The South and the Slavery Controversy summary and study guide

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The South and the Slavery Controversy summary and study guide

Ch. 16: The South and the Slavery Controversy, 1793-1860
Slavery gets new life (death):
As a result of the introduction of the cotton gin – slavery was reinvigorated
Members of the planter aristocracy – dominated society and politics in the South
All of the following were true of the American economy under Cotton Kingdom -
cotton accounted for half the value of all American exports after 1840
the South produced more than half the entire world’s supply of cotton.
75% of the British supply of cotton came from the South
quick profits from cotton drew planters to its economic enterprise
But the South did not reap all the profits from the cotton trade
Plantation agriculture was wasteful largely because – its excessive cultivation of cotton despoiled good land
Plantation mistresses – commanded a sizeable staff of mostly female slaves
Plantation agriculture – was economically unstable and wasteful
The plantation system of the Cotton South was – increasingly monopolistic
All the following were weaknesses of the slave plantation system:
it relied on a one-crop economy
it repelled a large-scale European immigration
it stimulated racism among poor whites
it created an aristocratic political elite
But it was not a weakness that its land continued to remain in the hands of the small farmers
All told, only about – one-fourth – of white southerners owned slaves or belonged to a slaveholding family
~36% maximum is what I usually remember!
The following quote, “I think we must get rid of slavery or we must get rid of freedom” was said by
– Ralph Waldo Emerson
By the mid-nineteenth century – most slaves lived on large plantations
Most slaves in the South were owned by – plantation owners (the largest numbers total)
The majority of southern whites owned no slaves because – they could not afford the purchase price
The great increase of the slave population in the first half of the nineteenth century was largely due to
– natural reproduction
Regarding work assignments, slaves were – generally spared dangerous work [why?]
Slave economies are not good for the economy:
The profitable southern slave system – hobbled the economic development of the region as a whole

Slave deomographics:
By 1860, slaves were concentrated in the “black belt” located in the
– Deep South states of Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana [why? cotton of course!]
As a substitute for the wage-incentive system, slave owners most often used the – whip as a motivator
[yes & no]
By 1860, life for slaves was most difficult in the – newer states of Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana
Forced separation of spouses, parents, and children was most common
– on small plantations and in the upper South
All of the following were true of slavery in the South:
slave life on the frontier was harder than that of life in the more settled areas
a distinctive African American slave culture developed
a typical planter had too much of his own prosperity riding on the backs of his slaves to beat them on a regular basis
by 1860 most slaves were concentrated in the “black belt” of the Deep South
It was not true that most slaves were raised in single unstable parent households
Most slaves were raised – in stable two-parent households
Slaves fought the system of slavery in all the following ways:
slowing down the work pace
sabotaging expensive equipment
pilfering goods that their labor had produced
running away when possible
Refusing to get an education was not a way they fought slavery
As a result of white southerners’ brutal treatment of their slaves and their fear of potential slave rebellions, the
South – developed a theory of biological racial superiority
In the pre-Civil War South, the most uncommon and least successful form of slave resistance was
– armed insurrection
Nat Turner, David Walker, Denmark Vesey, and Gabriel
The idea of re-colonizing blacks back to Africa was – supported by the black leader Martin Delaney
Slaves were -
regarded primarily as financial investments by their owners
the primary form of wealth in the South
profitable for their owners
The slave culture was characterized by -
a hybrid religion of Christian and African elements
widespread illiteracy among slaves
subtle forms of resistance to slavery
The South’s “positive good” argument for slavery claimed that -
slavery was supported by the authority of both the Bible and the Constitution
slavery was good for the barbarous Africans because enslavement introduced them to Christianity’ slaves were usually treated as members of the family
slaves were better off then most northern wage earners
Immigrants in the South:
German and Irish immigration to the South was discouraged by – competition with slave labor
Most Southern farmers grow corn b/c it’s cheap & easy:
As their main crop, southern subsistence farmers raised – corn
Most white southerners were – subsistence farmers
Southerners loyal to the Union – why?:
The most pro-Union of the white southerners were – mountain whites
Some southern slaves gained their freedom as a result of – purchasing their way out of slavery
Were Northerners bigots too?:
Northern attitudes toward free blacks can best be described as – disliking the individuals but liking the race
For free blacks living in the North – discrimination was common
“So you’re the little lady whose book started this great war.”:
Perhaps the slave’s greatest psychological horror, and the theme of Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s
Cabin, was – the enforced separation of slave families
Abolitionists:
Each abolitionist below is matched with his publication:
William Lloyd Garrison – The Liberator
Theodore Dwight Weld – American Slavery as It Is
Frederick Douglass – Narration of the Life of
David Walker – Appeal to the Colored Citizens of the World
The following are arranged in chronological order: the founding of the -
American Colonization Society
American Anti-Slavery Society
Liberty Party
William Lloyd Garrison pledged his dedication to – the immediate abolition of slavery in the South
Each abolitionist below is matched with his role in the movement:
Wendell Phillips – abolitionist golden trumpet
Frederick Douglass – black abolitionist
Elijah P. Lovejoy – abolitionist martyr
William Lloyd Garrison – abolitionist newspaper publisher
Many abolitionists turned to political action in 1840 when they backed the presidential candidate of the
– Liberty Party
The voice of white southern abolitionism fell silent at the beginning of the – 1830s [except for Grimké sisters]
In arguing for the continuation of slavery after 1830, southerners
– placed themselves in opposition to much of the rest of the Western world
Those in the North who opposed the abolitionists believed that these opponents of slavery
– were creating disorder in America
After 1830, the abolitionist movement took a new, more energetic tone, encouraged by the -
success of the British abolitionists in having slavery abolished in the British West Indies
religious spirit of the Second Great Awakening
How did the North feel about slavery?:
After 1830, most people in the North -
held that the Constitution sanctioned slavery
were alarmed by the radicalism of abolitionists like William Lloyd Garrison
“Cotton is king!”:
The South became the Cotton Kingdom in the early nineteenth century because of -
Eli Whitney’s invention of the cotton gin
the new profitability of short-staple cotton
the opening of rich river bottomlands in the Gulf Coast states
Cotton became important to the prosperity of the North as well as the South because -
northern merchants handled the shipping of southern cotton
cotton accounted for about half the value of all United States exports after 1840
The Antebellum South:
The pre-Civil War South was characterized by -
a well-developed martial spirit
the lack of free, tax-supported public education
a widening gap between rich and poor
a ruling planter aristocracy
a growing hostility to free speech and a free press
Even those who did not own slaves in the pre-Civil War South supported that institution because they -
dreamed of one day owning slaves themselves
presumed themselves racially superior to black slaves [those in the N, S, E, & W too]

Free Blacks:
Before the Civil War, free blacks -
were often the mulatto offspring of white fathers and black mothers
were often forbidden basic civil rights
were disliked in the North as well as the South

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