The Politics of Slave Culture
Puzzles to Consider
for Next Week
 Why did northerners and southerners come to
distrust each other?
 Why did southerners see the abolitionists as a
serious threat to slavery?
 In what ways were slaves able to influence politics?
Slavery was in many respects a
“negotiated” relationship between
the enslaved and their masters.
A. False: Slavery is premised on power;
masters did not need to negotiate!
A. True: However great, the power of the
master was never absolute.
Slavery as a Negotiated
Relationship
 Ultimate threat of the
planter: Violence
Slavery as a Negotiated
Relationship
 Ultimate threat of the
planter: Violence
 Ultimate threat of the
slave: Refuse to work
Slavery as a Negotiated
Relationship
 Ultimate threat of the
planter: Violence
 Ultimate threat of the
slave: Refusal to Work
 Planter held advantage, but
often had to make
compromises
Runaways and Revolts as Resistance
 Runaways perceived as a
big problem (Underground
Railroad).
Day-to-Day Resistance Sometimes
Became Even More Serious
 Runaways perceived as a
big problem (Underground
Railroad).
 Slave Conspiracies and
Revolts: Denmark Vesey in
SC (1822) and Nat Turner
in VA (1831)
Question: Did Garrison’s
Liberator encouraged Nat
Turner’s Rebellion?
A. Yes, the Liberator
began publishing at
same year as Turner’s
rebellion.
B. No, Turner seemed
unaware of the
Liberator.
Why Not More Runaways and
Revolts?
 Geography (Maroon Communities Difficult)
 Demographics (Slaves Outnumber)
 Slave Family Life
 Police Power of the Government
Another Kind of Resistance:
Plantation of James Henry Hammond
 Hammond: Man on
the Make
 Married Catherine
Fitzsimmons
 Philosophy: “Design
for Mastery”
Work: Slaves Converted
Privileges to Rights
Hammond’s attempt to shorten
Christmas holiday: I was “persuaded out
of my decision by the Negroes”
Slave Religion:
Hammond Tried to Control
1840s: “I intend to
break up Negro
preaching. . .
Ordered night
meetings to be
discontinued.”
. . . Yet He Fails Miserably
1851: “Religious
Troubles among the
Negroes. . .they are
allowed too much
organization—too
much power to the
head men”
Southerners Begin to Worry
 Will antislavery northerners encourage runaways?
 Will antislavery northerners encourage slave
rebellions?
 What happens if southerners lose control of the
federal government?
White Southerners
Adopt Siege Mentality
 Abolition Becomes a Felony in Many
Southern States.
 Destruction of Mail in Charleston Post
Office (1835).
 Gag Rule in Congress (1836).
 Slavery as a Positive Good
Southern Behavior Elicited
Some Distrust in North
John Quincy Adams:
“The South
Carolinians are
attempting to
govern the Union as
they govern their
slaves.”
Adding to the Cycle of Distrust
Slave Resistance
Southern
Censorship
Proslavery
Ideology
Northern Suspicion
Northern
Abolitionism
The “Before Picture”
Thomas Jefferson’s
Ambivalence
 Slaveholder who
recognized
contradictions
 Slavery might
undermine republic
 Slavery would
eventually disappear
But Jefferson Did Relatively
Little to Abolish Slavery
“We have the wolf by the
ears; and we can neither
hold him, nor safely let him
go. Justice is in one scale,
and self-preservation in the
other.”
Thomas Jefferson, 1820
Elements of Proslavery
Ideology
 Religion: Bible Justified Slavery, Africans
Introduced to Christianity
 Economics: Northerners Benefit from
Slavery as Well.
 Care of Slaves: Planters Have Economic
Incentive to Treat Slaves Well.
 Racism