| Home |
 |
Student Resources |
|
Chapter 11 |
|
In the South in the first half of the nineteenth century, an elite group of Whites dominated the society and made profits on the labor of Black slaves, who nonetheless were able to develop a rich culture of their own.
The Divided Society of the Old South
Slavery’s existence in the old South rested upon inequality. Socially, people living within the realm of a slave-based economy were granted status according to class and caste. Within this system, a diverse spectrum existed between planters and field hands.
The World of Southern Blacks
Slaves, struggling against tremendous odds, managed to create a full, rich culture. Moreover, slaves created a community that made psychic survival possible.
Slaves’ Daily Life and Labor
Ninety percent of the South’s four million slaves worked on plantations, with the rest working in industry or in cities. Slaves working on plantations typically worked in a “gang” system, overseen by a driver. Some slaves who worked on rice plantations worked under a “task” system that gave slaves more control over their work pace. Within both of these systems, about three-quarters of the slaves worked as field hands. The remaining slaves carried out a wide range of duties from cooking, to cleaning, to building and gardening.
Slave Families, Kinship, and Community
The slave family was the most important institution for African Americans. Families, though oftentimes broken up, provided a foundation that prevented slaves from becoming completely demoralized. Most importantly, families provided slaves with a sense of community, not simply victimized individuals of oppression.
African-American Religion
A distinctive African-American religion, shaped by evangelical Protestantism and African religion, became the cornerstone for African-American culture. Themes of deliverance and freedom took priority. Religion further facilitated a sense of community, solidarity, and self-esteem for slaves.
Resistance and Rebellion
On a daily basis African-American slaves resisted their oppressive plight through sabotage, stealing provisions, story-telling, and running away. Slaves also rebelled violently. Between 1800 and 1831, slaves participated in revolts, hoping to liberate themselves.
Free Blacks in the Old South
Though certainly a minority, a few blacks did attempt to live freely with the Old South. By the 1830s, this unique group became increasingly subjected to rigid rules designed to limit their movement and contact with other African Americans.
White Society in the Antebellum South
Popular perceptions of the Antebellum South that portray the era with aristocratic splendor fall short of the reality for an over-whelming majority of White Southerners. Only about 1 percent of White Southerners could afford to own fifty slaves, entertain lavishly, and live in a mansion. Most White Southerners were nonslaveholding yeoman farmers. Nonetheless, their whiteness granted them economic, political, and social advantages.
The Planters’ World
Planters, by definition those owning more than fifty slaves, established the social, political, and economic tone in the Old South. A majority of great planters of the pre-Civil War era were self-made rather than descendents of the old colonial gentry. Few planter households lived up to Old South images.
Planters and Paternalism
Planters owned more half of all slaves. Within this class emerged the ideology of paternalism. Planters believed that slaves were an extended part of their family that they cared for and protected. Planters also thought this was necessary because Blacks were a race of perpetual children needing care. Other historians portray planters simply as brutal capitalists, only concerned with profit. Both theories reveal a highly complex system that had to maintain itself through force, and also had to make a profit through maintaining healthy slaves. Nonetheless, testimony and evidence indicates that masters generally did not have close familiar relationships with most of their slaves.
Small Slaveholders
Eighty-eight percent of all slaveholders owned fewer that twenty slaves. Most of these possessed fewer than ten. These households necessitated more intimate contact, though not necessarily better treatment. Scant evidence exists from these households.
Yeoman Farmers
Below the small slaveholders, mostly concentrated in the backcountry, lived the yeoman farmers who owned land they worked themselves. These folk were self-reliant with limited avenues to the national and global economies. Yeoman women played a vital role in maintaining household economies.
A Closed Mind and a Closed Society
By the 1830s, public debate over the maintenance of slavery in the South became anathema. Prior to this time, many prominent White Southerners declared the institution a “necessary evil.” Fear of slavery uprising coupled with yeoman farmers heeding the call of abolitionists to end the evil institution led to the argument that slavery was a “positive good.” This ideology dominated southern politics after the 1830s, and was enforced through violence and censorship.
Slavery and the Southern Economy
Southern society rested economically upon the institution of slavery. Between 1810 and 1860, the number of slaves owned tripled, increasing the number to nearly 4 million.
The Internal Slave Trade
As tobacco farming became less important in some “upper” southern states like Virginia, Maryland, and Kentucky, which raised other crops and began infant industries, these states began selling “surplus” slaves to the lower South. Slavery emerged to dominate the lower South, more than the upper South.
The Rise of the Cotton Kingdom
The invention of the cotton gin and the introduction of "short-staple" cotton to the lower South made cotton the single most important export and the most profitable business in the United States. The amount of cotton that was grown in the Deep South grew dramatically between 1817 and 1860.
Slavery and Industrialization
Although many Southerners considered methods to diversify and industrialize their region, most investment dollars went into cotton. The dependence on slavery and cotton impeded industrialization in the South.
The “Profitability” Issue
The cotton/slavery system profited the planter directly, but it probably limited the South's development.
Conclusion: Worlds in Conflict
The Old South was deeply divided by class, race, culture, and geography. The region, nonetheless, was unified by a booming plantation economy. This fractured society soon manifested itself in the Civil War.
|