Slavery and Abolition

When is evil so enormous, that it must be denounced, even at the risk

of bloodshed and butchery?

“If you put a chain around the neck of a slave, the other end

fastens itself around your own.” (Emerson, 1841)

Characteristics of the Antebellum

South1. Primarily agrarian.2. Economic power shifted from

the “upper South” to the “lower South.”

3. “Cotton Is King!” * 1860 5 mil. bales a yr. (57% of total US exports).

4. Very slow development of industrialization.

5. Limited financial system.6. Inadequate transportation

system.

KING COTTON1793: Eli Whitney’s Cotton GinEconomic Impact:• Cotton ½ of all exports after

1840• ½ World’s supply of cotton• 1/5 of British population tied

to cotton industry• 75% of all British cotton came

from American South

Slave Trade1808 – Slave Trade outlawed by CongressWhere did increase in slaves come from? • Natural Reproduction• Smuggling A HUGE INVESTMENT

PLANTATION AGRICULTURE

•“Land Butchery” – Cotton growing destroyed the land•Monopolistic – big got bigger, small got smaller•Financial Instability•Slaves were a heavy investment•One-Crop Economy•Resented North for getting rich at the South’s expense

Southern Population

Southern Society (1850)“Slavocracy”

[planter aristocracy]

The “Plain Folk”[white yeoman farmers]

6,000,000

Black Freemen

Black Slaves3,200,000

250,000

Total US Population 23,000,000[9,250,000 in the South = 40%]

SOCIAL STRUCTURE OF THE SOUTH•Who owned slaves?

•¼ of white southerners •Planter “Aristocracy” • 1/3 of Slave owners• Sir Walter Scott – glorified feudal society• Southern Women

•Smaller Slave owners • 2/3 of slave owners• Less than 10 slaves• Small formers, similar to small farmers of the north

Slave-Owning Population (1850)

Slave-Owning Families (1850)

SOCIAL STRUCTURE OF THE SOUTH3/4 of whites owned

no slaves•Lived isolated lives•“white trash”, “hillbillies, “crackers”, “clay eaters”•Shiftless, listless, lazy – Actually sick – malnourished•Biggest defenders of slave system – WHY?

Mountain Whites•Lived far from cotton kingdom•Hated planters and slaves•Civil War “Rich man’s war but a poor man’s fight”•Unionists

SOCIAL STRUCTURE OF THE SOUTH

Free Blacks• South:

• 250,000 in 1860• Mulattoes – emancipated children of white

planters• Purchased freedom• New Orleans – many owned property• “Third Race”

• North:• 250,000 • States forbade their entrance• Especially hated by the Irish• Race Prejudice

What specific information about slaves and slavery can you see in (or infer from) these photographs?

SLAVE LIFESinging, Dancing, Banjos

WhippingsFamily LifeAuctions

Separation of FamiliesUncle Tom’s Cabin By Harriet Beecher

Stowe

Early Emancipation in the North

Abolitionist Movement 1816 American Colonization Society created (gradual, voluntary emancipation.

British Colonization Society symbol

Abolitionist Movemente Create a free slave state in Liberia,

WestAfrica.

e No real anti-slavery sentiment in the North in the 1820s & 1830s.

Gradualists Immediatists

Anti-Slavery Alphabet

William Lloyd Garrison (1801-1879)

e Slavery & Masonryundermined republicanvalues.

e Immediate emancipation with NO compensation.

e Slavery was a moral, notan economic issue.R2-4

The Liberator

Premiere issue January 1, 1831

R2-5

The Tree of Slavery—Loaded with the Sum of All Villanies!

Other White Abolitionists

Lewis Tappan

Arthur Tappan

James Birney

e Liberty Party.e Ran for President

in 1840 & 1844.

Black AbolitionistsDavid Walker(1785-1830)

1829 Appeal to the Coloured Citizens of the World

Fight for freedom rather than wait to be set free by whites.

Frederick Douglass (1817-1895)

1845 The Narrative of the Life Of Frederick Douglass1847 “The North Star”

R2-12

Sojourner Truth (1787-1883)

or Isabella Baumfree

1850 The Narrative of Sojourner Truth R2-10

Harriet Tubman(1820-1913)e Helped over 300

slaves to freedom.e $40,000 bounty on

her head.e Served as a Union

spy during the Civil War.

“Moses”

Leading Escaping Slaves Along the Underground

Railroad

The Underground Railroad

The Underground Railroade “Conductor” ==== leader of the

escape

e “Passengers” ==== escaping slaves

e “Tracks” ==== routes

e “Trains” ==== farm wagons transporting the escaping slaves

e “Depots” ==== safe houses to rest/sleep