Slavery in Antebellum America - WordPress.com · Slavery in Antebellum America I. The Rise of "King Cotton" A. Prior to 1793, the Southern economy was weak: depressed prices, unmarketable

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AP U.S. History: Unit 8.1

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Slavery in Antebellum America

I. The Rise of "King Cotton"

A. Prior to 1793, the Southern economy was weak: depressed prices,

unmarketable products, soil-ravaged lands, and an economically

risky slave system.

Some leaders, such as Jefferson (who freed 10% of his slaves),

believed slavery would gradually die out but it could not be

done immediately. "We have a wolf by the ears."

B. Eli Whitney’s Cotton Gin (1793)

1. Impact: Cotton production now profitable; 50x more effective

than picking cotton by hand.

a. Resulted in an explosion in slavery

b. Cotton came to surpass tobacco, rice, and production

2. Cotton Kingdom developed into a huge agricultural factory

a. Western expansion into lower gulf states: Louisiana,

Mississippi, Alabama

b. Slaves brought into new regions to cultivate cotton.

3. Huge domestic slave trade emerged

-- Importation of slaves from Africa was abolished in 1808

C. Trade

1. Cotton exported to England; revenues from sale of cotton used to

buy northern goods

-- Britain heavily dependent on U.S. cotton for its textile

factories; 80% came from U.S.

2. Prosperity of both North and South rested on slave labor

3. Cotton accounted for 57% of all American exports by 1860.

-- South produced 75% of world’s cotton.

II. The Three Souths

A. Generalizations

1. The further North, the cooler the climate, the fewer the slaves,

and the lower the commitment to maintaining slavery..

2. The further South, the warmer the climate, the more the slaves,

and the higher the commitment to maintaining slavery.

3. Mountain whites along Appalachian Mountains would mostly

side with the Union during the Civil War.

-- W. Virginia, E. Tennessee, NE Kentucky, W. South Carolina,

N. Georgia & Alabama.

4. Southward flow of slaves (from sales) continued from 1790 to

1860

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notes

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Unit 8.1: Slavery

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5. Not a unified South except resistance to outside interference

(federal gov’t)

B. Border South: Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky, & Missouri

1. Plantations scarcer; cotton cultivation almost nonexistent;

Tobacco main crop (as in Middle South); More grain production

(as in Middle South)

2. Unionists would overcome Disunionists during and after the Civil

War.

3. 1850, Slaves = 17% of population.; Avg. 5 slaves per slaveholder

4. 1850, over 21% of Border South’s blacks free; 46% of South’s

free blacks

5. 22% of white families owned slaves

6. Those who owned more than 20 slaves in South: 6%; Ultra-

wealthy = 1%

7. Produced over 50% of South’s industrial products

C. Middle South: Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Arkansas.

1. Each state had one section resembling the Border South and

another resembling the Lower South.

-- Some industrial production: Tredegar Iron Works in Virginia

used slave labor

2. Unionists prevailed after Lincoln elected; Disunionists prevailed

after war began

3. Many plantations in eastern Virginia and western Tennessee

4. 1850, slaves = 30% of population; Avg. 8 slaves per slaveholder


6. Of all who owned more than 20 slaves in South: 32%; Ultra-

wealthy = 14%

D. Lower South: South Carolina, Florida, Georgia, Alabama,

Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas

1. Most slaves located in the “cotton belt” or "black belt" of Deep

South along river valleys

2. Plantations prevalent; cotton was king; grew 95% of South's

cotton & almost all sugar, rice, and indigo.

3. Disunionists (secessionists) would prevail after Lincoln was

elected

4. 1850, slaves = 47% of population; Avg. 12 slaves per slaveholder

5. Less than 2% of blacks free; only 15% of South’s free blacks


7. Of all who owned more than 20 slaves in South: 62%; Ultra-

wealthy = 85%

8. Produced less than 20% of South’s industrial products

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notes:


Unit 8.1: Slavery


III. The Slave System in the South (the "Peculiar Institution")

A. The Planter "Aristocracy"

1. South was ruled politically and economically by wealthy

plantation owners

a. 1850, only 1,733 families owned more than 100 slaves; yet

they dominated southern politics.

b. South was the least democratic region of the country.

i. Huge gap between rich & poor existed

ii. Poor public education (planters sent kids to private schools)

2. Planters carried on "cavalier" tradition of early Virginia

a. This was reflected in its military academies.

b. Elite culture included chivalry; landed genteel-class

B. Plantation system

1. Risky: Slaves might die of disease, injure themselves, or escape.

-- System required heavy investment of capital

2. One-crop economy (e.g. cotton, tobacco)

a. Discouraged diversification of agriculture, especially

manufacturing

b. Southerners resented the North’s huge profits at their expense

-- Complained of northern middlemen, bankers, agents, &

shippers

c. Resented being so dependent on northern manufactures &

markets

3. Repelled large-scale European immigration

a. Only 4.4% of foreign-born Americans were part of South’s

population in 1860; 18.7% in the North.

b. Slave labor was far cheaper; fertile land was too expensive for

most immigrants; immigrants not familiar with cotton

production.

c. South most Anglo-Saxon (English) region of nation

C. Plantation slavery

1. Nearly 4 million slaves by 1860; quadrupled in number since

1800

a. Legal imports of slaves ended in 1808

-- Thousands of slaves smuggled in despite death penalty for

slave traders

b. Increase due to natural reproduction

i. Over-breeding of slaves not encouraged

-- Owners still often rewarded slave women for multiple

children

ii. White slave owners often fathered sizable mulatto

population (e.g. Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemmings)

-- Most remained slaves

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Unit 8.1: Slavery


2. Slaves seen as valuable assets and primary source of wealth

a. Slave auctions one of most revolting aspects of slavery

i. Families often separated: division of property, bankruptcy

ii Slavery’s greatest psychological horror

3. Punishment often brutal to intimidate slaves not to defy master’s

authority

4. New western areas were harshest for slaves: (LA, TX, MS, AL)

5. Slaves were denied education: a literate slave was seen as a

potentially dangerous slave

D. Afro-American slave culture developed

1. Elements of West African culture—such as languages, oral

traditions, music, religious practices and family patterns—

remained part of the American slave community.

2. Family ties were often informal and extended family ties were

important

a. This was the outgrowth of slave families being broken up

regularly due to members being sold

b. “Fictive kin”: members of a community might be considered

“family” even though they were not related by blood.

c. Children were primarily raised by their mothers, who often

dominated the home in slave quarters

-- This pattern continued after slavery was abolished

d. Children were often looked after by many members of the

community

3. Oral traditions were valuable in maintaining the African heritage

a. Teaching slaves to read was illegal in much of the South so

alternate ways of spreading culture was necessary.

b. After the work day was over, slaves would often get together

on large plantations and share stories or their hopes of

eventual liberation.

c. Oral traditions were passed on in several languages including

Gullah, pidgin English, and Creole.

d. Certain stories, such as Br’er rabbit, were popular; they were

instructive on how to survive slavery’s oppressive nature.

4. Religion

a. Call and response tradition from Africa was a strong

component of slave religious meetings.

b. Religion in slave communities was often a blend of various

forms of Christianity mixed with African traditions (such as

voodoo)

c. In some areas, slaves attended segregated white churches.

d. Certain elements of Christianity were very appealing (e.g.

everyone is equal in heaven, Christ ministering to the poor)

e. The book of Exodus in the Bible was particularly popular

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Unit 8.1: Slavery


(Jews led by Moses had escaped Egypt)

5. Music

a. Rhythmic complexities of Africa were incorporated into

music and drum rhythms played by slaves.

-- Slave owners sometimes banned the use of drums fearing

that slaves were sending subversive messages

-- Clapping and “patting juba” (slapping various parts of the

body along with clapping) was popular

b. The banjo, an African instrument, was used regularly

c. The European violin (fiddle) was adapted by slaves and

became a staple instrument.

d. Call and response singing was a popular element of slave

music

e. Musical elements employed by slaves later influenced the

development of blues, jazz, and rock n’ roll.

E. Burdens of slavery

1. Slaves deprived of dignity and sense of responsibility that free

people have, suffered cruel physical and psychological treatment,

and were ultimately convinced that they were inferior and

deserved their lot in life.

2. Denied education; seen as dangerous to give slaves ideas of

freedom

3. Slaves often insidiously sabotaged their master’s system

-- Poisoned food, supplies often missing, equipment often broken,

slow work.

4. Many attempted to escape

-- Some success in Border South; next to impossible in Lower

South

F. Slave Revolts

1. Stono Rebellion, 1739

a. South Carolina slaves fled toward Florida killing whites on the

way; did not make it.

b. Led to more oppressive slave system in the South during

colonial period

2. Gabriel Prosser, 1800

a. Slave blacksmith in VA who planned a military slave revolt;

recruited 150 men

b. Rebellion did not materialize and Prosser and 26 others were

hanged.

3. Denmark Vesey, a mulatto in Charleston, planned largest ever

revolt in 1822 but it never materialized

a. A slave informer advised his master of the plot

b. Vesey and 30 others publicly hanged

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Unit 8.1: Slavery


4. Nat Turner’s revolt, 1831 (most significant of 19th

century)

a. Sixty Virginians slaughtered, mostly children and women

i. Wave of killing slowed down revolt’s aim of capturing

armory

ii. Largest slave revolt ever in the South

b. Over 100 slaves were killed in response; Turner was hanged.

c. Significance: Produced a wave of anxiety among southern

plantation owners that resulted in harsh laws clamping down

further on the slave institution.

G. Southern white paranoia

1. Feared more reprisals by slaves (like Nat Turner’s revolt)

2. Infuriated by abolitionist propaganda in the North they saw as

inciting slaves.

3. Saw biological racial superiority as a justification for slavery.

IV. The White Majority

A. By 1860, only 1/4 of white southerners owned slaves or belonged to

slave-owning families

1. Over 2/3 of slave owners owned less than ten slaves each.

2. Small slave owners made up a majority of masters.

B. 75% of white southerners owned no slaves at all.

1. Located in the backcountry and mountain valleys.

2. Mostly subsistence farmers; didn’t participate in market economy.

3. Raised corn, hogs

4. Poorest called "white trash", "hillbillies", "crackers", "clay eaters"

by planters

-- Suffered from malnutrition & parasites especially hookworm.

5. Fiercely defended the slave system as it proved white superiority

a. Poor whites took comfort that they were "equal" to wealthy

neighbors

b. Social status was determined by how many slaves one owned:

poor Southern whites someday hoped to own slaves.

c. Slavery proved effective in controlling blacks; ending slavery

might result in race mixing and blacks competing with whites

for work.

C. Mountain whites

1. Lived in the valleys of the Appalachian Mountain range.

2. Independent small farmers located far from the cotton kingdom.

3. Lived in rough frontier environment

4. Hated wealthy planters and slaves.

5. During Civil War were Unionist; significant in crippling

Confederacy

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notes


Unit 8.1: Slavery


V. Free African Americans

A. Numbered about 250,000 in the South by 1860

1. In Border South, emancipation increased starting in the late 18th

century.

2. In Lower South, many free blacks were mulattos (white father,

black mother)

3. Some bought their freedom with earnings from labor after hours.

4. Some owned property; New Orleans had large prosperous mulatto

community.

-- A few even owned slaves (although this was rare)

5. Petersburg, Virginia, had the largest free black population in the

South by 1860.

B. Discrimination in the South

1. Prohibited from certain occupations and from testifying against

whites in court.

2. Always in danger of being forced back into slavery by slave

traders.

C. About 250,000 free blacks lived in the North

1. Large communities existed in certain northern cities, especially

Philadelphia

2. Free black communities were often centered around churches

such as the African Methodist Episcopal Church.

D. Discrimination in the North

1. Some states forbade their entrance or denied them public

education

2. Most states denied them suffrage

3. Some states segregated blacks in public facilities.

4. Especially hated by Irish immigrants with whom they competed

for jobs.

5. Much of Northern sentiment against spread of slavery into new

territories due to intense race prejudice, not humanitarianism.

-- Racist feelings often stronger in the North than in the South

VI. Abolitionism

Definition: Abolitionism: Movement in North that demanded immediate

end to slavery

A. First abolitionist movements began during Revolutionary Era;

especially Quakers

B. American colonization Society (founded in 1817)

1. Sought practical solution vis-à-vis free blacks if slavery was

ended.

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notes


Unit 8.1: Slavery


-- Recolonization: supported by many prominent Northerners and

Southerners who were afraid that manumission (freeing slaves)

would create a surplus of free blacks in the U.S.

2. Liberia created on West African Coast for former slaves in 1822.

a. 15,000 freed blacks were transported over next four decades

b. Most U.S. blacks were not eager to go because they saw

themselves as Americans, not Africans.

i. Believed they were part of America’s growth & culture

ii. By 1860, virtually all southern slaves were native-born

Americans

3. Colonization appealed to most Northerners (including Lincoln)

who felt blacks and whites could not coexist in a free society.

a. Some feared the “mongrelization” of the white race.

b. Others thought blacks were inferior, didn't want them in large

numbers in their states.

C. Abolitionism became the dominant reform movement of the

antebellum period

1. Second Great Awakening convinced abolitionists of the sin of

slavery.

2. Abolitionists inspired that Britain freed their West Indian slaves

in 1833

D. Radical Abolitionism

1. Radical abolitionists sought the immediate and uncompensated

end of slavery

-- Influenced heavily by the perfectionism of the Second Great

Awakening

2. William Lloyd Garrison

a. Published the first issue of his Liberator, a militant antislavery

newspaper, in Boston in1831

-- Symbolized the beginning of the radical abolitionist

movement

b. Demanded the "virtuous" North secede from the "wicked"

South.

-- Yet, offered no practical solutions for ending slavery.

c. Inspired abolitionists to found the American Anti-Slavery

Society

3. American Anti-Slavery Society

a. Founded by radical abolitionists who sought to organize to

achieve more political influence

b. Theodore Dwight Weld

i. Evangelized by Charles Grandison Finney in NY’s “Burned-

Over District” in the 1820s and appealed to rural farmers in

the Ohio Valley.


Unit 8.1: Slavery


ii. American Slavery As It Is (1839): Among most effective

abolitionist works ever written

iii. Married Angelina Grimke, a southern abolitionist.

c. Wendell Phillips -- ostracized Boston patrician; "abolition’s

golden trumpet"

i. Perhaps most important abolitionist; major impact on politics

during the Civil War as he argued for emancipation.

ii. One of the finest orators of the 19th century.

iii. Product the 2nd Great Awakening.

iv. Followed Garrison but was more politically practical in the

1860s

d. Angelina and Sarah Grimke

i. Only white southern women to become leading abolitionists

ii. Also involved in women’s rights.

iii. Angelina married to Theodore Weld; Sarah remained part of

their household

e. Arthur and Lewis Tappan: wealthy New York merchants.

-- Funded the Anti-Slavery Society, and the Liberator

f. Organization would eventually split along gender lines;

women’s rights issues

3. David Walker: Appeal to the Colored Citizens of the World,1829

-- Advocated violence to end slavery.

4. Sojourner Truth: Freed black woman; pro-emancipation and

women’s rights

5. Elijah Lovejoy: Militant editor of antislavery newspaper in

Illinois.

a. Printing press destroyed four times; 4th time it was thrown into

a river and Lovejoy was killed by a mob who promptly burned

his warehouse in 1837

b. He became an abolitionist martyr

c. Also a nativist (may have contributed to his death)

6. Martin Delaney

-- One of few blacks to seriously advocate black mass

recolonization in Africa.

7. Frederick Douglass

a. Greatest of the black abolitionists

-- Published The North Star, his own abolitionist newspaper.

b. Former slave who escaped slavery at age 21.

c. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass

-- Depicted his life as a slave, struggle to read & write & his

escape to North.

d. Flexibly practical (in contrast to Garrison who was stubbornly

principled)

e. Looked to politics to end slavery.

-- Backed the Liberty party in 1840 and the Republican party in


Unit 8.1: Slavery


the 1850s.

8. Eventually, most abolitionists support the Civil War to end

slavery.

E. Underground Railroad

1. Chain of antislavery homes which harbored hundreds of slaves

escaping to Canada while aided by black & white abolitionists.

2. Harriet Tubman ("Moses") (ex-slave from Maryland who

escaped to Canada)

a. Led 19 expeditions from Canada; rescued 300 slaves

including her parents

b. Served Union army in South Carolina as a spy during the

Civil War.

3. Prigg v. Pennsylvania, 1842

a. Pennsylvania tried to prohibit capture and return of runaway

slaves within its borders

Violated the federal government’s fugitive slave law of

1793

b. Supreme Court ruled the law unconstitutional since it violated

a federal law protecting slave owners’ right to property

c. Personal liberty laws passed by many Northern states which

prohibited state officials from assisting anyone pursuing

runaway slaves.

4. Significance: by 1850 southerners demanded a new, stronger

fugitive-slave law; the existing law dating back to the 1790s

was weak.

a. About 1,000 runaways successfully escaped per year.

Small in number; more slaves bought their freedom than

ran away

Southerners were infuriated in principle as the

Constitution was not being obeyed by the North

b. Some northern states (e.g., Pennsylvania) failed to provide

cooperation.

c. Southerners blamed abolitionists; claimed they operated

outside the law

VII. Southern Responses to Abolitionism

A. In 1820s, southern antislavery societies outnumbered northern ones.

B. After 1830s , white southern abolitionism was silenced

C. Causes of southern concern

1. Nat Turner’s revolt coincided with Garrison's Liberator.

a. South saw a northern abolitionist conspiracy and called

Garrison a terrorist.

b. Georgia offered $5,000 for his arrest and conviction

2. Nullification Crisis of 1832


Unit 8.1: Slavery


a. Southerners concerned powerful federal gov't might supported

abolitionism

b. Anti-slavery whites in South were sometimes jailed, whipped,

or lynched

3. Abolitionist literature that flooded the southern mails infuriated

slave owners

D. Abolitionist literature banned in the Southern mails

-- Federal gov't ordered southern postmasters to destroy

abolitionist materials and to arrest federal postmasters who did

not comply.

E. Pro-slavery whites responded by launching a massive defense of

slavery.

1. Slavery supported by the Bible (Genesis) and Aristotle (slavery

existed in ancient Greece).

2. Slavery helped civilize and Christianize Africans

3. Master-slave relationships resembled those of a "family."

4. George Fitzhugh -- most famous pro-slavery apologist

a. Contrasted happiness of slaves with "northern wage slaves."

b. Fresh air in the south as opposed to stuffy factories

c. Full employment for blacks

d. Slaves cared for in sickness and old age unlike northern

workers.

F. "Gag resolution" -- 1836, southerners drove it through Congress

1. All antislavery appeals and petitions in Congress prohibited.

-- Seen by northerners as a threat to the 1st Amendment

2. Rep. John Quincy Adams waged 8-year fight against it; repealed

in 1844

3. (Note: banning of antislavery materials in the mails was a

separate issue)

VIII. Abolitionist impact in the North

A. Abolitionists (e.g. Garrison & Lovejoy) were unpopular in many

parts of the North.

1. Northerners revered the Constitution; slavery was protected by it.

2. Ideal of Union (advocated by Webster & others) had taken deep

root; Garrison's cries to secede from the South was seen as

dangerously radical.

3. Northern industry dependent on the South for economic well-

being

a. Northern bankers owed by southern planters; about $300

million

b. New England mills fed by southern cotton.


Unit 8.1: Slavery


B. Mob outbursts occurred in response to extreme abolitionists

1. Lewis Tappan’s NY house ran-sacked in 1834 to a cheering

crowd.

2. 1835, Garrison dragged through streets of Boston with rope tied

around him.

3. Elijah P. Lovejoy killed in Illinois

C. For ambitious politicians, support of abolitionism was political

suicide

D. By 1850, abolitionism significantly influenced the northern mind

1. Many saw slavery as morally evil and undemocratic.

2. Free-soilers opposed extending slavery to remaining Louisiana

Territory and Mexican Cession.

-- "Free-soil" movement grew into the Republican Party in the

1850s.

Terms to Know

“King Cotton” cotton gin, Eli Whitney Border South

Middle South Lower South

“cotton belt” or “black belt” “Peculiar Institution” Stono Rebellion, 1739

Gabriel Prosser Revolt Denmark Vesey Conspiracy

Nat Turner’s Rebellion “Mountain Whites” abolitionism

American Colonization Society

Liberia William Lloyd Garrison The Liberator

American Anti-Slavery Society

Theodore Weld, American

Slavery as It Is Wendell Phillips

Angelina and Sara Grimké Arthur and Lewis Tappan David Walker

Sojourner Truth Elijah Lovejoy

Martin Delaney Frederick Douglass Underground Railroad

Harriet Tubman Prigg v. Pennsylvania

George Fitzhugh “northern wage slaves” Gag Resolution


Unit 8.1: Slavery


Essay Questions

Note: This sub-unit is a high probability area for the AP exam. In the past 10 years, 4 questions have come wholly or in part from the material in this chapter. Below

are some questions that will help you study the topics

that have appeared on previous exams.

1. Analyze several factors that led to the growth and

maintenance of the slave system in the South between 1800 and 1850.

2. Analyze the effectiveness of the arguments in favor of slavery and the arguments against slavery. What

justifications did each side use to support their respective positions?

3. To what extent was there a unified South politically, economically and socially?

4. Discuss the ways in which a vibrant slave culture emerged

socially, religiously, and musically.

Bibliography: Blassingame, John W., The Slave Community: Plantation Life in the

Antebellum South, New York: Oxford University Press, 1979

College Board, Advanced Placement Course Description: United States

History, College Entrance Examination Board, published yearly

Foner, Eric & Garraty, John A. editors: The Reader’s Companion to

American History, Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1991

Freehling, William, W., The Road to Disunion: Secessionists at Bay,

1776-1854, New York, Oxford University Press, 1990

Gillon, Steven M. & Matson, Cathy D., The American Experiment: A

History of the United States, Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2002

Hofstadter, Richard, The American Political Tradition, New York:

Alfred Knopf, 1948

Kennedy, David M., Cohen, Lizabeth, Bailey, Thomas A., The American

Pageant (AP Edition), 13th

edition, Boston: Houghton Mifflin 2006

McPherson, James, Battle Cry of Freedom, New York: Balantine Books,

1988

Murrin, John, et al, Liberty Equality Power: A History of the American

People, Ft. Worth: Harcourt Brace 1999

Nash, Gary : American Odyssey, Lake Forest, Illinois: Glencoe, 1992

Zinn, Howard, A People’s History of the United States, New York:

Harper and Row, 1980

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