- Sugar
- Rice
- Tobacco
- Cotton
- Wheat
- Demand
- Growth of textile industry in Britain (1820s-1830s) and New England (1840s-1850s)
- Decline of Tobacco Economy
- Short-Staple Cotton: hardier coarser cotton successful in many climates
- Effects
- “Cotton is King” – cotton = 2/3 of export trade; $200 million a year
- “Cotton Kingdom” = deep South
- Rush to this area, prospect of huge profits
- Expansion of Slavery
- Expansion of Slavery: slaves accompanied masters, migrated themselves, or sold to planters already there-
- Sale of slaves to South W became an important economic activity in the upper South crops
- Helped the troubled planters compensate for the declining value of crops
- Industry remained an insignificant force in comparison with the agricultural economy
- Weak Manufacturing sector: served needs of plantation economy
- Inadequate Regional Transportation System
- No canals
- Crude unsuitable roads
- Railroads did not connect regions
- Economic Subordination to North
5. What was De Bow's Review and why was it significant? (297-298)
- De Bow’s Review (1846) : James B. D. De Bow (New Orleans) published magazine
- Advocated southern commercial and agricultural expansion
- Stressed southern economic independence for the North
- Warned about constant dangers of “colonial” relationships btw sections
- Evidence of the dependency of the South on the North
- Printed in New York (New Orleans = inadequate facilities)
- Filled with northern manufacturing advertisements
- Northern publications > southern publications
7. Why is slavery called that “peculiar institution”? (303)
- Slavery was a special distinction of South
- Few places were slavery still existed
- Isolated South from rest of Amer. society
- As isolation ^ -> commitment to defend institution ^
- Isolated blacks from whites -> racial line
- Slavery was an institution establish and regulated in detail by law
- Slave codes
- Forbade slaves to own property
- Forbade slaves to leave masters’ premises w/o permission
- Forbade slaves to be out after dark
- Forbade slaves to congregate w/ other slaves (excluding church)
- Forbade slaves to carry firearms
- Forbade slaves to strike white person (even in self defense)
- Whites prohibited to teach slaves to read & write
- Denied slaves right to testify in court against white people
- No provisions to legalize slave marriage/divorce
- Not crime if white killed slave
- Slaves faced death penalty for killing/resisting white or inciting revolt
- Anyone w/ African ancestry defined as Black
- Enforcement of codes spotty and uneven
- Generally received enough necessities to live & work
- Adequate diet (cornmeal, salt pork, molasses)
- Cheap clothing & shoes
- Lived in crude cabins (slave quarters)
- Plantation mistress or Dr. provided some medical care
- Slave women could be “healers” & midwives
- Worked hard
- Light tasks as children
- Longest workdays during harvest
- Slave women – cooking, cleaning, child rearing
- High Slave Mortality Rates
- Enforced poverty
- Less healthy than whites
- Economic incentives to maintain healthy slave pop.
- House slaves
- Lived close to master & family
- Easier jobs
- Often resented isolation from other slaves
- Lack of privacy (transgressions more visible>more punishments)
- Females vulnerable to sexual abuse
- Master could not supervised slave closely
- Gained numerous opportunities to mingle w/ free blacks & whites
- Line btw slavery and freedom became increasingly indistinct
- Worked in mining, lumbering, construction, wagon driving, textile mills, carpentry, blacksmith, unskilled jobs
- Black women > Black men (slaves owners sold off males in fear of conspiracy)
- Slavery in cities declining; Forced Segregation of urban blacks (free & slave)
- Means of social control intended to make up for loosening discipline of slavery in urban areas
12. How did the domestic and foreign slave trade operate? (308)
- Free African Americans:
- Slaves who earned $ to buy freedom -> developed a skill
- Set free by master w/ moral qualms about slavery
- Set free by master’s will after death
- Tightened Restrictions on Free Blacks after Nat Turner’s revolt
- Feared that unsupervised by whites, free blacks might generate more violence and rebellion than slaves
- Community of free blacks in southern cities becoming larger & more threatening
- Rise of abolitionist agitation in North
- New laws made it nearly impossible for owners to free slaves (manumit)
- All southern states restricted free African Americans from entering
- Few free black slaves attained wealth and prominence
- Most free blacks lived in poverty (quasi-free)
- Domestic
- Professional slave traders
- Transported over long distances by train, river, ocean steamers
- Transported over short distances by foot along highways
- Arrived at central market; purchasers gather to bid
- Essential to growth and prosperity of whole system
- Dehumanized all who were involved
- Separated families
- Foreign
- As bad or worse as domestic slave trade
- Federal law prohibited importation of slaves (1808)
- Smuggled slaves
- Delegates from upper south (profited from domestic trade) opposed foreign comp.
13. Make a list of the reasons and methods of slave resistance. (308-310)
- Reasons
- Yearned for freedom
- Unhappy w/ slavery conditions
- Methods (combination of adaptation & resistance)
- 1) “Sambo” – deferential slave who acted out the role that recognized the white world expected of him (façade)
- 2) Slave rebel – African Amer. Who could not bring self to either acceptance or accommodation, remained forever rebellious
- Running away
- Refusal to work hard
- Isolated acts of sabotage
- Slave religion, language, music
- Prosser Rebellion (1800): Gabriel Prosser gather 100 rebellious slaves outside of Richmond
- 2 Africans gave away plot
- Virginia militia stopped uprising before it could begin
- Prosser & 35 others executed
- 1822 Denmark Vesey and 9000 followers prepared for revolt
- word leaked out
- suppression and retribution
- Turner Rebellion (1831): Nat Turner led band of armed Af. Amer. In Southampton County, VA
- Went from house to house; killed 60
- Overpowered by state and federal troops
- 100+ executed
- Fear of slave conspiracies and renewed violence pervaded as long as slavery lasted
- Language
- Retained own language(incorporating African speech patterns into Eng)
- Simple common language – Pidgin
- Music
- Important in slave society
- Relied on rhythm, accompanied w/ dance, sang in fields
- Emotionally rich and politically challenging music made in religious services
- Expressed religious faith, expressed hope for freedom
- Religion
- Own version of Christianity w/ Af. Practices
- Prayer meetings = fervent chanting, exclamations, conversion experiences
- Joyful and affirming
- Emphasized dream of freedom and deliverance
- Characteristics
- Black women began bearing children earlier
- Slave communities did not condemn premarital pregnancy
- Couples would live together before marriage
- Marriage ceremony after conceiving child
- Strong family ties
- Kinship networks: compensated for separated families, “adopted”
- Harsh paternal relationship between slaves and masters
- Challenges
- Legal restrictions
- No legal marriage
- Separated from families
- Paternal Nature of Slavery = instrument of white control
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