The South and the Slavery Controversy

 

Theme 1: The cotton producing slave system created a complex social order in the South, which deeply affected whites as well as blacks

 

Theme 2: The small but energetic radical abolitionist movement caused a fierce pro-slavery backlash in the South and a slow but steady growth of moderate anti-slavery sentiment in the North

 

Pro Slavery Arguments as advanced by Southerners:

 

I.                  Religious Arguments:

a.    Passages from the Bible were quoted to support slavery

b.    Southern churches felt it was only their duty to teach Christianity to slaves

 

II.              Historical Arguments:

a.    All great civilizations (Greece, Rome, Egypt) had been built on slavery. Mark Twain referred to the South as a “sham civilization”

b.    Slavery enable those of “superior talent to develop their minds and creativity

 

III.           “Scientific” Arguments:

a.    Southern whites deduced that Africans were intellectually inferior to white

b.    Blacks were labeled as unable to use “reason” and “judgment”

 

IV.            Social Arguments:

a.    Slaves were cared for (food, shelter, clothing) by their masters

b.    Slaves were better off than northern factory workers (wage slaves)

 

V.                Political Arguments:

 

1. The Extent of Slavery:

        A. 80% of all whites in the south owned NO slaves

        B. 19% of small farmers owned 5 or fewer slaves

        C. 1% of southerners (plantation owners) owned 50 or more slaves

 

2. Treatment of Slaves:

        A. Difficult to categorize- it depended on individual slave owners

        B. Most slaves received food, clothing, shelter since the master needed to protect

his “investment”. Slaves cost between 500 and 2000 dollars

        C. Slave marriages were not recognized in Southern law. Families were broken up

by sale of parents or children

        D. Overseers (white and sometimes black) supervised slaves for the master and

administered discipline and punishment

        E. It was illegal to teach a slave to read or write

        F. Slaves were confined to slave quarters at night, they could seldom leave the

plantation, when they were off the plantation they needed to have a pass

        G. A social order developed within the slave community based on age and

occupation

 

3. Slave resistance:

A.    Discontent and resentment of slaves towards their masters was common

B.    Slave uprisings were few- Denmark Vesey 1821, Nat Turner 1831. All were unsuccessful

C.    Some slaves escaped and ran for freedom, sometimes aided by the Underground Railroad

i.                   The eastern 2/3rds of NY was known as “North Star Country” due to the high amount of Underground Railroad activity in the area

ii.                Abolitionist movement began near Utica, NY and Frederick Douglass set up the North Star newspaper in Rochester N.Y.

iii.              Bounty hunters would sometimes come into the area in hopes of capturing runaways. They were often chased out of town. In Syracuse church bells would ring to notify citizens that bounty hunters were in town. In Buffalo, some abolitionists would take the bounty hunters to bars to get them drunk while slaves escaped across the Niagara River

iv.              Michigan Street Baptist Church and Niagara on the Lake were sites along the Underground Railroad

v.                 Many fugitives traveled along the Erie Canal through Lockport

vi.              Sometimes Underground Railroad “conductors” would use code (expect 2 small packages and a large one for 2 kids and 1 adult), but many more were open and public about their efforts

D.   The most common form of resistance was work slowdowns and sabotage on the plantation