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HIST 1301 Lecture 11 South- Slavery- Cotton
US History (HIST 1301)
Houston Community College
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HIST 1301 Lecture 11:
The South, Slavery and King Cotton (chapter 11)
Chapter 11 What various factors made the South distinct from the rest of the US during the early 19th Century? What role did cotton production and slavery play in the South’s economic and social development What were the major social groups within southern white society? Whey was each group committed to the continuation and expansion of slavery What was the impact of slavery on African Americans, both free and enslaved, throughout the South? How did enslaved peoples respond to the inhumanity of their situation
I. What made the South different? a. Distinctiveness of South i. Climate 1. cotton, rice, indigo, sugar cane ii. Few cities, industries – factories, RR, banks, schools iii. Cotton eco industries – storage, dist, sale II. What role did cotton and slavery play? a. Cotton i. During the first half of the nineteenth century, cotton became the most profitable form of agriculture, surpassing rice 1. Although produced for centuries, it was rare – produced India 2. England – spinning ginny, mechanical weaving 3. Cotton Gin 4. Create world’s largest industry a. Replacing sugar as the world’s major crop produced by slave labor b. Became most important commodity in international trade i. ¾ of world’s cotton supply came from southern US ii. Most important US export iii. 1860 economic investment represented by slaver population exceeded value of US’s factories, RRs, and banks combined ii. Planters move west – soil nutrient depletion, land availability
- By 1850s – cotton production across Miss R to Ark, La & eastern Tx
- 1860 – 1/3 of cotton grown west of Miss R iii. Cheap land, cotton seed, slaves – formula for success
- 1814 – 150,000 bales cotton production a. 1860 – 4 million bales iv. Soaring profits – false sense of security v. Strength of the south rested on cotton
b. Biracial i. Old South – largest, most profitable slave society modern world has known ii. Social unity among whites iii. Few European immigrants
- Attracted to north
- Couldn’t compete w/ slave labor iv. Myths
- Gone with the Wind
- Defending south – agrarian ideal
- Northern abolitionists a. Immoral eco system, dep exploit blacks, displace Native Ams III. Major social groups within southern white society a. Southern life i. Rough rowdy ii. Women scarce b. Whites in South i. White planters
- Relatively few giant plantations – dominated southern life, lots of power
- Planters – owned at least 20 slaves a. 3 percent of white men in south – more than half of the slaves
- Unwritten social code – honor, duels ii. Women
- Male dominated society - patriarchal
- Wife – mistress a. Oversaw household – all
- Subordinate, few spoke out a. More so than northern counterparts b. Confined to domestic sphere c. Mary Boykin Chestnut – diary, awful society, monstrous system iii. Overseers, drivers
- position responsible for managing the agricultural production in every way was the overseer - white
- drivers ran the crews – sometimes a slave or AA iv. Small farmers
- Farmed for selves, traded with neighbors, self sufficient a. Away from the market economy
- Women worked fields a. Children – by 4 carry water, by 10 in fields
- Minority of MC owned slaves
v. Trade in slaves 1. 1808 _ outlawed African slave trade 2. By 1820 – 80 percent of slaves Am born a. Markets, auction houses in every southern city b. New Orleans – 20 businesses 3. Rated for sale – inspected, scars 4. Fancy girls, dark blacks 5. Separation of children, wives – husbands vi. Slavery way of life
- Field hands a. 1 – 2 room shacks, dirt floors b. Wealthier - better c. Boards for beds, thin blankets d. Fed monotonous corn meal, pork e. Sunrise to sunset 6 days f. Also at night, ginning, milling, grinding g. Women – worked fields all day, housework at night h. Picking cotton i. Quotas
- Violence a. Brutal force i. Frequently whipped
- Staked out ii. Sometimes used as spectacle to send warning
- Urban laves a. Better fed, clothed, more privileges b. Interacted with white owners, and extended interacial community
- Women a. Fertile females profitable i. Days after childbirth – back gto work b. Passed childbearing – workload increased c. Faced threat constant sexual abuse d. Slave community i. Religion
- Comb of Christianity, Caribbean, African beliefs a. Brought belief of creator or subpreme god w/ them b. Also believed in spirits, magic, charms, spells i. Witch doctor – voodoo priest
- Baptists, Methodists orig condemned slavery, welcomed into congregation
- By by 1830s slavery condoned, defended as divinely ordained
- Whites tried to eliminate African spirituality a. Slaves gathered secretly
- By 1860 – 20 percent Christian denominations
a. Found Bible inspiring - promised land, Moses, teachings of Jesus ii. Families
- Marriage not legal but not discouraged a. Nuclear fam important
- Children – 5 or 6 at work, 10 field hands V. Responding to the inhumanity of the situation a. Slave rebellions i. 1791 Haiti ii. Louisiana, Denmark Vesey – Charleston S. Carolina iii. Nat Turner
- Aug 1831, Southampton County Virginia
- Black overseer, preacher
- w/ followers Killed owner’s famly a. Repeated, more slaves join
- 57 whites killed – mostly women, children, 10 students at a school
- Fed troops, Virginial militiamen, volunteers crushed a. Killed scores of slaves
- Rebellion terrified whites b. Lure of freedom i. Odd stacked against escape ii. Other ways – faked illness, broke tools, destroyed crops, slaughtered and ate livestock
Yarrow Mamout As an enslaved African Muslim, Mamout purchased his freedom, acquired property, and settled in present-day Washington, D. Charles Willson Peale painted this portrait in 1819, when Mamout was over 100 years old.
VI. South Region a. Rapid settlement of western territories – competition btwen North and south for political influence b. Slave or free c. States rights v union d. Region determined to remain society dominated by whites e. Protecting rights of slavery in new territories, overriding focus of southern political leaders 1830s to civil war
HIST 1301 Lecture 11 South- Slavery- Cotton
Course: US History (HIST 1301)
University: Houston Community College
