- South -> dramatic growth in mid-1800s
· staples: sugar, rice, tobacco, cotton
· European trading partners
- plantation: dependent on slave labor -> strengthened (1860)
[The Cotton Economy]
- economic power shift :: “upper South” : along Atlantic Coast à “lower South” : new states in Southwest
(The Rise of King Cotton)
· tobacco
o unstable market
o dry up the land quickly -> moved westward (Piedmont area)
o limited to only small lands
· by 1830s: Virginia, Maryland, NC shifting to other crops
· Coastal South: SC, Georgia, parts of Florida – cultivated rice (more stable & profitable)
o demanded irrigation, long growing season (9 months) <- restricted to limited area
· Gulf Coast: sugar
o intensive labor, long growing time <- only wealthy planters
o competition from Caribbean Islands
o -> did not spread beyond Southern Louisiana & eastern Texas
· long staple cotton (Sea Island) – only limited area (coastal region of Southeast)
· Solution: short staple cotton
o adapt to various types of soils
o harder to process (seed extraction) <- invention of cotton gin
· demand for cotton grew ß as the à British textile industries grew (1820s – 1830s) / NE (1840s – 1850s)
o (west) SC and Georgia -> Alabama and Mississippi -> (north) Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas
o 1850s: cotton = the core of Southern economy
§ 2/3 of total exports = cotton
· cotton production prominent in :: “lower South” -> “Deep South” (later era)
o wealthy plantation owners (from older states)
o small slaveholders / slaveless farmers (who hoped to move to planter class)
· 1840 – 1860: slaves moved from upper South to cotton states
o 1) masters moving into Southwest
o 2) sold to plantation owners
· “second middle passage” – slave family broken up, harsh environment
o Southwest <- new economic boom center
o upper South <- agricultural production declining
(Southern Trade and Industry)
· upper South: flour milling / textile / iron manufacturing
o 1860: total value of southern textile manufactures = $4.5 million
§ only about 2% of value of the cotton exported that year
· limited nonfarm commercial sector (developed in South) : to serve the needs of the plantation economy
o brokers (factors) -> marketed the planters’ crops and provided them with credit in absence of the banks
· inadequate transportation system
o no canals
o crude roads <- not suitable for heavy transports
o railroads (though extended in the 1840s – 1850s), failed to tie the regions together
o only means to transport: water <- most manufactures in / near port towns
· South: dependent on the manufacturers, merchants, and professionals of the North
o some Southerners began to advocate for economic independency
§ James D. B. De Bow (New Orleans) -> magazine <De Bow’s Commercial Review>
ú far more smaller than northern magazine <Harper’s Weekly>
ú full of northern ads.
(Sources of Southern Difference)
· Why South didn’t develop its commercial / industrial economy itself?
o 1) agriculture boom <- capitalists had little incentives to make investment
o 2) wealthy Southerners had invested too much in lands & slaves -> no more $ to invest further
o 3) climate: hot, humid, steamy summers <– didn't’ attract many industrialization
o 4) southerners more concerned with manner than growth and development
· South = limited, not well-connected
[Southern White Society]
- small minority of southern whites owned slaves
- 1860: ¼ of the whole population
(The Planter Class)
· planter aristocracy – power & influence
o South: mostly wealthy collected from first-generation settlers, as late as the 1850s
· planters = as competitive as capitalists and industrialists in the North
o moved for more productive areas
· manners:
o chivalry – obligated white men to defend their “honor” through dueling
o avoided “coarse” occupation as trade and commerce
§ -> those who didn’t become planters went to military
(The “Southern Lady”)
· centered at home; hostesses for husbands and nurturing mothers for children
· “genteel” southern white women = not in politics or income-earning
· Southern women -> more subjected to their husbands
o George Fitzhugh (social theorist - 1850s): women must be protected
o not customary for working
o some female “academies” – training women to be suitable wives
· Northern women (middle class) => engaged in work
o spinning, weaving, and other productions
o supervising the slaves
· Southern women burden: high birth rate (20% higher than other parts of the nation) <-> high infant mortality rate
o Southern planation owners often had relationships with female slaves -> their children reminded the wives of their husbands’ infidelity
(The Plain Folk)
· typical white southerner: “yeoman farmer” = “plain folk”
o owned few slaves -> worked and lived together and more closely
o owned lands -> subsistence farming / cotton and other crops for the market
o couldn’t operate enough to pay off the debts
· South: failing primary education systems (but a lot of high-level educations for upper class)
· some nonslaveowning whites opposed planter elite
o “hill people” (Appalachian ranges east of the Mississippi, Ozarks to the west of the river, in “hill country” or “backcountry” areas)
§ simple subsistence farming, no slaves, unconnected to cotton economy
§ animosity toward the planter aristocracy
§ during the Civil War: refused to support the Confederacy
· some nonslaveowning whites accepted the planter elite system
o living in the middle of the planation system
o accepted the system due to their relation/connection to it
o 1850s: cotton boom allowed many small farmers to earn more $
§ some bought more lands & slaves
· some white southerners who didn’t have a part in planation economy but accepted it-> “crackers” / “sand hillers” / “poor white trash”
o occupied infertile lands of the pine barrens / red hills / swamps
o owned no land
o lived by hunting and foraging
o worked as a common worker for the neighbors
o no food -> ate clay (so called “clay eaters”) -> suffered from malaria, hookworm, pellagra
o <- were held with contempt by planters and small farmers
· overall: no opposition to the planation system or slavery
o too poor to protest
o unifying factor of the South
[Slavery: The “Peculiar Institution”]
- America, South: only region in western world (except Brazil, Cuba, Puerto Rico) with slavery
- African Americans began developing their own distinct society and culture
· slavery => created unique bond between blacks and whites (slaves & masters)
· each influenced each other
(Varieties of Slavery)
· African Americans: had no basic rights
o no basic laws given to slaves
· codes: 1) prohibited whites to educate blacks / 2) anyone with African ancestry = black (even if it was a rumor)
o uneven and spotty: some enjoyed autonomy but some were in prisonlike condition
· types of slave-master relationship: 1) master and few slaves worked more alongside / 2) slaves worked in large planation without close relationship with the master
o slaves preferred to work in larger planation for social world of their own
§ substantial planters often hired overseers
§ “head drivers” : trusted and responsible slaves assisted by several subdrivers, acted as a overseer
(Life under Slavery)
· diet: cornmeal, salt pork, molasses, (rare occasion) fresh meat or poultry
o cultivated small gardens
· masters provided them with cheap clothing and shoes
· slaves lived in rough cabins (slave quarters)
· plantation mistress / doctor – provided medical care
o but slave women “healers,” midwives, or mothers played more important roles
· harvest time = longest workdays
o women worked the hardest: field works, cooking, cleaning, child rearing
· many slave families were divided -> male worked away from farm or sold off to far way plantation -> women as single mothers
o children did not survive; died young
· household servants: easier life (physically)
o in smaller farm, slaves worked in both field and household
o in larger farm, separated in field and domestic
§ nursemaids, housemaids, cooks, butlers, coachmen
§ lived close to the master and the family
§ ate leftovers from family table
§ strict discipline and lack of privacy => made slaves resent their master
· female household slaves: often sexually abused by white masters, received vindictive treatment from white women
(Slavery in the Cities)
· urban slavery vs. rural slavery
· isolated plantations <- slaves had little contact with free blacks and lower-class whites
o in larger plantation, masters could not supervise slaves closely
· slaves were often hired out -> slavery and freedom more distinctive
o contract working in mining and lumbering <- far away from cities
o worked on the docks and on construction sites, driving wagons, performed other unskilled jobs in cities and towns
o women and children: region’s few textile mills
o blacksmiths and carpenters
(Free Blacks)
· 250,000 free blacks in slaveholding states by the Civil War
o slaves who had earned money to buy themselves freedom
o most urban blacks
§ Elizabeth Keckley (saved money from sewing)
§ -> became a personal servant of Mary Todd Lincoln in White House
o most masters had little incentives to free their slaves
· some slaves freed out of masters’ moral qualms
o John Randolph of Roanoke: freed 400 slaves in 1833
· 1830s: state laws became strict, in fear of Nat Turner’s revolt
o made it difficult/impossible to free (manumit) slaves
· some blacks became wealthy and bought their relatives as “slaves”
· New Orleans, Natchez, Charleston = free black communities
· Most southern free blacks lived in poverty
(Slave Resistance)
· slave owners: slaves are happy and content under slavery
o but most slaves yearned for freedom -> few chose to remain and fight along with their white masters during the Civil War
· slave reactions:
o 1) served under the expectation of whites – “Sambo patterns”
o 2) rebelled against whites
· slave rebellions
o 1800 – Gabriel Prosser gathered 1,000 rebellious slaves outside Richmond, and two Africans gave the plot away -> Virginia militia crushed the uprising before it began -> 35 (including Prosser) executed
o 1822 – Denmark Vesey and his followers in Charleston (rumored to be 9,000) made preparation for revolt but was discovered -> suppression
o 1831 – Nat Turner (slave preacher) with armed African Americans and killed 60 white men, women, and children in Southampton County, Virginia -> crushed by state and federal army -> 100 blacks executed
· slaves running away
o small number escaped to the North or to Canada
o sympathetic whites and free blacks
§ secret escape routes – “underground railroad”
o “slave patrols” – white stopped a wandering black and demanded for travel permits
o hazards for escape, very risky
· slaves refused to work hard, stole from their masters and neighboring whites
o sabotage: losing or breaking tools
o performing tasks improperly
o extreme cases (rare): cutting their fingers / committing suicide
· for most parts: resisted by subtle methods of rebellion
[The Cultural of Slavery]
- developed their own, separate culture -> sustained a sense of racial pride and unity
(Slave Religion)
· early 1800s: most slaves = Christians
o converted voluntarily
o forced to (Protestant missionaries evangelized among them)
o masters expected slaves to join their worship under the supervision of white ministers
o autonomous black churches = banned by laws
· South: blacks developed their own version of religion (Christianity)
o polytheistic religious traditions of Africa (practice of voodoos)
o bent religion to the special circumstances of bondage
· more emotional, reflected the influence of African customs and practices
o prayer meetings <- fervent chanting, exclamations, ecstatic conversation experiences
o more joyful and affirming
o emphasized the dream of freedom and deliverance
§ whites interpreted it as afterlife but for slaves, it mean true freedom
(Language and Music)
· developed a type of common language with African elements mixed with English -> “pidgin”
· Music – slaves made instruments out of what’s available (relied heavily on rhythm)
o banjo
· voice and songs
o sang during planation works to pass time; contained relatively not offensive material (since whites were also in the field)
o sang for hope for freedom, lamented their bondage
· slave songs = rarely written down, often seemed entirely spontaneous
o improvised
o sometimes accompanied by dance
· storytelling
(The Slave Family)
· “nuclear family” <- kinship model among African Americans
· black women usually bore children early (14-15), couples living together before married
o wedding ceremony after a child (formal vows)
o husbands and wives in neighboring plantations visited each other, usually secretly at night
o strong family ties like their masters
· 1/3 families broken up by slave trade
o flight made to reunite with families
· paternalism – slaves depended on their masters for almost everything
mutual dependences
· staples: sugar, rice, tobacco, cotton
· European trading partners
- plantation: dependent on slave labor -> strengthened (1860)
[The Cotton Economy]
- economic power shift :: “upper South” : along Atlantic Coast à “lower South” : new states in Southwest
(The Rise of King Cotton)
· tobacco
o unstable market
o dry up the land quickly -> moved westward (Piedmont area)
o limited to only small lands
· by 1830s: Virginia, Maryland, NC shifting to other crops
· Coastal South: SC, Georgia, parts of Florida – cultivated rice (more stable & profitable)
o demanded irrigation, long growing season (9 months) <- restricted to limited area
· Gulf Coast: sugar
o intensive labor, long growing time <- only wealthy planters
o competition from Caribbean Islands
o -> did not spread beyond Southern Louisiana & eastern Texas
· long staple cotton (Sea Island) – only limited area (coastal region of Southeast)
· Solution: short staple cotton
o adapt to various types of soils
o harder to process (seed extraction) <- invention of cotton gin
· demand for cotton grew ß as the à British textile industries grew (1820s – 1830s) / NE (1840s – 1850s)
o (west) SC and Georgia -> Alabama and Mississippi -> (north) Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas
o 1850s: cotton = the core of Southern economy
§ 2/3 of total exports = cotton
· cotton production prominent in :: “lower South” -> “Deep South” (later era)
o wealthy plantation owners (from older states)
o small slaveholders / slaveless farmers (who hoped to move to planter class)
· 1840 – 1860: slaves moved from upper South to cotton states
o 1) masters moving into Southwest
o 2) sold to plantation owners
· “second middle passage” – slave family broken up, harsh environment
o Southwest <- new economic boom center
o upper South <- agricultural production declining
(Southern Trade and Industry)
· upper South: flour milling / textile / iron manufacturing
o 1860: total value of southern textile manufactures = $4.5 million
§ only about 2% of value of the cotton exported that year
· limited nonfarm commercial sector (developed in South) : to serve the needs of the plantation economy
o brokers (factors) -> marketed the planters’ crops and provided them with credit in absence of the banks
· inadequate transportation system
o no canals
o crude roads <- not suitable for heavy transports
o railroads (though extended in the 1840s – 1850s), failed to tie the regions together
o only means to transport: water <- most manufactures in / near port towns
· South: dependent on the manufacturers, merchants, and professionals of the North
o some Southerners began to advocate for economic independency
§ James D. B. De Bow (New Orleans) -> magazine <De Bow’s Commercial Review>
ú far more smaller than northern magazine <Harper’s Weekly>
ú full of northern ads.
(Sources of Southern Difference)
· Why South didn’t develop its commercial / industrial economy itself?
o 1) agriculture boom <- capitalists had little incentives to make investment
o 2) wealthy Southerners had invested too much in lands & slaves -> no more $ to invest further
o 3) climate: hot, humid, steamy summers <– didn't’ attract many industrialization
o 4) southerners more concerned with manner than growth and development
· South = limited, not well-connected
[Southern White Society]
- small minority of southern whites owned slaves
- 1860: ¼ of the whole population
(The Planter Class)
· planter aristocracy – power & influence
o South: mostly wealthy collected from first-generation settlers, as late as the 1850s
· planters = as competitive as capitalists and industrialists in the North
o moved for more productive areas
· manners:
o chivalry – obligated white men to defend their “honor” through dueling
o avoided “coarse” occupation as trade and commerce
§ -> those who didn’t become planters went to military
(The “Southern Lady”)
· centered at home; hostesses for husbands and nurturing mothers for children
· “genteel” southern white women = not in politics or income-earning
· Southern women -> more subjected to their husbands
o George Fitzhugh (social theorist - 1850s): women must be protected
o not customary for working
o some female “academies” – training women to be suitable wives
· Northern women (middle class) => engaged in work
o spinning, weaving, and other productions
o supervising the slaves
· Southern women burden: high birth rate (20% higher than other parts of the nation) <-> high infant mortality rate
o Southern planation owners often had relationships with female slaves -> their children reminded the wives of their husbands’ infidelity
(The Plain Folk)
· typical white southerner: “yeoman farmer” = “plain folk”
o owned few slaves -> worked and lived together and more closely
o owned lands -> subsistence farming / cotton and other crops for the market
o couldn’t operate enough to pay off the debts
· South: failing primary education systems (but a lot of high-level educations for upper class)
· some nonslaveowning whites opposed planter elite
o “hill people” (Appalachian ranges east of the Mississippi, Ozarks to the west of the river, in “hill country” or “backcountry” areas)
§ simple subsistence farming, no slaves, unconnected to cotton economy
§ animosity toward the planter aristocracy
§ during the Civil War: refused to support the Confederacy
· some nonslaveowning whites accepted the planter elite system
o living in the middle of the planation system
o accepted the system due to their relation/connection to it
o 1850s: cotton boom allowed many small farmers to earn more $
§ some bought more lands & slaves
· some white southerners who didn’t have a part in planation economy but accepted it-> “crackers” / “sand hillers” / “poor white trash”
o occupied infertile lands of the pine barrens / red hills / swamps
o owned no land
o lived by hunting and foraging
o worked as a common worker for the neighbors
o no food -> ate clay (so called “clay eaters”) -> suffered from malaria, hookworm, pellagra
o <- were held with contempt by planters and small farmers
· overall: no opposition to the planation system or slavery
o too poor to protest
o unifying factor of the South
[Slavery: The “Peculiar Institution”]
- America, South: only region in western world (except Brazil, Cuba, Puerto Rico) with slavery
- African Americans began developing their own distinct society and culture
· slavery => created unique bond between blacks and whites (slaves & masters)
· each influenced each other
(Varieties of Slavery)
· African Americans: had no basic rights
o no basic laws given to slaves
· codes: 1) prohibited whites to educate blacks / 2) anyone with African ancestry = black (even if it was a rumor)
o uneven and spotty: some enjoyed autonomy but some were in prisonlike condition
· types of slave-master relationship: 1) master and few slaves worked more alongside / 2) slaves worked in large planation without close relationship with the master
o slaves preferred to work in larger planation for social world of their own
§ substantial planters often hired overseers
§ “head drivers” : trusted and responsible slaves assisted by several subdrivers, acted as a overseer
(Life under Slavery)
· diet: cornmeal, salt pork, molasses, (rare occasion) fresh meat or poultry
o cultivated small gardens
· masters provided them with cheap clothing and shoes
· slaves lived in rough cabins (slave quarters)
· plantation mistress / doctor – provided medical care
o but slave women “healers,” midwives, or mothers played more important roles
· harvest time = longest workdays
o women worked the hardest: field works, cooking, cleaning, child rearing
· many slave families were divided -> male worked away from farm or sold off to far way plantation -> women as single mothers
o children did not survive; died young
· household servants: easier life (physically)
o in smaller farm, slaves worked in both field and household
o in larger farm, separated in field and domestic
§ nursemaids, housemaids, cooks, butlers, coachmen
§ lived close to the master and the family
§ ate leftovers from family table
§ strict discipline and lack of privacy => made slaves resent their master
· female household slaves: often sexually abused by white masters, received vindictive treatment from white women
(Slavery in the Cities)
· urban slavery vs. rural slavery
· isolated plantations <- slaves had little contact with free blacks and lower-class whites
o in larger plantation, masters could not supervise slaves closely
· slaves were often hired out -> slavery and freedom more distinctive
o contract working in mining and lumbering <- far away from cities
o worked on the docks and on construction sites, driving wagons, performed other unskilled jobs in cities and towns
o women and children: region’s few textile mills
o blacksmiths and carpenters
(Free Blacks)
· 250,000 free blacks in slaveholding states by the Civil War
o slaves who had earned money to buy themselves freedom
o most urban blacks
§ Elizabeth Keckley (saved money from sewing)
§ -> became a personal servant of Mary Todd Lincoln in White House
o most masters had little incentives to free their slaves
· some slaves freed out of masters’ moral qualms
o John Randolph of Roanoke: freed 400 slaves in 1833
· 1830s: state laws became strict, in fear of Nat Turner’s revolt
o made it difficult/impossible to free (manumit) slaves
· some blacks became wealthy and bought their relatives as “slaves”
· New Orleans, Natchez, Charleston = free black communities
· Most southern free blacks lived in poverty
(Slave Resistance)
· slave owners: slaves are happy and content under slavery
o but most slaves yearned for freedom -> few chose to remain and fight along with their white masters during the Civil War
· slave reactions:
o 1) served under the expectation of whites – “Sambo patterns”
o 2) rebelled against whites
· slave rebellions
o 1800 – Gabriel Prosser gathered 1,000 rebellious slaves outside Richmond, and two Africans gave the plot away -> Virginia militia crushed the uprising before it began -> 35 (including Prosser) executed
o 1822 – Denmark Vesey and his followers in Charleston (rumored to be 9,000) made preparation for revolt but was discovered -> suppression
o 1831 – Nat Turner (slave preacher) with armed African Americans and killed 60 white men, women, and children in Southampton County, Virginia -> crushed by state and federal army -> 100 blacks executed
· slaves running away
o small number escaped to the North or to Canada
o sympathetic whites and free blacks
§ secret escape routes – “underground railroad”
o “slave patrols” – white stopped a wandering black and demanded for travel permits
o hazards for escape, very risky
· slaves refused to work hard, stole from their masters and neighboring whites
o sabotage: losing or breaking tools
o performing tasks improperly
o extreme cases (rare): cutting their fingers / committing suicide
· for most parts: resisted by subtle methods of rebellion
[The Cultural of Slavery]
- developed their own, separate culture -> sustained a sense of racial pride and unity
(Slave Religion)
· early 1800s: most slaves = Christians
o converted voluntarily
o forced to (Protestant missionaries evangelized among them)
o masters expected slaves to join their worship under the supervision of white ministers
o autonomous black churches = banned by laws
· South: blacks developed their own version of religion (Christianity)
o polytheistic religious traditions of Africa (practice of voodoos)
o bent religion to the special circumstances of bondage
· more emotional, reflected the influence of African customs and practices
o prayer meetings <- fervent chanting, exclamations, ecstatic conversation experiences
o more joyful and affirming
o emphasized the dream of freedom and deliverance
§ whites interpreted it as afterlife but for slaves, it mean true freedom
(Language and Music)
· developed a type of common language with African elements mixed with English -> “pidgin”
· Music – slaves made instruments out of what’s available (relied heavily on rhythm)
o banjo
· voice and songs
o sang during planation works to pass time; contained relatively not offensive material (since whites were also in the field)
o sang for hope for freedom, lamented their bondage
· slave songs = rarely written down, often seemed entirely spontaneous
o improvised
o sometimes accompanied by dance
· storytelling
(The Slave Family)
· “nuclear family” <- kinship model among African Americans
· black women usually bore children early (14-15), couples living together before married
o wedding ceremony after a child (formal vows)
o husbands and wives in neighboring plantations visited each other, usually secretly at night
o strong family ties like their masters
· 1/3 families broken up by slave trade
o flight made to reunite with families
· paternalism – slaves depended on their masters for almost everything
mutual dependences
