The South and Slavery

1. The South and Slavery

2. America Grows • While Industry begins to explode in the north…. • The South sticks to what its always done • Cash Crops

3. South Begins to Seriously Fall Behind • In the North • Cities are flourishing • Large increases in population • Factories and Mass Production • 84% of nation’s manufacturing • Thousands of miles of railroads are being laid • Corporations are being formed • In the South • Only a couple large cities • Completely focused on agriculture • 16% of nation’s manufacturing • Relied heavily on the North and Europe for goods

4. Cotton Becomes King • Cotton Gin makes cotton profitable • Machine that separates cotton from twig • Grown in most southern states • Makes many in the south rich • Labor-intensive crop • Demand for slaves skyrocket • Slave-trade had been outlawed • Slave owners make sure slaves are reproducing at a fast rate • Cotton was sold to Europe and then money was used to buy Northern goods • The whole country relied on slavery

5. Slavery Expands Due to Cotton

6. Southern Social Structure • Aristocratic Planters • Top o f the social, economic, andpolitical ladder • Small Slaveholders • Owned 1 or 2 slaves and worked side by side with their slaves • Poor White Farmers • Owned n o slaves, but their dream was me day own slaves and become wealthy • Called “Red-Necks” • Were subsistence farmers • Fr ee African-Americans • 250,000 lived in the South with another 250,000 lived in th e North

9. Plantation Slavery • Cotton made slaves very profitable • Black Ivory • Slaves were worth $2 Billion • Slave Trade ended in 1808 • Smugglers • Female slaves were treated as breeders, forced to have as many children as possible • Auctions • Families were often broken up

10. 1850 Census Data

11. Slaveholders in Kentucky

12. Slave Life • Almost no political rights • Some states barred the breaking up of families • “Until death or distance do you part.” • Floggings were common, but came at a cost to the slave and the owner • Majority of Slaves could be found in the Deep South • Unique form of Christianity existed • “Tell old Pharaoh to let my people go.” • Responsorial Preaching • Reading and Writing was forbidden

13. Slave Resistance • Escape • Death • “Yassah, massah, she is daid, but she’s free.” • Sabotage • Poison • Armed Resistance • Southerners lived in constant fear • Nat Turner’s Revolt (1831) • Killed 60 Virginians

14. Solutions to Slavery… Colonization • Solution was to end slavery, and return slaves to Africa • Reasoning behind this viewpoint • Ending slavery would not end racism • Many Northerners were against slavery, but still very racist • Supported by many prominent Americans • Presidents James Madison and James Monroe • Chief Justice John Marshall • Abraham Lincoln • American Colonization Society purchased land in West Africa • Created colony of Liberia • 15,000 Freed Slaves were transported their over 40 years • Most freed slaves had no interest in this

15. Abolition • Abolition: called for the immediate and complete freeing of all slaves • Famous Abolitionists • William Lloyd Garrison • Burned the Constitution in protest • Harriet Beecher Stowe • Uncle Tom’s Cabin • “So you are the little lady that started this great war.” • Frederick Douglas • Escaped slave • David Walker

16. Reactions to Abolition • In the North • Mixed emotions • North and South relied on one another • Cotton from the South • Loaned money to the South • Many were against slavery, but still racist • Feared competing with black workers flooding to northern cities • Many feared it would lead to war • Southern farmers owed a lot of money to northern banks • In the South • Slavery was seen as absolutely necessary • Southerners defended slavery • “slaves did not want freedom” • “slaves and slaveholders got along” • “blacks were inferior” • Southerners became annoyed that the Yankees were trying to dictate their way of life