12) cotton, slavery, and the old south

overview of the southern economy

more agricultural

tobacco

sugar

rice

cotton, and with it slavery

the rise of king cotton

decrease in demand and production of tobacco and all other crops

cotton is 2/3 of all the us exports by 1840

short-staple cotton

southern trade and industry

weak manufacturing sector

inadequate regional transportation system - mountains made it hard for transportation, no factories = no railroads

slavery gripped the south as the south held onto slavery

southern society in 1860

32% enslaved african americans

    2% free

        50% whites who owned no slaves

            16% slave owners

*8% owned 5 or more slaves (ones who could afford it)

sources of southern difference

big profit of agriculture

plantation aristocracy

myth of southern honor code

the “southern lady”

subordinate status of women

expected to be virtuous and elegant, subordinate to their husbands

live with their husbands infidelity if illegitimate children were born

very limited opportunities for education

the non-elite whites

limited educational opportunities

close relations with plantation owners - support and identify with them

fierce regional loyalty - to the state and slave system (thinking someday they’ll be slave owners)

limited class conflict

slavery, the “peculiar institution”

legal basis - made into law before the constitution

varieties:

• house slaves, artisans, drivers, field hands

  • task and gang systems - assigned tasks, gang systems - slaves sent to other properties to work

slaves couldn’t testify, get married

slavery in the cities

autonomy of urban slaves

slaves were treated better in the cities

social aspect - people in the city live closer together and could sometimes hear each other, mistreatment of slaves decreased due to embarrassment of neighbors hearing them

some slaves could get jobs

slave markets

slaves were considered property and were bought and sold

buyers would inspect the slaves, including taking off their clothes

price - sold for about the price of a nice car

atlantic slave trade

slaves weres ahved and branded

20% died while crossing the ocean

~12.5 million total slaves in the slave trade

388,000 slaves brought to north america

death ans sex

brazil and cuba saw continoued death rates

old south made them into a human crop

• arranged marriages, rape, forced matings

slave resistance

some slaves worked slower, became confused and acted like they were lost

some broke tools, physically resisted, or ran away

resistance through revolt

prossers rebellion, virginia, 1800

german coast uprising, louisiana, 1811

nat turners rebellion, 1831

white owners were scared that rebellions could occur at aany moment and keeps them uneasy

free african americans

over 320,000 free blacks lived in slave states at the time of the civil war

tightened restrictions on free blacks

most lived in poverty, but some even owned slaves themselves - for their protection and freedom

the slave familty

slave marriages - not legal

importance of kinship networks - try to maintain social support, trying to keep the family to stay together

the culture of slavery

african-american religion

• syncretic, combination of beliefs

language and music

• pidgin - (when 2 different cultures dont know each others language but they have to communicate so a simple language is made)

• gullah

slave spirituals

• banjo - made spiritual songs about themselves in spritual terms for their salvation

african american foodways

rice, black-eyed peas, okra, watermelon and most peppers were imporated by slaves

grits, gumbo, jambalaya, coffee, hot sauce, ribs were developed by slaves from traditional african dishes

psychological damage

caused blacks and whites to be separate and suspicious of one another in the south

but

also tied blacks and whites together in the south, each group influencing the other