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23 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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North and South, Slave and Free |
The experiences of African Americans at mid-century depended on where they lived and whether they lived in slavery or freedom. Former slave Frederick Douglass toured the North talking to white audiences about slavery. |
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Slaves' Legal Status |
Douglass reminded his listeners that the law defined slaves as property, not human beings. Legally, slaveholders could do almost anything with their human property. They could buy and sell slaves. They could leave slaves to their children or heirs. |
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Rural and Urban Slaves |
Most slaves worked on farms and plantations across the south. By 1860, there was also about 70,000 urban slaves living in towns and cities. Most were "hired out" or sent to work in factories, mills or workshops. |
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Free blacks in the South |
About half of all free African Americans lived in the South. Most worked as laborers, craftspeople, or household servants in towns and cities. White southerners viewed free blacks as a dangerous group that had to be controlled so that, in the words of South Carolina slaveholders, they would not create "discontent among our slaves." |
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Free blacks in the North |
African Americans in the North lived freer lives. But blacks experienced discrimination, or unequal treatment, everywhere they turned. In many states, African Americans were denied the right to vote. Everywhere they had trouble finding good jobs. |
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The Economics of Slavery |
The Economics of slavery was about how only wealthier planters could afford to buy slaves. The great majority of white southerners did not own slaves. The south depended on cotton which they depended on slaves to plant the cotton, pick out the seeds, and give it to the white southerners for them to sell on the market. |
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Working Conditions of Slaves |
Slaves worked on farms of various sizes. On small farms, owners and slaves worked side by side in the fields. On large plantations, planters hired overseers to supervise their slaves. Overseers were paid to "care for nothing but to make a large crop." Not all slaves worked in the fields. Some were skilled seamstresses, carpenters, or blacksmiths. |
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Living Conditions of Slaves |
Most masters viewed their slaves as they did their land-things to be "worn out, not improved." They provided only what was needed to keep their slaves healthy enough to work. Slaves lived crowded together in rough cabins. Slaves seldom went hungry. Slaves wore clothing made of coarse homespun linen or rough "Negro cloth." Northern textile mills made this cloth especially for slave clothes. |
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Controlling Slaves |
Slavery was a system of forced labor. To make this system work, slaveholders had to keep their slaves firmly under control. Some slaveholders used harsh punishments-beating, whipping, branding, and other forms of torture-to maintain that control. But punishments often backfired on slaveholders. Slaves who failed to learn this lesson were sometimes sent to slavebreakers. Such men were experts at turning independent, spirited African Americans into humble, obedient slaves. |
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Resistance to Slavery |
Despite the efforts of slaveholders to crush their spirits. Slaves found countless ways to resist slavery. As former slave Harriet Jacobs wrote after escaping to freedom, "My master had power and law on his side. I had determined will. There is power in each." For most slaves, resistance took the form of quiet acts of rebellion.Quiet resistance sometimes flared into open defiance. When pushed too hard, slaves refused to work, rejected orders, or struck back violently. |
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Day-to-Day Resistance |
For most slaves, resistance took the form of quiet acts of rebellion. Field hands pulled down fences, broke tools, and worked so sloppily that they damaged crops. House slaves sneaked food out of the master's kitchen. |
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Open Defiance |
Quiet resistance sometimes flared into open defiance. When pushed too hard, slaves refused to work, rejected orders, or struck "insolent" disrespectful or "unmanageable". Frederick Douglass reached his breaking point one day when the slave breaker covey began to beat him for no particular reason. |
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Running Away |
Some slaves tried to escape by running away to their freedom in the north. The risks were enormous. Slaveholders hired professional slave catchers and their packs of howling bloodhounds to hunt down runaway slaves. |
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Rebellion |
At times, resistance erupted into violent rebellion. Slave revolts occurred in cities, on plantations, and even on ships at sea. Fear of slave uprisings haunted slaveholders. Planters, wrote one visitor to the south. |
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Slave Families and Communities |
Slavery made community and family life difficult. Legally, slave families did not exist. No southern state recognized slave marriages. Legal control of slave children rested not with their parents, but with their masters. Caring for children was never easy. Frederick Douglass's mother "snatched a few moments for our care in the early morning before her work began, and at night after the day's work was done." |
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Leisure Time Activities |
These simple words capture the weariness of slaves. They toiled all week in fields that seemed to stretch "from one end Saturday night and Sunday, their time was their own. Douglass reminded |
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Slave Churches |
Many slaveholders encouraged their slaves to attend church on Sunday. Some read the Bible to their workers and prayed with them. Owners and white ministers preached the same message. |
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African American Culture |
Africans arrived in the United States speaking many languages and following many cultural traditions. To survive, they had to learn a new language, English, and adopt a new way of life. Yet they did not forget their African roots. Across the South, slaves combined their old traditions and new realities to create a distinctive African American culture. |
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What does the map show? |
The map shows how cotton grew in the south and the trading routes where they would trade slaves for money |
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How did the size of the area where cotton was grown change between 1801 and 1860? |
The area changed because cotton gin was created which took out the seeds and required more slaves |
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Did the production of cotton increase or decrease between 1801 and 1860? What effect do you think this had on the use of slavery? |
the production of cotton increased. This had the use of slavery because there was a machine that was meant to pick out the seeds which took slaves a long time to do faster and required more slaves to use it |
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What invention accounts for the changes you can see on this map? |
the machine that changes the map was the cotton gin |
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How might these changes have affected slaves?How might these changes have affected the economy of the South?Were these changes good or bad?why do you think so? |
Slaves were required more in the south. The cotton gin changed the economy of the South because it made cotton more popular. These changes were bad because if it needed more slaves, more mistreatment occurred. I think this because slaves were treated badly. |
