POLITICS, SLAVERY, AND ANTELBELLUM SOCIETY

1. POLITICS, SLAVERY, AND ANTELBELLUM SOCIETY

2. MISSISSIPPI'S RAPID DEVELOPMENT • BY 1840, MOST NATIVE AMERICAN INDIANS HAD CEDED(GIVEN UP) THEIR LAND. • 40 YEARS AFTER BECOMING A STATE, MS PRODUCED MORE COTTON THAN ANY OTHER STATE. • DURING THE MID 1800’S BLACK SLAVES MADE UP OVER HALF OF THE POPULATION.

3. NEW CAPITAL • IN 1821, THEY DECIDED TO MOVE THE CAPITAL TO A CENTRAL LOCATION: JACKSON, MS • IN THE 1840’S A CAPITOL BUILDING AND GOVERNERS MANSION WAS BUILT IN JACKSON AND IS STILL THERE TODAY.

4. ANDREW JACKSON(1828) • WAS THE FIRST PRESIDENT WHO WAS NOT A REALLY IMPORTANT FIGURE. • THE CONSTITUTION OF 1832 REFLECTED THE JACKSONIAN DEMOCRACY • Read page 81 and answer these questions. • 1. Where was Andrew Jackson married at? • 2. How many times did he run for president? • 3. How many years did he serve as president? • 4. What did he do that affected the economy?

5. NATIVE AMERICANS AND NEW SETTLERS • AS MORE WHITE SETTLERS MOVED INTO THE UNITED STATES, MORE TENSION AROSE BETWEEN THEM AND THE NATIVE AMERICANS. • SETTLERS WANTED THE NATVIE AMERICANS TO RELY ON FARMING MORE THAN HUNTING SO THAT THEY WOULD USE LESS LAND. • SETTLERS WANTED NATIVE AMERICANS MOVED WEST OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER.

6. TREATY OF FORT ADAMS • GAVE THE U.S. 3 MILLION ACRES OF CHOCTAW LAND. • ALLOWED THE U.S. TO BUILD THE NATCHEZ TRACE. • CHOCTAW WERE GIVEN LOTS OF MERCHANDISE.

7. TREATY OF MOUNT DEXTER(1805) • GAVE THE U.S. 4 MILLION ACRES IN SOUTH MISSISSIPPI.

8. TREATY OF DANCING RABBIT CREEK(1830) • CHOCTAW GAVE UP THE REST OF THEIR LAND IN MISSISSIPPI. (OVER 10 MILLION ACRES) • THE GOVERNMENT MOVED ALL NATIVE AMERICANS TO OKLAHOMA. THIS JOURNEY WAS KNOWN AS THE TRAIL OF TEARS. • MANY NATIVE AMERICANS DIED ON THE WAY TO OKLAHOMA.

9. SLAVERY IN MISSISSIPPI • SLAVES WERE FORBIDEN TO MARRY, OWN PROPERTY, TRAVEL, OR GATHER IN GROUPS • THE BLACK CODES PROTECTED SLAVES FROM SOME MISTREATMENT.

10. THE BLACK CODES • OWNERS COULD NOT SEPARATE HUSBAND AND WIVES • COULD NOT MISTREAT THEIR SLAVES • COULD NOT SET THEM FREE ONCE THEY GOT OLD OR SICK. • SLAVES COULD NOT BE FORCED TO WORK ON SUNDAYS OR RELIGIOUS HOLIDAYS

11. FREE BLACKS • NOT ALL BLACKS WERE SLAVES • THE MOST PROMINENT(IMPORTANT) FREE BLACK MAN WAS WILLIE JOHNSON. • HE OWNED SLAVES, TOWN LOTS, A FARM, AND WAS A BARBER.

12. ANTEBELLUM MISSISSIPPI • DURING THIS TIME, LAND WAS CHEAP AND THE PRICE OF COTTON WAS HIGH. • PEOPLE WERE LIVING WELL UNTIL THE DEPRESSION HIT IN 1837.

13. TRANSPORTATION • A WAGON PULLED BY AN OX • STEAMBOATS • RAILROADS • DIRT ROADS

14. EDUCATION • STUDENTS LEARNED ONLY READING, WRITING, AND MATH • ONLY WENT FOR A FEW MONTHS IN A ONE ROOM SCHOOL HOUSE. • ALL CHILDREN WERE TAUGHT IN THE SAME CLASSROOM REGARDLESS OF THEIR AGE.

15. RELIGION • MISSISSIPPI WAS KNOWN FOR CHRISTIANITY • THE TWO MAJOR DENOMINATION WERE BAPTIST AND METHODIST

16. Dorothea Dix • *Refer to page 99. • (At this time, the mentally ill were often housed and abused in jails) • Dorothea led a national campaign to create institutions which would treat as well as feed and clothe the mentally ill. • In a result of this movement, MS established an Insane Asylum in Jackson in 1856. (Now known as Whitfield State Hospital).

17. Assimilation • We discussed before how tension between Native Americans and white settlers increased…. • Looking back, think about the term assimilation… What does it mean? Was this theory effective?

18. Assimilation Continued…. • The theory was that if Native Americans relied on farming rather than on hunting, they would need less land and could then co-exist with the settlers. • Native Americans did not have much time to change the way they lived, even if they were interested. THEY DID NOT WANT TO ALTER THEIR LIFESTYLES… AFTERALL, THIS WAS THEIR LAND.. RIGHT? • By 1812, the government had given up the assimilation policy. Main point: this leads to the series of treaties negotiated between the federal government and the Native Americans.