The South and the Slavery Controversy

1793-1860

The South and the Slavery Controversy

American slavery was rooted in both racism & economic exploitation and depended on brutal repression for its survival.Slavery remained a cancer on American democracy; a moral outrage that mocked our nation’s claim to be a model of social & political enlightenment.The American slave populations had several unique distinctions: The only enslaved population in world history which grew by

its own biological reproduction. Developed a distinctive & durable African-American culture

which flourished under slavery.** Because of these TWO facts, some historians have WRONGLY suggested that American slavery must have been less punitive than slavery in other parts of the world.

Testing the New Nation 1820-1877

The nation lived uneasily with slavery from the beginning.In the early Republic, the Federal Government took steps to slow the growth of slavery:Old Northwest Ordinance (1787)- banned

slavery there.Prohibited the further importation of slaves after

1808.Missouri Compromise (1820)- forever banned

slavery in the Louisiana Purchase Territory north of the 36-30 Line & Missouri.

Many northern states began to abolish slavery GRADUALLY after the Revolution also.

Antislavery attitudes even gained support in the South following the American Revolution as citizens & state governments debated limiting or ending slavery.

American Slavery after the Revolution

The Cotton Economy Before 1793, Slavery was on the decline until

invention of the cotton gin= short staple cotton becomes profitable

1780’s- northern states were gradually abolishing slavery.

1860- 4 million slaves in the US (quadrupled since 1800)= worth $2 Billion = 90% illiterate

Prime field hand= $1200- $1800 (1860 dollars)

Northern bankers loaned $300 million for slavesTextile manufacturers in US depended 100% on

Southern cotton75% of whites in the south owned 0 slaves“Lords of the Loom tied to the Lords of the Lash”

Changes in Cotton Productio

n

1820

1860

Southern Agriculture

Slaves Picking Cottonon a Mississippi

Plantation

“Cotton is King”• As cotton became more profitable- planters

drifted down to the Gulf states= planters bought more slaves & land to buy more slaves & land.

• Northern shippers made much profit from the cotton trade

• Cotton accounted for ½ the value of all US exports after 1840

• Britain’s textile mills depended on southern cotton (75% of their cotton came from the South).

• 1850’s- 1/5 of the British population directly or indirectly got its living from Southern Cotton

• If Civil War between North & South occurred- Southerners believed that Britain would break any Northern blockade & force recognition of the South= “FALSE SENSE OF SUPERIORITY”.

Value of Cotton Exports As % of All US Exports

The Planter AristocracyBefore the Civil War, a planter aristocracy (oligarchy-a government by the few) dominated Southern government & society . • 1850- 1,733 Southern families owned 100 or

more slaves each= “cottonocracy” • educated their children in private schools –

many located in the north • had leisure time for study & statecraft= John

C. Calhoun (Yale), Jefferson Davis (West Point grad)= South produces higher proportion of high rank statesmen before 1860

The “Cottonocracy” Effects of the Planter Elite rule on the South:The South, dominated by cotton rich

planter class= undemocratic, widened the gap between rich & poor

Hampered the growth of tax-supported schools

Characteristics of the Planter Class:favorite writer of this class- Sir Walter

Scott (Ivanhoe)= southern chivalry= idealized feudal systems

Southern mistress– commanded large staff (mostly slave women)

almost no slaveholding women advocated for abolition of slavery.

The Mistress of Belle Grove Plantation

Effects of the Slave System on the South1.Plantation agriculture RUINED the soil; was wasteful= led

to populations moving West & Northwest

2. Increasingly monopolistic- as “land butchery” increased, small famers sold their land to prosperous plantation neighbors = “the big got bigger & the small got smaller”

3. Plantation system was financially unstable- over speculation in land & slaves was common = planters went into more debt

4. Dependence on a one crop economy- discouraged agricultural diversification (price was dependent on world conditions)

5. By the 1850’s Southerners increasingly resented the North- the North was prospering at their expense (commissions & interest paid to bankers, agents, shippers & middlemen).

6. Plantation Economy repelled immigration- by 1860- only 4.4% of the Southern population was foreign-born= white south is most Anglo-Saxon section of the nation.

The South & the White MajorityOnly a handful of southern whites lived in fancy mansions.Planter Elites= 1,733 families who owned a hundred or more slaves (1850)Less Wealthy Slave-owners= 345,000 Southern white families (1,725,000)• Over 2/3 of these families (255,268) owned fewer than 10

slaves***In all- only ¼ of white southerners owned slaves or belonged to a slave holding family= made up a majority of slave ownersSmall Farmers= typically small famers who worked hard in the fields • households owned a slave or two-most likely a slave family• lived in modest farm housesNon-slave holding whites • By 1860- 6,120,825 southern whites (3/4) of all whites

owned no slaves• made a living cultivating poor soil of backcountry or

mountain valleys• Resented the rich planter class (“snobocracy”)• raised corn, hogs, -- not cotton• lived isolated livesPoor Whites=least prosperous non-slave holding whites = “poor white trash”

Poor Whites• called “hillbillies or crackers”• probably suffered from malnutrition, parasites,

hookworm• Among the strongest defenders of slavery WHY??1.Prospect of upward social mobility2.Belief in their racial superiority

The Mountain Whites • Isolated in the valleys of Appalachia Range from

western Virginia to northern Georgia & Alabama• lived under meager frontier conditions• Retained Elizabethan speech• hated planters & slaves• proved loyal to the Union during the war & the

Republican Party after the war

Slave Owning Families, 1850

Free Blacks “the Third Race” • 1860- numbered about 250,000 in the South• Upper South- free blacks were part of manumission

after Revolutionary War• Deep South- many free blacks were malattoes-

emancipated children of white planter & his black mistress

• Some free blacks in the South earned freedom with their earnings

Life of Free Blacks • many owned property- William T. Johnson (New

Orleans) even owned black slaves • prohibited from working certain occupations• prevented from testifying against whites in court• could be kidnapped back into slavery• Free Blacks In the North• 225,000-• northern states forbade them entrance; forbade

them the right to vote, forbade them the right to attend public schools

Free blacks in the North –hated by the Irish• anti-black feelings in the north stronger than in

the south

• “ it was often observed …white southerners, who were often suckled and reared by black nurses, liked the black as an individual but despised the race. The white northerner, on the other hand, often professed to like the race but dislike the individual blacks”

Plantation Slavery4 million black slaves dwelt at the bottom of Southern social society.• 1808- legal importation of slaves to

America ended= slaves were smuggled into the US AFTERWARDS

• Most increases in the US slave population = natural increase – distinguishes American slavery from all others!!

1.Slaves were an investment- 1860 Southern investment in slaves= $2 billion (1860 price $1800 for prime field hand)

• Masters cared for slaves like most expensive property

2. Slavery hobbled the economic development of the region as a whole (slaves from upper South drained to deep south)= slave women in the Old South could earn freedom by bearing up to 13 children.

White masters often forced themselves on slave women= malatto children Slave Auctions• slaves sold alongside horses, cows & pigs • families were separated- for bankruptcy or

inheritance

The Life of SlavesThere is no clear or simple answer to describe

the life of slaves. Treatment varied from master to master, mansion to house, and region to region.

hard grueling work, ignorance, oppression worked from dusk until dawn

work & lives of slaves managed by a white “overseer” or black “driver”.

no political rights-only min. protection from

arbitrary murder

• the whip served as a reminder of white mastery & substitute for wages (strong- willed slaves sent to a “breaker”)

Life in the “Black Belt” • area from SC and Georgia to Alabama, Mississippi, &

Louisiana

• life was harder here than in the Old South• • majority of blacks lived on plantations in slave

communities of 20 or more (75% of the population)

• maintained a fairly stable family life & African-American culture

African- American Culture & Family lived in stable two parent families named children after grandparents or forebear’s

master

Religious practices: influenced by preachers of the Second Great Awakening (mix of African & Christian traditions)

emphasized stories in the Bible- like captivity of Israelites

call & response style of preaching- adapted from African “ringshout”

Burden of Bondage• most states passed laws which prohibited the

education of slaves. education leads to ideas=9/10 of adult slaves illiterate at start of Civil War)

Slave Resistance• slaves conduced work slow downs (led to

myth of black “laziness”)• slaves stole goods produced by or purchased

by their labor• conducted sabotage of tools.Slave Rebellions:1. Gabriel Prosser Rebellion (1800): planned slave revolt in Virginia; foiled by informants—leaders were hanged.2. Denmark Vesey Revolt (1822): Charleston SC; led by a free black- foiled by informers= Vesey & 30 others hanged.3.Nat Turner Rebellion (1831): a black preacher (Nat Turner) led an uprising & killed 60 whites (mainly women & children)- Vesey & others hanged

4. The Amistad (1839): enslaved Africans rebelled aboard a Spanish Slave ship & seized the ship off the coast of Cuba and attempted to sail back to Cuba but, ended up at Long Island, NY.• They were imprisoned for several years &

tried several times.• John Q. Adams successfully argued their

case before the Supreme Court to gain their freedom. They were sent back to Sierra Leone, Africa.

Black Slavery’s Toll on Whites• Southern whites developed a “siege” mentality

(surrounded by potentially rebellious blacks angered by northern abolitionist propaganda).

• Southern fear & paranoia bred theories of biological racial superiority to blacks.

• The American South was one of the last strongholds of slavery in the world.

.

“(Africans) are a distinct race of people, separated by strongly marked lines of moral and physical condition from those among who they reside. This difference is so strongly marked that there can be no spontaneous amalgamation by intermarriage, and consequently no reciprocity of social rights and privileges between the races…They must therefore continue to exist as a separate race” 1858 , William A. Smith, Southern clergyman, College President (DEFENDER OF SLAVERY)

“…that all persons of color who possess the qualifications which are demanded of others ought to be admitted forthwith to the enjoyment of the same privileges, and the exercise of the same prerogatives, as others; and that the paths of preferment, of wealth, and of intelligence should be opened as widely to them as persons of a white complexion.”Declaration at the opening meeting of the American Anti-Slavery Society, 1833

* Is there any common ground between the TWO positions?

Perspectives on Race & Slavery

1st emerged at the time of the Am. Revolution among the Quakers. Northern states gradually abolished slavery because of the “revolutionary spirit”.• Early abolitionists wanted to transport free

blacks back to Africa= The American Colonization Society (1817)= 1822 free African-American founded Liberia (capital-Monrovia)

• Over 40 years- 15,000 freed blacks colonized back to Africa

• * Most blacks did not wish to be sent back to Africa

• Colonization remained a popular but non-practical solution- espoused by prominent Americans like former president James Monroe…and Abraham Lincoln

The Abolition Movement

Abolitionism Gains SteamBefore the 1830’s- abolition was not seen as much of a threat to the South (example: Benjamin Lundy (Quaker) & James Birney (slave holder) gave speeches in south pushing GRADUAL emancipation.• By the 1830’s- abolitionism gained new energy• Influenced greatly by the Second Great Awakening

admonition to rid America of the sin of slaveryImpact of the British Abolitionist:William Wiberforce (British member of Parliament, Evangelical Christian…inspired by George Whitefield) led the Britain to free slaves in the West Indies • Theodore Weld: evangelized by Charles Grandison

Finney in NY’s “Burned Over District”; spoke to the mass of rural uneducated farmers to end slavery.

• Arthur & Lewis Tappan ( richNY merchants): 1832 paid Weld’s way to Lane Theological Seminary (Ohio) headed by Lyman Beecher= Weld & “ Lane Rebels” expelled in 1834.

• Weld & rebels went across the Old Northwest preaching anti-slavery &published “American Slavery as It Is” (1839)= influenced Harriet Beecher Stowe who wrote “Uncle Tom’s Cabin”.

Radical Abolitionists1. William Lloyd Garrison: 1831- published the

Liberator (abolitionist newspaper) at age 27.• Waged a 30 year war on slavery in the US

(MOST MILITANT)= demanded the north secede from the South.

• Helped found the American Antislavery Society (1833)

• co-collaborator: Wendell Phillips (the “golden trumpet” of abolitionism)- wore no cotton cloth/ate no cane sugar.

“I will be as harsh as truth and as uncompromising as justice…I am in earnest—I will not equivocate---I will not excuse---I will not retreat a single inch---and I WILL BE HEARD!” William Lloyd Garrison

David Walker who wrote Appeal to the Colored Citizens of the World (1829) Encouraged readers to take active role in fighting

their own oppression; Spoke out against theories of racial prejudice

Advocated a bloody end to white superiority. Martin Delaney- one of the few blacks who supported of black colonization back to AfricaSojourner Truth, a freed black woman in NY who fought for black emancipation (freedom) & women’s rights.**Frederick Douglas: greatest black abolitionist; escaped slavery in 1838 at age 21; lectured to anti-slavery groups.• Wrote his own autobiography- Narrative of

the Life of Frederick Douglas (1848)

Prominent Black Abolitionists

Frederick Douglas & some Abolitionists turned to POLITICS to help bring an end to slavery.Political Abolitionists supported:The Liberty Party (1840)The Free Soil Party (1848)The Republican Party (1850’s)

Most Abolitionists like William Lloyd Garrison (pacifist) supported bloody violence as the price to end slavery.“I will be as harsh as truth and as uncompromising as justice…I am in earnest—I will not equivocate---I will not excuse---I will not retreat a single inch---and I WILL BE HEARD!” William Lloyd Garrison

Same Goals—Different Approaches

Antislavery sentiment was not unknown in the South.• In the 1820’s Antislavery Societies more

popular in the South (below Mason-Dixon Line) than in the North

The last gasp of southern questioning of slavery was: 1831-1832- The Virginia legislature debated

emancipation & eventually defeated proposals to end slavery.

• 1831-The Nat Turner Revolt occurred• Southern states passed laws forbidding emancipation

& tightened slave codes & began to build up state militias

• Post –slave revolts- Abolitionist Garrison party blamed by Southerners

• 1832 Nullification Crisis: heightened southerners fears & suspicions

• Southern paranoia, fear = brutal beatings, lynchings

The South Reacts Against Abolitionism

Southerners Defend Slavery1. **“Positive Good”- Southerners argued that

slavery was supported by the Bible & Aristotle• Slavery rescued Africans from barbaric

conditions of Africa • master-slave relationship was like family• black slavery vs. wage slavery of the north2.**1836 The Gag Rule: Southern politicians

pushed a resolution that all anti-slavery appeals submitted to the House of Representative would be shelved.

• a clear limit on right to petition the government

• John Quincy Adams- ex-president fought this for 8 years=finally repealed.

3. 1835- US Government Postal Service- ordered postmasters to destroy abolitionist newspapers being delivered South & allowed the South to arrest postmasters who refused.

This 1839 cartoon provides a satire on the "gag rule" in the House of Representatives.  Representative John Quincy Adams of Massachusetts is featured pinned to the ground protecting petitions against slavery.Image courtesy of Library of Congress

Abolitionist Impact in the NorthExtreme abolitionists (Garrisonians) were resented for a long time in many parts of the North as EXTREMISTS.• Northerners respected the Constitution’s proclamations

on property rights.• Northerners were owed $300 million by 1850’s by

Southerners• Northern textile mills would shut down= unemployment

for many. (“Doughface” –any northern politician who sided with the south)

• 1835- William Lloyd Garrison- WAS attacked & almost hanged by a mob (Boston) “Broadcloth Mob” BUT HE ESCAPED.

•

• 1837- *Rev. Elijah P. Lovejoy: His abolitionist Printing Press was destroyed 4 times; killed by an ANTI-ABOLITIONIST mob in Illinois in 1837.

• Most respectable politicians like Lincoln tended to avoid contact with strict abolitionists

• By 1850’s- abolitionism started to touch many northerners; even though many northerners did not want to end slavery many began to support limiting the spread of slavery any further west (Lincoln)= became known as FREE SOILERS

Elijah P. Lovejoy

Wood engraving of the pro-slavery mob burning down Winthrop Sargent Gilman's warehouse