2007 Chapter 13 Cards

Front 1

Black belt

Back 1

Region in central Alabama; named after the dark, rich soil; was well suited for cotton cultivation

Front 2

Deep South

Back 2

Agriculture focused on cultivating cotton; consisted of South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas

Front 3

Upper South

Back 3

Agriculture focused on cultivating tobacco, hemp, corn and wheat; consisted of Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, Missouri and Arkansas

Front 4

Single-crop agriculture

Back 4

Practiced by many Southern farmers; rapidly wore out the soil; increased erosion; increased toxins and parasites in the soil-crops more vulnerable

Front 5

Peculiar institution

Back 5

Refers to slavery once it was confined to the South-peculiar institution to the rest of the country

Front 6

Planters

Back 6

Slaveowners who owned 20 or more slaves; 1 out of every 30 white Southerners belonged to planter families

Front 7

Overseers

Back 7

Would be in charge of one of the several plantations belonging to large slaveowners

Front 8

Drivers

Back 8

Slaves that were assistants to the overseer

Front 9

Old South

Back 9

The Southern states on the Atlantic coast that were part of the 13 colonies; tobacco and rice planters; more settled; culture present for 150 to 200 years

Front 10

Old Southwest

Back 10

Were the newer Southern states; were emerging from a frontier state; rawer and more unstable

Front 11

Tidewater

Back 11

On the Atlantic coast; tied to the rest of the world particularly Europe-life closer to that of English nobility than anywhere else in America

Front 12

Paternalism

Back 12

Plantation owner as the master of his crops, family and slaves; plantation owner treated his slaves like his “children” (bond between the kind master and his faithful slaves)-not in practice

Front 13

Miscegenation

Back 13

Sexual relations between whites and African-Americans on plantations; many times between a master and female slaves sometimes resulting in illegitimate children-no social or legal penalties even when it was rape

Front 14

Yeoman farmers

Back 14

More than half of the Southern white population; owned no slaves; farmed 80 to 160 acres like Northern farmers; ≈80% owned their own land; settled almost everywhere in the South except on extremely profitable land; mostly semi-subsistent farmers-limited economic opportunity (no cheap labor, poor transportation, no access to credit); isolated; desired to join the gentry-prevented class conflict, in favor of slavery

Front 15

Poor whites

Back 15

Lived on land that no one else desired-remote; usually were squatters without title for the land they lived on; men hunted and fished while women did domestic work and limited farming; very difficult to escape the dire poverty they lived in; resented planters but favored slavery-symbol of status since they were free

Front 16

Gang vs. task labor systems

Back 16

Gang system: white overseer or black driver supervised 20 to 25 slaves; long hours of tedious labor; slaves constantly supervised; difficult to detect slackers; most common in cotton fields; Task system: each slave was given a daily assignment to complete; once the slave finished the assignment, he or she was finished for the day; slaves worked at their own pace; gave motivation to work meticulously; freed overseers from having to constantly supervise; slaves resisted when workload was increased; most common in rice fields

Front 17

Nat Turner’s Rebellion 1831

Back 17

Led by Nat Turner-literate, given privileges from his kind master; spontaneous-he and 6 other slaves murdered his master and his master’s family; recruited ≈70 more slaves and killed 57 white men women and children; crushed within 48 hours; Turner captured, tried, and executed; made white Southerners uneasy-Turner appeared as a model slave but his emotions did not coincidence with his obedience

Front 18

Virginia Slavery Debate 1832

Back 18

Western Virginians petitioned Virginian legislature for gradual emancipation; Virginian legislature refused to consider legislation ending slavery; last significant attempt of white Southerners to do something about slavery