CHAPTER 4: POLITICS, SLAVERY
AND ANTEBELLUM SOCIETY
Titan Blaster #3:
Complete the four “It’s Your Turn”
questions on page 80.
POLITICS
 Politics
cause
divisions within
societies.
 Antebellum
means before the
war.
In Mississippi, politics of opinion led to the
capital being moved from Natchez to
Washington even though most Mississippians
lived near Natchez.
POLITICS
Shortly after moving
to Washington, the
legislature believed it
was too small.
 Jackson was created
specifically to be our
state capital in 1822.
The original name of
Jackson was LeFleur’s
Bluff. It was renamed
after Andrew Jackson.
 All the streets were
planned out.

THE CONSTITUTION OF 1832
Property ownership
was erased as a
requirement to vote.
 Any adult white
male could vote and
hold office.
 Poor and
uneducated whites
usually elected rich
whites into office.

THE CONSTITUTION OF 1832
An example of this was
Andrew Jackson.
 He was not born
wealthy and had little
education.
 He became a lawyer, a
wealthy land owner and
was the hero of the
Battle of New Orleans
during the War of 1812.

THE CONSTITUTION OF 1832
Most state officials were
elected.
 The importing of slaves
was banned if they
were going to be sold.
 This was made a law but
never enforced.

THE CONSTITUTION OF 1832
The Constitution of 1832 showed that slavery
was a troubling issue, but necessary to
Mississippi’s economy.
 Some people did not think owning other people
was right (immoral). Some feared slave revolt.
Other people knew there was two white classes:
wealthy slave owners and the poor.

LOCAL GOVERNMENT
County government met most of the needs of the
citizens.
 After 1832, an elected board of police ran each
county. The board levied taxes, imposed special
taxes to build courthouses and jails and to
support the poor.
 The board appointed supervisors to build and
maintain roads and bridges.
 It gave licenses to sell alcohol and run motels.
 It supported schools for white children.
 County sheriffs enforced the law.

CHAPTER 4: POLITICS, SLAVERY
AND ANTEBELLUM SOCIETY
Titan Blaster #4:
List four things that the board
of police were responsible for
running in each county.
ACQUIRING INDIAN LANDS
In order for the new state to prosper and grow, the
land and people had to be civilized. That meant the
removal of the Indians who lived here. Traders
opposed this.
 The US government had a theory called
assimilation. If the Indians could adjust to
farming rather than just hunting, they would
need less land. The Native Americans could not
adjust as quickly as was required.

ACQUIRING INDIAN LANDS
Shawnee chief Tecumseh
tried to unite all Native
Americans to resist white
movement into Indian lands.
 Choctaw chief Pushmataha
convinced his people not to
join. Shortly thereafter,
Tecumseh was killed and the
organized Indian threat was
over.

TREATIES TO ACQUIRE INDIAN LANDS



Treaty of Fort Adams –
Choctaw ceded 3 million acres
of land. The US built the
Natchez Trace.
The Treaty of Mount Dexter
– Choctaw ceded 4 million more
acres in MS. They had their
debts voided and pensions
given to Indian leaders.
Treaty of Doak’s Stand –
Choctaw gave more land
including Jackson area, but
were not happy with the land
out west that they were to
receive.
TREATIES TO ACQUIRE INDIAN LANDS
Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek – Ceded the
last 10 million acres and agreed to move to
Oklahoma. The voyage to OK was called the
Trail of Tears.
 Treaty of Pontotoc Creek – Removed the
Chickasaw from North MS.

CHAPTER 4: POLITICS,
SLAVERY AND
ANTEBELLUM SOCIETY
Titan Blaster #5 – Turn in all 5:
Complete the three “It’s Your Turn”
questions on page 85.
SLAVERY IN MISSISSIPPI
 Slaves
were introduced
to Mississippi by the
French.
 The Black Code of 1724
gave the rules for
owning slaves to the
Louisiana/MS territory.
SLAVERY IN MISSISSIPPI
 The
code restricted
slaves from owning
anything, traveling,
and assembling
together.
 It did not address
voting. They just
couldn’t vote.
SLAVERY IN MISSISSIPPI
Slaves were generally kept on plantations or
large farms.
 More slaves came to MS during the American
Revolution because English loyalists escaped
down here.

SLAVERY IN MISSISSIPPI
Slaves were used
to grow and collect
the cotton crops.
 The only slaves with
any education were
the skilled laborers.

THE SLAVE COMMUNITY

According to the laws
of Mississippi, slaves
were the property of
their masters. They
had no rights.
THE SLAVE COMMUNITY
Families could be broken
up at any time.
 Slaves were forbidden
from learning to read
or write, although
many did.

THE SLAVE COMMUNITY
 Many
slaves adopted
Christianity. Slave
owners saw religion as a
way to control slaves.
Slaves saw it as a path
to freedom.
 Many owners and
overseers were
poisoned.
THE SLAVE COMMUNITY
 There
were no slave
rebellions in MS.
 Slaves could only be
freed if their owners
gave them enough
money to leave the
state.
FREE BLACKS
Not all blacks in Mississippi
were slaves.
 William Johnson of
Natchez was a barber who
owned lots in town, a
farm, and slaves.
 He was murdered by a white
man in the presence of more
than two dozen slaves.
 No one was charged since
there were no witnesses.
 Slaves could not testify in
court.

CHAPTER 4: POLITICS, SLAVERY
AND ANTEBELLUM SOCIETY
Titan Blaster #1:
Complete the three “It’s Your Turn” questions on
page 98.
An interview with Fountain Hughes, a
101- year old former slave, taken in 1949.
ANTEBELLUM MISSISSIPPI SOCIETY
The state’s population grew faster than the
nation’s when the Native Americans left.
 Land was cheap.
 Banks gave out more paper money than they had
specie, gold and silver, to cover it.

ANTEBELLUM MISSISSIPPI SOCIETY
President Jackson was popular in MS, but his
policies were destroying our economy.
 Jackson had all the federal money moved to “pet
banks” because they were state owned and
friendly to him.

THE PANIC OF 1837
 State
banks were required to pay debts
in specie. When they did not have
enough, they folded.
 Cotton prices fell and banks closed.
TRANSPORTATION, EDUCATION AND RELIGION
The most successful line was the
Vicksburg-Jackson line. The main service
of the railroads was moving cotton to
ports.
 The railroad came to Mississippi making
Meridian a major city.

TRANSPORTATION, EDUCATION AND RELIGION
Original schools in Mississippi only had terms
of three months.
 Only 1/3 of the white children attended.
 Ole Miss was opened in 1840, but closed during
the Civil War because most of the students and
teachers joined the Confederate army.
 Most people were Baptists and Methodists.
