APUSH VOCAB- Chapter 11

Short staple cotton

a hardy, coarse strain of cotton that could grow in a variety of climates and soils across the South

Cotton Kingdom

vast region of the Southern United States, specifically the Lower South (or Deep South), where cotton production dominated the economy in the antebellum period (early-to-mid 19th century

De Bow’s review

the magazine advocated for Southern commercial, agricultural, and industrial expansion and the region's economic independence from the North.

Cavalier Image

the romanticized self-perception of elite Southern planters in the antebellum period

Planter Aristocracy

a small, elite class of wealthy landowners in the antebellum South who wielded disproportionate economic, political, and social power due to their ownership of large plantations and numerous enslaved people

Preston Brooks/ Charles Sumner Incident

Pro-slavery Democratic Representative Preston Brooks of South Carolina physically assaulted abolitionist Republican Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts at his desk on the Senate floor. Brooks used a metal-tipped walking cane to beat Sumner unconscious, severely injuring him

Southern Lady

expected to be a submissive wife, a dutiful mother, and a graceful hostess. Her life centered around the home and fulfilling domestic and familial duties.

Plain folk

They made up the largest segment of the white population in the antebellum South, typical white southerners who were modest, yeoman farmers, most of whom owned few or no enslaved people. 

Hill people

non-slave owning white Southerners who lived in the backcountry areas, such as the Appalachian Mountains and the Ozarks, and were largely isolated from the mainstream commercial economy of the South. 

Poor White Trash

a derogatory term used during the antebellum period in the American South to refer to the least prosperous nonslaveholding whites. They were at the very bottom of the white social ladder, often scorned even by enslaved people.

Task System

A system of labor under which slaves were assigned a particular task in the morning, and once the job was completed, they were free for the rest of the day

Gang System

A system 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 work day

House Slaves

enslaved people who worked inside a slaveholder's home, contrasting with field slaves

Slave Traders

individuals and businesses involved in the capturing, selling, and buying of enslaved people, particularly within the U.S. domestic trade that continued after the international slave trade was outlawed in 1808

Sambo

The shuffling, grinning, head-scratching, deferential slave who acted out the role that he recognized the white world expected of him

Gabriel Prosser

Man in 1800 who gathered 1,000 rebellious slaves outside Richmond, but the plan was exposed

Denmark Vesey

Man in 1822 who prepared to lead a revolt with about 9,000 followers, but was exposed and the plan failed

Nat Turner

Man in 1831 who led a band of slaves who went from house to house in Virginia, and they killed 60 white men, women, and children before being overpowered by state and federal troops

Slave Music

An important factor in slave society, slaves often sang while working in the fields

Pidgin

A simple, common language created by African slaves