Slavery in Antebellum America - White Plains Middle School in...Slavery in Antebellum America I. The Rise of "King Cotton" A. Prior to 1793, the Southern economy was weak: depressed

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AP U.S. History: Unit 4.5

Student Edition

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 became profitable; 50x more effective

than picking cotton by hand.

a. Resulted in an explosion in slavery

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

2. A “Cotton Kingdom” developed into a huge agricultural factory.

a. Western expansion into lower gulf states: Louisiana,

Mississippi, Alabama

b. Slaves were brought into new regions to cultivate cotton.

3. A 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.

The South produced 75% of the 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.

Lived in western Virginia, eastern Tennessee, northeastern

Kentucky, western South Carolina, northern Georgia and

Alabama.

Use space below for notes

HistorySage.com APUSH Lecture Notes Page 2

Unit 4.5: Slavery in Antebellum America

© 2014 HistorySage.com All Rights Reserved

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

1860

5. There was not a unified South except for a common trait of

resistance to the perceived outside interference of the federal gov’t.

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

1. Plantations were more scarce; cotton cultivation was almost

nonexistent; tobacco was the main crop (as in the Middle South);

and more grain production existed (as in the Middle South).

2. Unionists would overcome Disunionists during and after the Civil

War.

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

4. 1850, over 21% of the Border South’s blacks were free; accounted

for 46% of the South’s free blacks

5. 22% of white families owned slaves.

6. Comprised 6% of all southerners who owned more than 20 slaves

in the South; comprised only 1% of the South’s ultra-wealthy

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

C. Middle South: Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, 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 was elected; Disunionists

prevailed after the war began.

3. Many plantations existed in eastern Virginia and western Tennessee

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

5. 36% of white families owned slaves.

6. Comprised 32% of all who owned more than 20 slaves in South and

14% of the ultra-wealthy

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

Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas

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

Deep South along river valleys.

2. Plantations were prevalent; cotton was king; accounted for 95% of

the South’s cotton and almost all sugar, rice, and indigo.

3. Disunionists (secessionists) would prevail after Lincoln was

elected.

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

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

6. 43% of white families owned slaves

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

III. The "Peculiar Institution"

A. The Planter "Aristocracy"

1. The South was ruled politically and economically by wealthy

plantation owners.

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

they dominated southern politics.

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

A huge gap between rich and poor existed.

Poor public education (planters sent kids to private schools)

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

a. This was reflected in its military academies.

b. Its elite culture included chivalry among a landed genteel-class.

B. Plantation system

1. Required heavy investment of capital in slave labor

2. Risky: slaves might die of disease, injure themselves, or escape.

3. 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, and

shippers

Resented being so dependent on northern manufactures and

markets

4. Repelled large-scale European immigration

a. Only 4.4% of foreign-born Americans were part of the 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 were not familiar with cotton

production.

c. The South was the nation’s most Anglo-Saxon (English) region.

C. Plantation slavery

1. Nearly 4 million slaves lived in the U.S. by 1860; quadrupled in

number since 1800.

a. Legal imports of slaves ended in 1808.

Thousands of slaves were smuggled into the South despite the

death penalty for slave traders.

b. The increased population was due to natural reproduction.

Over-breeding of slaves was not encouraged.

o Owners often still rewarded slave women for multiple

children

White slave owners often fathered a sizable mulatto




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

six children together, four of whom survived)

o Most remained as slaves.

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

a. Slave auctions were one of the most revolting aspects of slavery.

Families were often separated due to a plantation owner’s

division of property or bankruptcy

Slavery’s greatest psychological horror

3. Punishment was often brutal to intimidate slaves not to defy the

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. An 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 (“fictive kin”).

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. 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

(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 were 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. Slaves were denied education as it was seen as dangerous by slave

owners to give slaves ideas of freedom.

3. Slaves often insidiously sabotaged their master’s system

Poisoned food, stole supplies, broke equipment, and worked

slowly

4. Many attempted to escape: Border South slave attempts were more

successful; it was next to impossible to escape the Lower South

F. Slave Revolts

1. Stono Rebellion, 1739

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

way but did not succeed.

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

colonial period

2. Gabriel Prosser, 1800

a. A slave blacksmith in Virginia planned a military slave revolt

and recruited 150 men.

b. The rebellion did not materialize and Prosser and 26 others were

hanged.




3. Denmark Vesey, a mulatto in Charleston, planned the 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

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

a. Sixty Virginians were slaughtered, mostly children and women.

The wave of killing slowed down the revolt’s aim of capturing

weapons at the local armory and fomenting a larger rebellion.

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 it

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 were called "white trash", "hillbillies", "crackers", "clay

eaters" by planters

Suffered from malnutrition and 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 lived far from the cotton kingdom.

3. Lived in a rough frontier environment

4. Hated wealthy planters and slaves

5. During the Civil War they supported Unionists; significant in

crippling the Confederacy

V. Free African Americans

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

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

century.

2. In the Lower South, many free blacks were mulattos.

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

4. Some owned property; New Orleans had a 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. Blacks were prohibited from certain occupations and from

testifying against whites in court.

2. They were always in danger of being forced back into slavery by

unscrupulous 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, first founded

by Richard Allen in Philadelphia in 1794.

3. Allen became one of the most influential black leaders in the

antebellum period

He founded Sabbath schools to teach literacy and supported

political organizations that sought to help blacks (e.g.

abolitionism)

D. Discrimination in the North

1. Some states forbade African American 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 against 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 were often stronger in the North than in the

South.

VI. Abolitionism

Definition: Abolitionism—movement in the North that demanded an

immediate end to slavery

A. First abolitionist movements began during the Revolutionary Era;

especially Quakers

B. American colonization Society (founded in 1817)

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

abolished.

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 was founded on the West African Coast for former slaves

in 1822.

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

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

themselves as Americans, not Africans.

Believed they were part of America’s growth and culture

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 and didn't want them in large

numbers in their states.

C. Abolitionism became the dominant reform movement of the

antebellum period

1. The Second Great Awakening convinced abolitionists of the sin

of slavery.

2. Abolitionists were 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 The Liberator, a militant antislavery

newspaper, in Boston in1831

Symbolized the beginning of the radical abolitionist

movement

b. He demanded that the "virtuous" North secede from the

"wicked" South.

Yet, he 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 achieve more

political influence

b. Theodore Dwight Weld

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

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

the Ohio Valley.

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

abolitionist works ever written

Married Angelina Grimke, a southern abolitionist.

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

golden trumpet"

Perhaps most important abolitionist; had a major impact on

politics during the Civil War as he argued for emancipation.

One of the finest orators of the 19th century

Product the 2nd Great Awakening

Followed Garrison but was more politically practical in the

1860s

d. Angelina and Sarah Grimke

Only white southern women to become leading abolitionists

Also involved in the women’s rights movement.

Angelina was married to Theodore Weld; Sarah remained

part of their household.

e. Lydia Maria Child

Became perhaps the first white person to write a book

favoring the immediate emancipation of slaves without

compensation to slave owners

Believed women’s rights could not be achieved until slavery

was abolished

Sought equal membership for women in the American Anti-

Slavery Society

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

Funded the Anti-Slavery Society, and the Liberator




g. The 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 advocate

5. Elijah Lovejoy: Militant editor of an antislavery newspaper in

Illinois.

a. His printing press was destroyed four times; 4th time it was

thrown into a river and Lovejoy was killed by a mob who

also 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 the 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 (1845): depicted

his life as a slave, struggle to read and write, and his escape to

the 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

the 1850s

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

slavery.

E. Underground Railroad

1. Chain of antislavery homes which harbored hundreds of slaves

escaping to Canada; aided by black and 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 the Union army in South Carolina as a spy during the

Civil War.

3. Prigg v. Pennsylvania, 1842

a. Pennsylvania tried to prohibit the capture and return of

runaway slaves within its borders.

Violated the federal government’s fugitive slave law of 1793

b. The Supreme Court ruled it 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 the 1820s, southern antislavery societies actually outnumbered

northern ones.

B. After the 1830s, white southern abolitionism was silenced.

C. Causes for southern concern

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

a. Southerners were concerned the federal gov't might

support abolitionism.

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

whipped, or lynched.

3. Abolitionist literature that flooded the southern mails infuriated

slave owners.

D. Abolitionist literature was banned in the Southern mail system.

The 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. Claimed slavery was supported by the Bible (Genesis) and

Aristotle (as white 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. Slaves breathed fresh air in the south as opposed to the stuffy

factories that sickened northern workers.

c. Full employment for blacks existed in the South.

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

workers who had no safety net.

F. "Gag resolution" (1836): southerners drove it through Congress

1. All antislavery appeals and petitions in Congress were prohibited.

Seen by northerners as a threat to the 1st Amendment

2. Rep. John Quincy Adams waged an 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 and 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 was dependent on the South for its economic

well-being.

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

million

b. New England mills were fed by southern cotton.

B. Mob outbursts occurred in response to extreme abolitionists

1. Lewis Tappan’s NY house was ransacked in 1834 to a cheering

crowd.

2. 1835, Garrison was dragged through the streets of Boston with a

rope tied around him.

3. Elijah P. Lovejoy was 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 the remaining Louisiana

Territory and Mexican Cession.

The "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”

African American Episcopal Church

Richard Allen

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 Lydia Maria Child

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

Essay Questions

Note: The topic of slavery from the colonial period through the Civil War is a very high probability area overall. Below

are some questions that will help you study the topics that have appeared on previous exams for material related to

this subunit.

1. Analyze several factors that led to the growth and maintenance of the slave system in the South between 1800

and 1850. 2. To what extent was there a unified South politically,

economically and socially?

3. Discuss the ways in which a vibrant slave culture emerged socially, religiously, and musically.

4. 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?




Bibliography: College Board, AP United States History Course and Exam Description

(Including the Curriculum Framework), 2014: History, New York:

College Board, 2014

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

Antebellum South, New York: Oxford University Press, 1979

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

Slavery in Antebellum America - White Plains Middle School in...Slavery in Antebellum America I. The Rise of "King Cotton" A. Prior to 1793, the Southern economy was weak: depressed

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