The House and the Peculiar Institution: Slavery in the Southern United States

Instructor Background and Expertise

• The instructor specializes in the institution of slavery and its specific relationship to the livestock industry.

• Research tenure: Over $16$ years of research.

• Methodology: Traveling from courthouse to courthouse and state to state to examine primary and secondary documentation.

• Professional reach: Speaking at hundreds of venues; featured in documentaries for programs in England, France, and the United States; author of several books and articles on the topic.

• Philosophy: Acknowledges that while extensive research has been conducted, one cannot know the "full story" without having lived through the experience.

Demographics and Growth of the Enslaved Population

• The continuous rise of the enslaved population served as a demonstration of support for the system.

• $1790$ Census: The first census recorded $697,624$ enslaved people.

• $1810$: Despite slavery being outlawed in Northern states, the population continued to rise.

• $1860$ Census: The enslaved population grew to just shy of $4,000,000$ people.

• The scale of growth suggested that only something catastrophic could end the institution in the United States.

Literary Representations of the Old South

• Gone with the Wind (1939): Written by Margaret Mitchell, whose ancestors fought for the Confederacy and were part of the enslaver class.

  • This work presents a romanticized version of the South.

  • Portrays "happy, dedicated" enslaved people like Mammy who willingly serve masters described as noble and brave.

• Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1852): Written by Harriet Beecher Stowe, daughter of Calvinist preacher Lyman Beecher and a key figure in the abolitionist movement.

  • Portrayed Southern culture as described by escaped enslaved people.

  • Exposed horrors: rape of women, separation of families, breeding of women for sale at markets alongside cattle, and the domination of society by enslavers at the expense of non-enslavers.

The Economic Reign of "King Cotton"

• Senator James Henry Hammond (South Carolina): Declared in a speech to the U.S. Senate on March 4, 1858: "You do not dare declare war on cotton. No power on earth dares to make war upon it. Cotton is king."

  • Hammond argued that if cotton were withheld for three years, England would topple and the civilized world would follow.

• Transition to Cotton: Eli Whitney’s cotton gin shifted the South’s focus from tobacco to cotton.

• Other Cash Crops:

  • Rice: Required floodgates, ditches, and machinery; limited to small areas.

  • Sugar: Required heavy investment in grinding machinery; restricted to non-freezing areas like Louisiana.

• Growth Statistics:

  • In $1800$, the South produced $156,000$ bales.

  • By $1860$, production reached $4,000,000$ bales.

• Market Dependency: Most cotton was sold to British and French textile manufacturers. The South became dangerously dependent on British purchasing power.

Geographic and Agricultural Specifics

• The Black Belt: An area stretching from Virginia and the Carolinas through Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas.

  • Name origin: Refers to the black color of the soil, which was perfect for growing cotton (not the population density).

• Cotton Pricing: After the Panic of $1837$, prices fell but later rose from $10$ cents a pound to $15$ cents by $1857$.

• The "Crescent": Visible from space today as cleared-out land used for farming.

• Diversified Agriculture (1860 Statistics):

  • Corn: The number one crop of the South by volume ($59\%$ of the nation’s supply). Fed humans and animals (hogs/cattle) and served as the base for whiskey.

  • Wheat: $29\%$ of the nation’s supply; used by upper classes for flour/pastries.

  • Oats: $19\%$ of production; used for oatmeal and horse feed.

  • Rye: $19\%$ of production; used for bread and whiskey.

  • Sweet Potatoes: $94\%$ of the nation's supply; used primarily to feed enslaved people.

  • Potatoes: $10\%$ of production (Northern climates were better suited).

• Livestock (1860 Statistics):

  • Cattle: $50\%$ of the nation's supply.

  • Swine: $60\%$

  • Horses: $45\%$

  • Oxen: $62\%$

  • Mules: $90\%$

  • Sheep: $33\%$

Soil Depletion and Fertilization

• Cash crops like cotton exhausted the soil, forcing planters to move west for "virgin soil."

• Fertilizer Techniques:

  • Marl: Seashell deposits used to equalize soil acidity.

  • Livestock Manure: Mixed with soil.

  • "Chicken Soup": Used for nitrogen.

  • Guano: A Quechua word for seabird or bat excrement; imported from Peru.

  • Black-eyed Peas: Planted to add nitrates back into the soil.

Industry and Economic Investment

• Industry barely existed in the South compared to Northern mills, shipbuilding, and business centers.

• Tredegar Iron Works: A rare Southern factory using enslaved labor to produce iron cans, axes, and steam engines.

• Dependency: The South relied on the North to process raw crops into finished products (clothing/fabric) to be sold back to them.

• Capital Investment: By the $1860\text{s}$, more money was invested in the institution of slavery than in Southern banks, railroads, and factories combined.

The Enslaver Class Structure (1860)

• Planter Definition: Someone who owned $20$ or more enslaved people.

• Population Breakdown:

  • Total Southern population: $9,000,000$.

  • Enslaved population: $45\%$ (approx. $4,000,000$).

  • Only $1$ out of $30$ enslavers was a "Planter."

  • Planters represented $5\%$ of the total population but owned half the enslaved people and produced the vast majority of cash crops.

• Ownership Tiers:

  • $11,000$ people owned $50+$ enslaved people.

  • $2,300$ people owned $100+$.

  • $11$ people owned $500+$.

  • $1$ person owned over $1,000$ men, women, and children.

• Diverse Enslavers:

  • In $1830$, $3,776$ free Black people (primarily female) owned $1,297$ enslaved people, often family members protected from white ownership.

  • Native American tribes (Cherokee, Chickasaw, Creek, Choctaw, Seminoles) also owned enslaved people as they adopted white southern culture.

Slavery in the Livestock Industry (Texas and Local Context)

• Capitalism and Labor: Enslaved people were used in mines, factories, and wherever capitalism existed, including the livestock industry.

• Livestock Advantages: In states like Texas, Missouri, and Arkansas, cattle were highly profitable because they could feed, reproduce, and walk themselves to market, requiring fewer enslaved workers for high profit.

• Erath County (1860): Census records show the majority of the population depended on livestock.

  • John M. Stephen: Founder of Stephenville; recorded as owning $15$ enslaved people, ages ranging from $1$ to $50$, described as Black.

• Documentation Challenges: Black genealogy is difficult to track before $1870$ because enslaved people were listed in columns by age and gender without names.

  • Only $3$ counties in the entire South recorded names of enslaved people in the census; one was Bowie County, Texas.

The "Peculiar Institution" and Buying Freedom

• Definition: Called "peculiar" because it violated the Declaration of Independence's principle of individual freedom and equality.

• Purchasing Freedom:

  • Some enslaved people saved money from Sunday labor, produce sales, or skilled trades (carpentry, blacksmithing).

  • Elizabeth Keckley: A seamstress who purchased her freedom and became the White House dressmaker for Mrs. Lincoln.

  • Costs: Varied from $200$ for the young/old to $3,500$ for skilled men in their prime.

• Inheritance: Wealthy families often ignored the wishes of deceased enslavers who requested their slaves be freed.

The Domestic Slave Trade (Second Middle Passage)

• Transatlantic Trade: Ended in $1808$, causing the value of enslaved people to rise due to supply and demand.

• Internal Migration: As soil in the Southeast (Virginia/Maryland) depleted, enslavers sold people to the Deep South.

• Major Markets:

  • Forks of the Road (Natchez, Mississippi): Known for specialized workers (carpenters, cattle handlers).

  • New Orleans: Known for "Fancy Girls" (light-skinned women sold into sexual slavery/prostitution).

• Market Value: In $1850-1858$, the trade generated $70,000,000$ per year. From $1859-1860$, this rose to nearly $150,000,000$.

• Tragedies of Sale: Legal documents recorded infants sold for land (e.g., a $6$-month-old boy sold for $4$ acres in Parker County). Laws against separating mothers and children were frequently ignored at auction.

Living Conditions and Labor

• Health Statistics:

  • Black children under $14$ died at $2$ times the rate of white children.

  • Life expectancy: Mid-$20\text{s}$ for enslaved people vs. mid-$40\text{s}$ for whites.

• Reproduction: Enslaved women had babies every $2$ years on average. Owners bribed or forced women to reproduce; childbearing years often spanned from age $14$ to $45$.

• Hiring Out: Annual rental contracts (January to shortly before Christmas).

  • Generated monthly income for enslavers equivalent to half the annual wage of an unskilled white worker.

  • Used to fund the education and needs of white minor children.

Escaping Slavery

• Terminology: The term "escape" is preferred over "runaway" to move away from the implication of being a "ward."

• Destinations:

  • North: Often via the Underground Railroad.

  • Mexico: Slavery was illegal; many from Louisiana and Texas fled to the Rio Grande.

• Punishment: Captured escaped persons faced branding, whipping (often with salt rubbed in wounds), or having their families sold away.

• "Whipped Peter": A famous photograph showing the extensive keloid scarring on the back of an enslaved man.

Slave Rebellions

• Defined by the state as $3$ or more enslaved people planning to rebel.

• Approximately $250$ rebellions involving $10+$ people occurred after $1619$.

• Gabriel’s Rebellion (1800, Richmond, VA): Gabriel, a blacksmith, planned to arm $1,000$ men and seize the Capitol. Failed due to a storm and informants; leaders were executed.

• Denmark Vesey Plot (1822, Charleston, SC): Vesey, a free Black man, planned to liberate Charleston and flee to Haiti. Informants led to the arrest of $131$ people and the hanging of $37$. Triggered restrictive laws against Black sailors and bishops.

• Nat Turner Rebellion (1831, Southampton County, VA): Turner believed he was divinely chosen. Approximately $60$ whites were killed. Resulted in the massacre of $100$ enslaved people and the hanging of Turner. Led to stricter laws and interest in colonization (Liberia).

The Abolitionist Movement

• Chronology:

  • Late $1700\text{s}$: Early opposition.

  • American Colonization Society: First organized movement.

  • $1820$: Missouri Compromise.

  • William Lloyd Garrison: Published The Liberator; founded the Anti-Slavery Society ($1833$).

  • Liberty Party: Formed in $1840$ ($7,000$ votes); in $1844$ it received $60,000$ votes.

• Key Figures:

  • Frederick Douglass: Escaped from Maryland; author of Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass ($1845$); published The North Star in Rochester, NY.

  • Sojourner Truth (Isabella Baumfree): Escaped in New York in $1826$. First Black woman to win a lawsuit to recover her son, Peter, who was sold to Alabama. Preacher and activist for both abolition and women’s rights.

Pro-Slavery Arguments

• Fear of Revolt: Argued that a biracial society could not exist peacefully and that freeing enslaved people would lead to chaos like in Haiti.

• Religious Justification: Quoted the Bible, specifically Ephesians 6:5-8, which commands slaves to obey their earthly masters.

• "Positive Good": Claimed enslaved people were better cared for than free workers and that enslavers were the ones making a "sacrifice."