The “Particular Institution”Slavery in the United States

Slave Labor75% of Women, 90% of men: fields

• Butler• Waitress• Nurse• Dairymaid• Gardener• Carpenter• Shoemaker• Engineer• Blacksmith

• Weavers• Cooks• Coachmen• Domestic

worker• Cut wood for

steamboats• Worked in

iron and coal mines

• Worked on the docks

• Laid railroad track

• repair bridges, roads & public buildings

Free Blacks• ½ a million – majority in the South• After the Revolution, emancipation in Northern states, voluntarily liberated, purchased

their freedom, successful runaways• 2% of North

• Lived in poor neighborhoods of major cities• Barred from schools

• Formed own communities, schools, churches• Downward Mobility

• Artisans with craft skills• Viewed freed slaves as low-wage competitors• Refused to hire them• Customers didn’t want to be served by them

• Federal law barred them from access to public land• Prohibited them fro entering territory

• Could not vote, own dogs, firearms, liquor, serve on juries, or hit a white person even in defense

• Had to carry their certificate of freedom at all times• Could own slaves – bought their wives and children (become free = leave state)

Expansion

• 1787 The Northwest Ordinance • bans slavery in the Northwest

Territory (what becomes the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin). The ordinance together with state emancipation laws create a free North.

Constitution - 1787• Indirectly addresses it in three places:

• Congress can prohibit the importation of slaves after twenty years.

• The "three-fifths" clause• Article IV, Section 2 required that a "person held to service or

labor“ in one state, who escapes to another state, "shall be delivered up on claim of the party to whom such service or labor shall be due.“

• 1793 - Fugitive Slave Law.• Allows slave-owners to cross state lines to recapture their

slaves. • In reaction, some Northern states pass personal liberty laws,

granting the alleged fugitive slaves the rights to habeas corpus, jury trials, and testimony on their own behalf.

• Also pass anti-kidnapping laws to punish slave-catchers who kidnap free blacks, instead of fugitive slaves.

Importation Ban 1807

• 1793 – Cotton Gin• Growth internally

• Slave Codes• Reaction to Haiti and Rebellions

• Missouri Compromise• 1820 In the, Congress admits the

slave state of Missouri and the free state of Maine into the Union, and bans slavery north of the 36° 30' line of latitude in the Louisiana Territory.

• Florida Annexation – Georgia and Alabama

• Adams-Onis Treaty 1819

Market Revolution 1830s

• Tech helps move slaves & slave products

• Creates demand for more slavery based production

• Cotton Kingdoms • Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and

Arkansas

• Grew with westward expansion• Slave Codes increased in these

territories

Internal Slave Trade

• 1/3 of families 10% of teenage slaves• 1 million from 1800-1860

• Grain doesn’t need as much work as tobacco• Slave traders – sold at auction

• Gathered in Maryland, Virginia, & South Carolina• Shipped to Mobil, Natchez, and New Orleans • Forced marches chained together – coffles

• Destruction of family ties• Breakup of communities• Less opportunities for liberty• Threat of sale = powerful weapon

US vs Brazil & West Indies

• Better Diet• Lower IMR• Longer life expectancy• Paternalist outlook• No tropical diseases• Economic since

Anti• States early abolition

• 1777 – Vermont• Pennsylvania – 1780• Massachusetts and New

Hampshire – 1783• Connecticut and Rhode Island -

1784 • New York -1799• New Jersey - 1804.

• Abolitionist• Free Blacks• 2nd Great Awakening

• Theodore Weld• Reformers

• Colonization • Deport to Africa, Caribbean, or

Central America

Abolitionism

• “Leaders in the cause of equal rights for themselves”

• Fredric Douglas (North Star), William Lloyd Garrison (Liberator)

• Liberty Party – 1st anti-extension of slavery party

• Underground Railroad• Sojourner Truth• Harriet Tubman

Pro• South

• States rights - South Feared Congress would tax slave property

• Plantation owners• Small Farmers• Auction Houses• Patriarchy & Cult of Domesticity

• Slaves of the economic marketplace, they are free

• North• Textile Mills• Steam Boat owners• Rail Road Speculators• Bankers

Resistance

• Fugitive Slaves• War for Independence• War of 1812• Spanish territory (Florida)

• Changes with the Louisiana Purchase• North

• North Star led to freedom• 1,000 per year• Lived in the upper south• Mostly men

• Major Cities• Underground Railroad

Resistance• Conspiracies

• 1800 Gabriel’s rebellion, Solomon and Martin• ½ of Richmond’s pop, 1/5 were free• March on the Capital (built by slaves), Hold the Governor hostage • Hope poor Whites, Quakers, Methodist, and French people would join

• 1822 – Denmark Vesey• Amistad

• 1839 Cuba• Seized off coast of Long Island• JQA – violation of international treaties of slave trade, set them free• Inspire Creole in US

• Rebellions • 1811 – Sugar plantation in New Orleans• Nat Turner 1831

• Virginia mystic – god chosen• 80 slaves• 60 Whites• Was not Christ crucified

Resistance

• Day to day or silent sabotage • Poor work• Breaking tools• Abusing animals• Gates left open or rails removed• Ill• Theft of food

Politics

• Voting• Virginia, South Carolina, Georgia – No• Every new state after 1800 (not Maine) limited right to vote for white males

• Freedom is a privilege rather than a universal entitlement • Illegal to kill a slave except in self defense in all states• Right to a trial

• All white judges and juries• Slave Codes

• Not testify in court, sign contracts, acquire property, own firearms, hold meetings, leave the farm, teach to read or write

Southern Culture and Society• Separated from society• Racist imagery

• Minstrel shows w/ blackface• Portrayed as stupid, dishonest, and ridiculous • Exception – Herman Melville, author (Moby Dick)

• Stereotypes or Ignored• Happy slaves, superstition, suffering but devout Christians

• Used Bible to legitimize it• Servants should obey their masters• Hierarchy or ranks and orders

• Uncle Tom’s Cabin• Humanized slaves

Slave Culture• Centered on family and church• Heritage:

• in music and dances• style of religious worship• use of herbs to combat disease

• Most were born in the US – merge traditions with values and experiences

• Named kids after relatives, didn’t marry first cousins

• Higher # of female heads of households• Baptist and Methodist

• 2nd Great Awakening, owners encouraged it (Social Control)

• Moses• Folklore - Brer Rabbit• Religious songs/Spirituals