Chapter 11 Terms

Short Staple Cotton

A new product for farmers that overshadowed all others, this was a hardier and coarser strain that could grow successfully in a variety of climates and in a variety of soils. It was harder to process than the long version because its seeds were difficult to remove from the fiber, but the invention of the cotton gin had solved this problem.

Cotton Kingdom

Cotton production boomed in the newly settled areas of what was known as both the lower and deep south, and the prospect of tremendous profits attracted new setters by the thousands, some wealthy planters from other states, and others small slaveholders.

De Bow's Review

A prominent advocate of southern economic independence; he established a magazine advocating southern economic independence from the North, and warning constantly of the dangers of the "colonial" dependence.

Cavalier Image

White southerners whose way of life is based on traditional values of chivalry, leisure and elegance. Not concerned with rapid growth and development.

Planter Aristocracy

South governed by select few rich people, who was the head of the southern society. They determined the political, economic, and even the social life of their region. The wealthiest had home in towns or cities as well as summer homes, and they traveled widely, especially to Europe, and children got good education. They were defined as the cotton magnates, the sugar, rice, and tobacco, the whites who owned at least 40 or 50 slaves and 800 or more acres.

Preston Brooks/ Charles Sumner Incident

Senator Charles was assaulted in the U.S. Senate by Congressman Preston after a speech by Charles who attacked a relative of Preston.

Southern Lady

Their lives centered in the home, where they served as companions and hostesses for their husbands and nurturing mothers for their children, but they seldom engaged in public activities or income- producing employment.

Plain folk

They owned few slaves, most owned none. Some devoted themselves largely to subsistence farming, usually couldn't produce enough to expand operations or get out of debt. Rare instances in which poor farmers moved into ranks of the planter class, mainly because of education.

Hill People

Southern highlanders who lived in the Appalachian ranges east of Mississippi, in the Ozarks to the west of the river, & in other "backcountry" areas cut off from the commercial world of plantation system; most isolated from mainstream of the region's life. Practiced simple form of substinence farming, no slaves, & proud sense of seclusion. Held to older political ideas &thought slavery threatened their sense of their own independence

Poor white trash

These people don't have a lot of self respect and it was good for them to know that they weren't at and were above slaves on the "totem pole".

Task system

A system of slave labor where slaves had to complete a number of jobs daily. After completed, slaves had their own time, primarily spent on rice plantations.

Gang system

Planters organized their field slaves into groups, working all day, also having a close eye kept on them. Used on tobacco plantations.

House slaves

They were nursemaids, housemaids, cooks, butlers, coachmen. They lived close to their master and family, eating leftovers & sometimes sleeping in the "big house." Familial relationships might develop. They resented the isolation from fellow slaves, had no privacy, and were punished more often and were more noticeable.

Slave traders

They transported slaves over long distances on trains or on river or ocean steams or moved them on foot until they reached markets where they were sold at auction.

Sambo

One extreme of the stereotypes that white society of slaves; the shuffling grinning, head-scratching, deferential slave who acted out the role that he recognized the white world expected of him, but this pattern of behavior was usually a charade assumed in the presence of whites.

Denmark Vesey

A free slave in south Carolina; a mulatto who inspired a group of slaves to seize Charleston, South Carolina in 1822, but one of them betrayed him and he and his thirty-seven followers were hanged before the revolt started.

Nat Turner

A slave in Virginia who started a slave rebellion in 1831 believing he was receiving signs from God. His rebellion was the largest sign of black resistance to slavery in America and led the state legislature of Virginia to a policy that said no one could question slavery.

Slave Music

Bitter and sorrowful to show how they felt about their condition, but could also be happy for celebrations, holidays, etc.

Pidgin

A made-up language mixed from African and English to overcome the language barriers of original Africans.

Gabriel Prosser

In 1800, he gathered 1000 rebellious slaves outside of Richmond; but 2 Africans gave the plot away, and the Virginia militia stymied the uprising before it could begin, along with 35 others he was executed.