Chapter 15

The Old South

I. The Old South

A. The Old South Southern Mythology

a. Paternalistic (male-dominating) planter-class

b. Family-oriented slavery

c. Plantation life in the South

B. Explanations of Distinctiveness Geography & Weather

Human Factors

a. Biracial population

b. Farming

c. Belief in a distinct culture

B. Explanations of Distinctiveness

C. Agriculture

Staple Crops

a. Tobacco, indigo, rice, sugar, and hemp

Self—sufficient General Farming

Economic Worries

a. Soil Exhaustion

b. Agricultural Diversification

D. Manufacturing & Trade

Decline in Manufacturing

a. Tredegar Iron Works (Richmond, Virginia)

b. Efforts to end southern dependence of northern

products

Calls for Diversification

Explanations for the Lack of Development

D. Manufacturing & Trade (Cont’d . . . )

Explanations for the Lack of Development

a. Belief in Black inferiority to work in factories

b. Old South view disdain for northern industry

c. Cavalier attitude (Lordly Manor)

II. White Society in the

South

A. Plantations The Planter

a. Concept of “King Cotton” prevailed in society

b. One in thirty (4% of population) was considered a

planter in 1860.

c. Support of the “natural aristocracy”

d. Attitude of slave owner (not slave codes) guided the

quality of life on the plantation

A. Plantations The Planter Mistress

a. Supervised the domestic household

b. Double-standard in southern society

c. Did not challenge the system and order of things

B. The Middle Class Largest Group (Yeoman Farmers)

Style of Living

a. Independent and suspicious of government

b. Jacksonian Democrats

c. Supported slave system (economically)

d. Lived in small houses (mostly cabins)

e. Men worked outside, women inside

C. Poor Whites Characteristics

a. Hunted and fished

b. Dietary deficiencies

c. Nicknamed “dirt eaters”

Health

D. Culture of Honor & Violence Code of Honor (Chivalry of the Gentile Class)

Outlets in Popular Rituals

a. Manliness

b. Duels

c. Gambling

d. Horse racing

III. African Americans in

the Old South

A. Background of Slavery Economic Necessity

a. Indentured Servant status (Pre-Revolution)

b. “Peculiar Institution”

Numbers

a. 1790 – 700,000 slaves

b. 1860 – 4 million slaves

B. Free Persons of Color

Legal Status

Mulattoes (1860 – 10% of Black population)

Free Persons of “Color” (treated like a

separate class)

C. Slave Trade

End of the African Slave Trade (1808)

Domestic Trade (Cotton Demand Increased)

D. Plantation Slavery Jobs

a. Household servants

b. Skilled jobs (smiths, tanners, carpenters, etc.)

c. Field workers

General Conditions

a. Houses were one-room wooden shacks

b. Work from dawn to dusk

E. Slave Women

Value of Reproduction

Work (Mild to Intense Labor)

Threat of Sexual Abuse

Opportunity to Escape

Celia (Accused, Tried, & Hanged)

F. Slave Resistance

Denmark Vessey

a. Slave revolt in Charlestown (1822 )

b. Plot discovered before carried out

b. Resulted in the death of 35 slaves

Nat Turner

Sabotage

F. Slave Resistance (Cont’d . . .) Nat Turner

a. Slave Insurrection

(1831)

b. Fifty-five whites killed

(adults and children)

c. Slaves were killed and

hanged after revolt

Sabotage

G. The Slave Community

Diversity

a. Multiple languages, customs (ex. Gullahs of South

Carolina).

b. Adapted to slave culture

Cohesion & Pride

H. Slave Religion & Folklore

African & Christian Elements

Use of Religion

Uses of Folklore, Dance, & Song

I. The Slave Family

Marriage (No Legal Status)

Importance of Nuclear Family

Exploitation of Slaves

IV. The Old Southwest

A. Description of the Old Southwest States

a. Tennessee, Kentucky, Florida, Georgia, Alabama,

Mississippi, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas.

b. Not settled until 1820 (Agriculturally-based)

c. Migration brought a new culture to the region.

B. Migration Reasons to Migrate

a. Depressed prices and soil exhaustion

b. Self-made men (became self-reliant)

Women Underrepresented

Reactions of Slaves

B. Migration (Cont’d) Nature of Journey

a. Alabama, Mississippi, and western Tennessee

became destinations

b. Cotton prices rose in 1830s (glut by

1836—37)

c. More unhealthy than Piedmont coastal plains

d. Not many comforts

C. Masculine Culture Culture

a. Indulgent activities of males (gambling, drinking,

fighting).

b. Violence and alcoholism

V. Antislavery

Movements

A. Early Opponents of Slavery

Criticism (Both North & South)

American Colonization Society (est. 1817)

a. Established Liberia (Africa) in 1822

b. Migration of 15,000 free blacks (1860).

B. Movement Toward Abolitionism

From Gradualism to Immediatism

William Lloyd Garrison

a. Pacifist Bostonian abolitionist

b. The Liberator

c. Established the new

England Antislavery Society

B. Movement Toward Abolitionism(Cont’d . . .)

New England Antislavery Society

a. Established by Garrison and his followers in 1831.

American Antislavery Society

a. Established in 1833 by Arthur and Lewis Tappan.

b. Used moral persuasion

C. Splits in Abolitionism

Radical v. Reformer

Role of Women

a. Sarah & Angelina Grimke (Sisters who were

members of a southern slave-holding family)

b. Issues between moderates and radical women’s rights

leaders.

D. Black Abolitionists Critical of White Abolition Efforts

Frederick Douglass

a. Runaway slave from Maryland

b. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass (1845).

c. North Star

d. Great public orator and writer

D. Black Abolitionists (Cont’d . . .)

Sojourner Truth

a. Born to slaves in New York (freed, 1828)

b. Fought the “peculiar institution”

c. Authored “Ain’t I a Women?”

D. Black Abolitionists (Cont’d . . .)Frederick Douglass

Sojourner Truth

E. Reaction to Antislavery Movement

Hostility

“Gag Rule” in Congress (1836—1844)

Development of Liberty Party (Formed, 1840)

Defenses of Slavery

a. Compared to Northern Industry

b. Inferiority of Blacks

Making Connections – Topic15

The abolition movement never represented

the majority of northerners. As Topic16

shows, however, by the end of the 1850s, most

voters in the North supported the idea of

limiting the expansion of slavery westward, if

not the abolition of it in the Southern states.

Making Connections – Topic 15

The Civil War brought great changes to

southerners, both black and white. Topic17

describes the effect of the war on southern

society.

Making Connections – Topic 15

There are striking contrasts between the

“Old South” of this chapter and the New

South of Topic19.