structure – the plain folk
Yeomen Farmers – 80-160 acres; no slaves
Lack capital & credit Lack access to transportation and
marketing Isolated – geographically & socially Livestock, subsistence farming Limited class conflict –RACISM Ideas of liberty White supremacy
White Social Structure:
Mountaineers- isolated; autonomous; resented any government and planters
Non-land holding tenant farmers – want land – no capital
Poor whites – no economic opportunity; resent planters; hate slaves/free blacks
Why support for slave-holding system?
Planter/cotton control of the economic, social & political system
Status anxiety - white supremacyHopes and opportunity Challenge – Helper; Yeomen hurt by
slavery, can’t compete; limits opportunity
Interaction of the communities
Peculiar Institution = defining of the culture – OURS; superior & unifying
Separate spheres – but bondedSlaves better treatment in US Characteristics: white to black
Paternalism –white supremacy Principle of fear – must control labor
The whip; sale & family division slave codes
A Real Georgia PlantationA Real Georgia PlantationA Real Georgia PlantationA Real Georgia Plantation
““Hauling the Whole Week’s Hauling the Whole Week’s Pickings” Brown, 1842Pickings” Brown, 1842
““Hauling the Whole Week’s Hauling the Whole Week’s Pickings” Brown, 1842Pickings” Brown, 1842
Slaves WorkingSlaves Workingin a Sugar-Boiling Housein a Sugar-Boiling House
Slaves WorkingSlaves Workingin a Sugar-Boiling Housein a Sugar-Boiling House
Slave Auction Notice, 1823Slave Auction Notice, 1823Slave Auction Notice, 1823Slave Auction Notice, 1823
The Ledger of John WhiteThe Ledger of John WhiteThe Ledger of John WhiteThe Ledger of John White
Matilda Selby, 9, $400.00 sold to Mr. Covington, St. Louis, $425.00
Brooks Selby, 19, $750.00 Left at Home – Crazy
Fred McAfee, 22, $800.00 Sold to Pepidal,Donaldsonville, $1200.00
Howard Barnett, 25, $750.00 Ranaway. Sold out of jail, $540.00
Harriett Barnett, 17, $550.00 Sold to Davenport and Jones, Lafourche, $900.00
Slave AccoutrementsSlave AccoutrementsSlave AccoutrementsSlave Accoutrements
Slave muzzleSlave Master
Brands
Belled Slave Collar
Slave leg irons
Slave tag, SC
Slave shoes
Caricatures
1. “SAMBO” pattern of behavior used as a charade in front of whites [the innocent, laughing black man caricature – bulging eyes, thick lips, big smile, etc.].
A Real Mammy & Her ChargeA Real Mammy & Her ChargeA Real Mammy & Her ChargeA Real Mammy & Her Charge
Fears of the Planter Elite
Slave Revolts – Prosser, Vesey, TurnerLoss of the support of the Yeoman
farmers - HelperIdeas of the abolitionists (1831 –
Garrison and The Liberator) Gag rule
Anti-Slave PamphletAnti-Slave PamphletAnti-Slave PamphletAnti-Slave Pamphlet
Nat Turner’s Rebellion
Gabriel Prosser
1800
1822
Slave Rebellions Throughout the Slave Rebellions Throughout the AmericasAmericas
Slave Rebellions Throughout the Slave Rebellions Throughout the AmericasAmericas
Changes after 1830
Nat Turner’s Rebellion – increase fears and codes
Slave rebellions – Haiti BR abolished slavery in all parts of it
empire General world view of Europe shifts to
oppose slaveryVirginia DebateSlavery as positive good – the best society
Virginia Debate 1831-1832
Issue = gradual emancipation Last open discussion of slave holdingClosed Mind/Closed Society – stifle
dissentShows division of Upper and Lower
South Planter elite ----solidarity (Calhoun) –
creates unity and identity (nullification crisis over the tariff )
Pro-Slavery Arguments
“slavery as a positive good” (change in emphasis) creates stronger control & unity – a perfect hierarchal, orderly society – everyone knows one’s place
Biblical, political, scientific, economic and social arguments (Fitzhugh)
Contrast w/ “wage slavery” of the North
Stifle dissent – “closed mind, closed society”
Southern Pro-SlaverySouthern Pro-SlaveryPropagandaPropaganda
Southern Pro-SlaverySouthern Pro-SlaveryPropagandaPropaganda
Interaction of communities
Characteristics: black to white Dual socializationImpenetrable maskFree blacks
More urban areas More in South More females More mulattoes More restricted – fragile freedoms – caste Discrimination (true N & S) Negro Convention
Slave CulturePermits community, growth and
psychological support for survivalUnique – created from African
tradition and American experienceDual socialization – folk tales Impenetrable mask
Grounding InstitutionsReligionInvisible
institution AME Ring shoutAffirmation and Joy OWN institution spirituals
FamilyNuclear, but within
community Traditional gender
roles - slave qtrsEquality of
powerlessnessNorms w/in culture Kinship/sisterhood
“othermothers” Threats – break up
Plantation Burial - Antrobus
Slave Resistance
Revolts – Prosser, Vesey, TurnerEscape – URR Daily resistance/negotiationsCulture and institutions LiteracySupport from free blacks
Negro Convention
Takaki – A Different Mirror
slave resistance“The reality for many slaves may
have been even more complex than a duality of roles. Some Sambo-like behavior may have been not so much a veil to hide inner emotions as a means of expressing them. Lying, stealing, laziness, immaturity and ignorance all contained within them an aggressive quality; they constituted, in effect, resistance to efficiency, discipline, work and productivity.”
Runaway Slave AdsRunaway Slave AdsRunaway Slave AdsRunaway Slave Ads
Quilt Patterns as Secret Quilt Patterns as Secret MessagesMessages
Quilt Patterns as Secret Quilt Patterns as Secret MessagesMessages
The Monkey Wrench pattern, on the left, alerted escapees to gather up tools and prepare to flee; the Drunkard Path design, on the right, warned escapees not to follow a straight route.
Ideas of FREEDOMWhiteHegemonic – owning
and controlling Structured society Freedom – tied to
slave holding systemFreedom = a
privilegeObedienceThe Priestly tradition
Black The ideals of the
declaration The injustice of
slaveryFreedom = a rightConstant goal –
jubilee The ExodusThe Prophetic
tradition
Political Impact
Cultures quite similar – but defined by diverging cultures yeomen Belief in (and seeking) opportunity – for
white men Belief in democracy Socially egalitarian Evangelical Protestants
Whigs & Democrats – both can be destabilized