3) Slavery Flashcards
Slavery pre-1830?
Settlement of N America African as well as Eu- virtually all Africans who settled in 17 and 18 cent came enslaved.
By 1808, when Af slave trade declared illegal, >1million slaves in the USA.
What religions sects condemned slavery?
Protestants, esp Quakers- as a moral evil in final decades of 18th cent.
How did ppl think slavery did not align w enlightened ideas?
Inconsistant w enlightened ideas that stressed liberty, equality and free enterprise
Why was slavery PRACTICALLY more in South?
In 1776, all 13 colonies had it but maj importance in S largely bc Northern climate not suited to plantation agriculture.
Some Southerners regarded slavery as an evil (but a necessary one) and a few freed their slaves.
What did Congress do in 1787?
Passed an ordinanc that kept slavery out of the North West Territory.
How did cotton production improve?
- King Cotton ensured slavery survived and thrived
- 1790, 9000 bales of cotton produced in USA
- ELI WHITNEY’S COTTON GIN- enabled short fibre cotton (only type that grew easily in S) to be quickly separated from its seed- became highly profitable and S farmers cashed in
- 1830s, 2 million bales a year
- outstripped all other plantation crops in economic importance- such was the demand (from Britain) and such were the profits that it expanded westwards.
- ^ to Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas and Texas.
Cotton production needed large amount of unskilled labour- salve labour helped maximise profits- cotton and slavery INTERLINKED.
Founding Fathers on slavery?
Mst S committed to it- FFs in 1787 had realised they could not tamper with slavery in S- avoided using word ‘slave’, but acknowledged slavery’s existence-
slaves were accepted for representation and taxation purposes as 3/5 of a free person.
What happened in HAITI?
1790s, slaves won their freedom, massacring most of the white pop in the process- convinced most white ppl that slavery must be maintained as a means of SOCIAL CONTROL.
Why is it hard to know abt slavery?
- limited evidence from the slaves themselves- most illiterate- could have been deliberately held incapacitated
- best accounts by FUGITIVE SLAVES, some of whom became leading abolishionists- probably not typical slaves.
- 1930s interviews of ex slaves- only experienced it as CHILDREN.
How many slaves were there in 1850?
Nearly 4 million slaves (compared to some 8 million) in the 15 southern states. They were concentrated mainly in lower South. Slaves outnumbered white people in South Carolina.
How many families owned slaves?
- pre 1860- one in three white S families owned slaves
- by 1860, rising cost of slaves, so 1 in 4 fams were slaveowners. This decline in slaveowners worried S politicians, who beleived that S would be stronger & more united if every family owned slaves and so had a vested interest in slavery
- 1860- 50% of slaveowners owned no moe than 5 slaves
- over 50% of slaves lived on plantations w/ over 20 slaves
- thus, the ‘typical’ slaveowner did not own the ‘typical’ slave- not exactly easy to unite
- most slaves were held by abt 10,000 families
Where did slaves mostly work in %?
55% in COTTON PRODUCTION
10% in TOBACCO
10% in SUGAR, RICE AND HEMP
15% DOMESTIC SERVANTS
abt 10% of slaves lived in towns or worked in a variety of industries.
What was life like for free black people in the South?
By 1860 there were about 250,000 black people in the South. Many of these were of MIXED RACE and had been given their freedom by their white fathers.
Southern free black people had to carry DOCUMENTATION proving their freedom at all times or risk being ENSLAVED. They had no political rights and their legal status was precarious. JOB opportunities were also limited.
What was life like for free black people in the North?
Some 200,000 black people lived in the North. They usually had the WORST JOBS and SEGREGATION was the norm in most aspects of life. Only 3 states allowed black people to vote on terms of parity with white people in 1860. Some Northern states tried to exclude black people altogether. However, a number of politicians in the decades before the Civil War worked to expand black rights. By 1861 northern black people had more rights than at any time in the previous 30 years.
Why is there debate over the economics of slavery?
Debate over whether it was economically profitable- much depends on defining who it was profitable for- few claim it was so for the slave. Slave owners obviously beleived it was to buy slaves or they wouldn’e have. Slaveholding enabled planters to increase their cotton acreage and so their profits.
