Cotton, Slavery and the
South
Chapter 11
The Cotton Economy
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Crop Shifts
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Tobacco
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Rapidly exhausted the land
1830s many farmers in Virginia, Maryland, and North
Carolina were shifting to wheat
Rice
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S. Carolina, Georgia, Florida
demanded substantial irrigation
nine month growing time
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Sugar
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Long-Staple (Sea Island) Cotton
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Gulf Coast
labor intensive
long growing time
Competition from Caribbean
could only grow in coastal regions of the
Southeast
Short-Staple Cotton
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hardier and coarser strain of cotton
harder to process than long-staple cotton; seeds
difficult to remove
“King Cotton” Emerges
Physical Demand
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advent of the cotton gin made Short-Staple
cotton much easier to produce
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Social Demand
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textile industry in Britain in the 1820s and 1830s
textile industry in North USA in the 1840s and
1850s
existing cotton lands could not satisfy the demand
Spread
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From western areas of South Carolina and Georgia
to Alabama and Mississippi, then into northern
Louisiana, Texas and Arkansas
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by 1820 South produced 500,000 bales of
cotton/yr.
by 1850 South produced 3,000,000 bales of
cotton/yr
by 1860 South produced 5,000,000 bales of
cotton/yr
at the start of the Civil War Cotton constituted
nearly two thirds of the total export trade of the
USA and was bringing in $200 million a year
Social impact
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whites
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quickly settled new lands in the south
many wealthy landowners transferred assets and slaves
to a cotton plantation
most were small slaveholders or slaveless farmers
blacks
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between 1820 and 1860 the number of slaves in Alabama
leaped from 41,000 to 435,000
Mississippi 32,000 to 436,000
Virginia 425,000 to 490,000
410,000 slaves moved from upper south to Cotton states
many were sold by troubled tobacco planters
Southern Trade and Industry
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Other business areas
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Flour milling
textile manufacturing
iron manufacturing
of southern textile manufactures
2% of the value of the raw cotton exported that
year
Commercial sector
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largely to serve the needs of the
plantation economy
weak banking system
brokers “factors”
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marketed planters’ crops
bankers, credit providers
Transportation
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Largely inadequate
No taxes or investment put into public
transportation
Canals nonexistent
Roads were crude and unstable
railroads failed to tie the region together
effectively
Principal means of transportation was
water
Northern Dependence
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“economic subordination”
Southern Society and Culture
Philisophical Grandations
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southerners liked to think of themselves as
representatives to a special way of life
values: chivalry, leisure and elegance
Actual Gradations
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aristocracy exercised influence beyond their numbers
wealthy class had second homes in cities
wealthy whites traveled to Europe
hosted social events on their plantations
most planters lived rather modestly
roles of women and “chivalry
Social Stratification among whites
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Statistics
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rarely did poor farmers move into the ranks of the planter
educational system did not provide opportunities to the poor
mountain region = only area of concentrated rebellion to
southern lifestyle
most farmers were dependent on the system
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cousins
voting
patriarchy
“crackers” “sand hillers” “poor white trash”
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in 1850 the total white population of the south was over 6 million
the number of slaveholders was 347,525
in 1860 the total white population of the south was over 8 million
the number of slave holders was 383,673
often lived on barren land (swamps, red hills)
life of squalor
looked down upon by even black slaves
unified as members of a ruling race
The “Peculiar Institution”
Slave Codes
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forbade slaves
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to hold property
to leave their master’s
premises without permission
to be out after dark
to congregate with other
slaves except in church
carry firearms
strike a white person, even in
self defense
testifying in court against a
white person
learning to read and write
from whites
Slave Codes Cont’d
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If a master killed a slave, the
act was generally not
considered a crime
A slave faced the death
penalty for killing or even
resisting a white person
Anyone with a trace of black
ancestry was considered to be
black
Size Mattered
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nature of relationship
depended in part on the size
of the plantation
white farmers on small farms
generally supervised their
slaves and sometimes worked
alongside of them
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Size Mattered Cont’d
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more personal relationship between farmers and
slaves on small farms as opposed to large
plantations
African Americans preferred to live on larger
plantations
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more privacy
build own culture
Majority of slaves lived on plantations of medium
or large size
Planters often hired “overseers” to represent them
and manage slaves
Slave Life
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Workday
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(in the fields) longest workdays at harvest time
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(in house) slaves lived/worked closely to master
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task system (rice culture) given one job, once done, free for rest of
day
gang system (cotton, sugar and tobacco) divided into groups, each
directed by a driver, and compelled to work for as many hours as
the overseer considered a reasonable workday
often slept in “big house”
punished more often because more visible
less privacy
first to leave when Emancipation came
slave women
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sexual advances/abuses from white male masters
vindictive treatment from plantation mistresses
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Slave Life Cont’d
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“Enough”
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Masters usually furnished them with an adequate diet
cheap clothing and shoes
crude cabins / slave quarters
Health
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1808 importation stops*
1820 one African American to every four whites
1840 one African American to every five whites
high death rate
higher infant mortality rate
preserving a slave’s health meant preserving their
usefulness
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Slave Life Cont’d
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Slavery in the Cities
rare
masters rented out slaves on contract to work on
docks, construction sites, and other unskilled jobs
increase in free time gave slaves opportunities to
mingle with free blacks and whites
urban black population in south declined
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fear of insurrection
segregation was a means of social control intended
to make up for the loosening of slavery in urban
areas
Slave Life Cont’d
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Free African Americans
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250,000 free African Americans in slaveholding states at
the start of the Civil War
slaves had somehow made money, usually through a
trade, independent of their master’s knowledge and
bought their freedom (option open to only a few slaves)
some freed by masters with a conscience
Slave Trade
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professional business of slave traders
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transported slaves over great distances
short distances on foot and in chains
bid on like cattle
concealing “defects”
Jennifer Ong
Slave Life Cont’d
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Slave Trade Cont’d
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able males could bring in between $500 and $1700 depending on
fluctuating price of cotton
sexually attractive females could bring in much more
separated children from parents
illegal importation of slaves*
Acceptance and Rebellion
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at two extremes, slavery could produce tow very different reactions
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Slave revolts were rare, but the possibility struck terror in the hearts of
whites everywhere
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“Sambo” accepting charade
Slave Rebel
1800 Gabriel Prosser – 1,000 slaves outside Richmond
1822 Denmark Vesey – 9,000 made preparations near Charleston
1831 Nat Turner – slave preacher*, South Hampton, Virginia, axes and
guns, house to house, killed 60
John Brown’s Raid*
running away... small numbers make it to the North or to Canada
underground railroad*
everyday behavior, refusal to work hard
Nat Turner
Gabriel Prosser
Denmark Vessey
The Culture of Slavery
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Language and Music
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language sometimes incorporated African speech
patterns into English
Banjo came from Africa
Song used to pass the time
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Jennifer Ong
in fields, songs disguised for masters, often
misunderstood*
privately, songs were politically charged and spiritual
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Religion
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Slaves became Christian (Baptist or Methodist) due
to missionary efforts
Masters expected slaves to worship under the
supervision of white ministers
blacks developed their own version of Christianity,
incorporating voodoo or African tradition
more emotional that white Christianity; chanting
and ecstatic conversation
dream of freedom “Promised land”*
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Family Structure
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marriage not legal
“nuclear family” was a model and a goal
Black women had children at earlier ages
Couples often lived on separate plantations and
visited*
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1/3 of all black families broken apart by slave trade
average slave might see 10 relatives sold in a lifetime
sexual advances of master
extended kinship networks
one of the most frequent causes of plight was a slaves
desire to find a significant other
Jennifer Ong