AP United States History - Vocabulary Chapter 11: Sol Bosio

Short Staple Cotton

a hardier and coarser strain of cotton that could grow successfully in a variety of climates and in a variety of soils. It was harder to process than the long-staple variety. It's seeds were also more difficult to remove from the fiber. This issues was solved by the Cotton Gin.

Cotton Kingdom

Cotton production became common in the "lower South"/"Deep South." Settlement of this area resembled somewhat the rush of the Gold seekers to a new strike. Thousands flocked to this area over the idea of tremendous cotton profits.

De Bow's Review

Written by the most prominent advocate of southern economic independence, ___, this magazine advocated for southern commercial and agricultural expansion. He warned against a colonial relationship between the north and south. Said the south lost 100,000,000 to the North. Also magazine had to be printed in New York because the south lacked the resources - ironic.

Cavalier Image

Many White Southerners liked to think of themselves as representatives of a special way of life that was based on traditional values of chivalry, leisure, and elegance. They argued they were people happily free from the base, acquisitive instincts of the "Yankees" to their north. This idea conformed to reality of southern society in very limited ways.

Planter Aristocracy

It was the cotton magnates, the sugar,rice, and tobacco nabobs, the whites who owned at least forty or fifty slaves and 800 more acres. It exercised power and influence far in excess of their numbers. Determined the political, economic, and social life of their region.

Preston Brooks/Charles Sumner Incident

SC Congressman ___ beats a MA Senator ___ with a cane for an insult to a relative. In the North he was considered a savage, in the South a popular hero. He acted in accord with the idea of southern honor.

Southern Lady

Similar to northern women - worked in homes and raised children. Although they enjoyed public activity much less than those in the North. White men were even more dominant above. Less access to education than up North. Worked in plantations or helped family survive economically.

Plain Folk

The typical white southerner was not a great planter and slaveholder, but a modest yeoman farmer. They owned a few slaves but most owned no slaves. They devoted to subsistence farming and cotton but usually couldn't expand or expunge debt. Also lacked many opportunities to gain an education and rise within society.

Hill People

Non Slave Owning whites who opposed the planter elite. They were southern highlanders who lived in the Appalachian ranges east of the Mississippi, in the Ozarks to the west of the river. Lived in places cut off from commercial world - most isolated of southern whites. Practiced simple subsistence agriculture.

Poor White Trash

Also known as "crackers" or "sand hillers" who occupied the barren lands and lived in miserable cabins in genuine destitution, many did not own land and supported themselves by hunting and foraging, some worked as common laborers but often found they could not support themselves and resorted to eating clay and suffered from pellagra, hookworm and malaria.

Task System

A system most common in rice culture under which slaves were assigned a particular task in the morning - hoeing nce acres - after completing the job they were free the rest of the day.

Gang System

More common system which employed on cotton, sugar, and tobacco plantations under which slaves were simply divided into groups, each of them directed by a driver, and compelled to work for as many hours as the overseer considered a reasonable workday.

House Slaves

Had an easier life physically than field hands. Nursemaids, housemaids, cooks, butlers, coachmen. Lived close to the master and family, eating leftovers and sleeping in the "big house." Often resented isolation from other slaves.

Slave Traders

At slave auctions these people checked the slaves like livestock - watched their walk, inspecting teeth, feeling arms and legs, looking for signs of infirmity or age to try and fetch lower prices.

Sambo

Was an extreme stereotype of slaves. the ___ acted out the role that the white world expected them to. This was in most cases, only an act in front of the white people - shuffling, grinning, head scratching, deferential slaves.

Gabriel Prosser

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.

Denmark Vesey

A Charleston free black who gained 9,000 followers and prepared for a revolt until word got out and suppression and retribution followed.

Nat Turner

A slave preacher who led a band of African AMericans, armed with guns and axes, went from house to house in Southampton County, Virginia. His was the only actual large-scale slave insurrection in the 19th century south.

Slave Music

Created more emotionally rich and politically challenging music in relative privacy of religious services. Traditional of spiritual grew in early 19th century and showed African want for freedom.

Pidgin

Early African slaves who had troubled communicating with other slaves created simple, common language . It had some African words but drew primarily from English. Considered part of black speech for many early generations.