SOUTHERN SLAVERY
Currier & Ives, Cotton Plantation
Growing Black Population
 600% increase in black population,
1790-1860
 Less than 700,000 in 1790; 4 million by
1860
 1 out of every 3 Southerners – majority in
Mississippi & South Carolina
 Mostly due to natural increase - only
50,000 smuggled in after 1808
 260,000 free blacks by 1860 (6% of
black population)
 Over 10% of all blacks free by 1810, but
many states forbade manumission in
1820s-1830s
 Required to carry papers & very limited
in rights
 Could own slaves – 3,200 did so
 Many were mulattoes
Population of the Southern
States
Blacks in the North
 Northern states phased out slavery
 Penn. (1780), N.Y. (1799), Conn. & N.J. (1804) provided for
gradual abolition – almost all free by 1840
 Mass. Supreme Court ruled slavery violated state
constitution in 1781
 Slavery barred from Northwest Territory (1787)
 Over 3/5 of Northern blacks lived in cities
 Most were unskilled laborers
 Only 5 states allowed black men to vote
The Rise of King Cotton
 Eli Whitney’s cotton ‘gin
made it possible to profitably
grow short-staple cotton.
 Annual production soared:
 1790 – 3,000 bales
 1810 – 178,000 bales
 1860 – 4 million bales
Eli Whitney’s
Cotton ‘Gin
 By 1860, South grew 75% of
world’s cotton.
The Cotton Kingdom
 Over ½ grown in Ala.,
Miss. & La.
 ¾ grown by slaves
 1 million slaves moved
to new western
plantations, 1790-1860
 Mostly young adults
 60-70% sold
 Equal sex ratio, except
for sugar plantations
Plantation Profits
 Capitalist agriculture
 8% annual return on investment,
1820-60
 Demand rose 5% annually
 Benefited rest of U.S.
 Cotton = 60% of U.S. exports by
1840
 South became prime market for
Northern manufactured goods
Main Plantation Crops
 Hampered economic
development of South
 Few factories
 No public education
Slaveowning Concentrated in
Wealthy Hands
 Only 26% of Southern white families owned slaves by
1860
 Majority of slaveowners had 5 or fewer
 2.7% owned 50 or more
 0.1% owned 200 or more
 Average wealth of slaveowners was 13.9 times that of
non-slaveowners
 Majority of slaves lived on middling or large holdings
 25% on small holdings (1-9 slaves)
 50% on middling holdings (10-49 slaves)
 25% on large holdings (50 or more)
Plantation Life
 Supervision varied by size:
 Resident masters supervised smaller
plantations (under 30 slaves)
 Hired overseers ran larger ones
 Foremen (drivers) often slaves
 Lenient treatment mixed with harsh
punishment
 Typical rations = 1 peck of cornmeal & 2.5-4
lb.s of bacon per week; 4 suits of clothing per
year
 Each family had small wooden cabin,
cleaned regularly to protect health
 Sundays & Saturday afternoons off
Slave Quarters, Carter’s
Grove Plantation, Virginia
Slave Quarters, Carter’s
Grove Plantation, Virginia
Life as a Slave
 Nuclear families with 7 children on
average
 Masters encouraged monogamy to
maintain order
 most escapees were young, unmarried
men
 Economic imperatives took precedence,
however
 1/3 of all slave marriages broken up by
sale of spouses in Upper South
 almost ½ of all children separated from at
least 1 parent
 Distinction between field slaves &
house slaves real, but exaggerated
 Field slaves (75%) had more freedom
but worse conditions
 House slaves (25%) had better
conditions but less freedom
Picking cotton
The Paradox of Black - White
Relations
 Dialectical relationship
 Each shaped the other
 Blacks contributed to broader
American culture while creating
separate subculture
 Whites could never resolve
inherent contradictions of
slavery
 Philosophical contradiction: rests
Plantation near Richmond, VA
on assumption that one man
completely surrenders his will and
becomes an extension of another
man’s will
 Legal contradiction: slaves
simultaneously people & property
Justifications for Slavery
 Racism – blacks seen as lazy & childlike
 Argued slavery civilized & Christianized
them
 Argued only whipping would make slaves
work
 Christian Religion
 Believed Bible condoned slavery
 Thought “Curse of Ham” (Gen. 9:20-27)
justified it
 Feudal Myth
 claimed reciprocal relationship – provided
for slaves’ needs in exchange for devoted
service
 Paternalistic care contrasted with
“inhumane” treatment of Northern factory
workers
Woodcuts from
Josiah Priest,
In Defense of
Slavery
Blacks’ View of Slavery
 Rejected racism, but learned to
conform to whites’ expectations
to avoid punishment
 Saw Christianity as affirming their
equality & offering promise of
Slave manacles
earthly freedom as well as
heavenly redemption
 Blacks neither grateful for care,
nor considered it payment –
viewed it as fundamental right
 Used whites’ rhetoric of feudalism to
demand better treatment
 Appreciated “good” masters &
accepted punishment when deserved
Extremely Unfavorable
Conditions for Rebellion
 High ratio of whites to blacks, unlike
rest of the Americas
 Small size & dispersed nature of most
slaveholdings
 Well-armed resident masters who
kept close watch on their property
 Political stability (except during the
Revolutionary & Civil Wars)
Running Away
 50,000 slaves ran away each year
 75% of escaped slaves were in teens
or 20s
 Most returned to families or tried to
pass as free blacks in cities
 Some went “on strike” to negotiate
better conditions
Underground
Railroad map
Effects of Slavery on White
Relationships
 All whites got benefits of being part of the “master
race”
 Racism used to keep nonslaveholding white majority in favor
of system
 All white men expected to ride slave patrols
 Concept of chivalry defined women as weak & in need
of protection from rapacious black men
 Women had to endure husbands’ raping of female
slaves
 Women often biggest critics of slavery as a result – e.g. Sarah
& Angelina Grimke