African American 231 Midterm
Plantation
(North American Context) An agricultural enterprise with 20 or more unfree laborers cultivating a cash crop for a distant market; there is a strict labor organization and various forms of corporal punishment are used
Constitution a pro slavery document
- 2/3 of founding fathers owned slaves and the other 1/3 were willing to compromise on the issue of slavery in order to create a union -3/5 clause -fugitive slave clause -1808 slave trade law -northwest ordinance
Lower MS Valley in Plantation Generation
-continues to dissolve into a society with slaves -the slave trade ends after natchez-bombard rebellion -native born black population emerges -growth of free black community (children of enslaved women and white men, black service in the militia)
The Revolutionary Generation in the North
-devolved from a society with slaves to a mostly free society between 1770-1810 -slow and uneven Emancipation process (most states passed GE laws, only three states abolished slavery outright: VT, MA, NH) -blacks often continued residing in white households as indentured servants and free people -political marginalization (denied the vote, could not testify against whites in courts or sit on juries) -Social Marginalization (segregated housing, accommodations, excluded from public schools and most privates universities) -Economic marginalization (locked into unskilled menial wage labor)
The Revolutionary Generation in Coastal Low Country
-institution of slavery was never questioned by master class -enslaved fight exclusively for the British -sequestered plantations -maroon societies and runaways -slaveholders are committed to protecting their slave property -slaves resist removal and expand their own provision grounds -severe decrease in slave populations at the end of the war -free people of color distance themselves form slaves for their own self preservation
The Revolutionary Generation in the Chesapeake
-institution of slavery was questioned but region remains a slave society -forced migrations -crop rotations and new inventions -increase in conflicts between slaves and masters -slave population increased as a result of natural means -free black population increased as a result of runaways, military service, and an increase in manumission and term slavery
Planter
-large landowner -slaveholder who owns 20 or more slaves
Enslaved people
-no legal or social protection -a person with a price
Plantation Generations and how they differed from Charter Generations
-not all were owned by planters , but many were -not all lived on plantations, but many did -they worked harder; died earlier ;disciplined harsher -they knew and wanted to know little about Christianity rarely accumulated property -most lived on vast estates deep in the countryside, cut off from the Atlantic World -few escaped slavery -most were from African Interior completely unfamiliar with the Atlantic World -many were brought directly from Africa
Plantation Generation in the Chesapeake
-planters push out small land owners -tobacco revolution pushes to become slave society -Work routine intensified -slaveholders expand and cement the slave codes -Free black lose their rights
slavery and mastery
-power to force to direct someone's labor or life -violence in common place -legal and social sanction -is the irresistible power to arrogate another's labor -uneven but negotiated relationship
Maroon Colonies
escaped slaves that created own communities that were secret- more common in Coastal Low Country
Black Revolutionary Liberation Movement
-100,000 runaways -15,000 loyalists -5,000 patriots
The North in the Charter Generations
-New York and New Jersey (Dutch colony until 1664 when English takeover) -New England (settled by English, puritans) -A society with slaves -lived in homes of their masters; usually one of 2 slaves in household -slaves had an ambiguous status -Dutch West India Company (half-freedom)
The Chesapeake in the Charter Generations
-Settled by English -The Virginia Company(Jamestown 1607) was the first success colony -starts as society with slaves and slowly evolves into a slave society -VA was first to purchase slaves (first 20 in 1619) -initially entered
What is Atlantic Plantation Complex
-Unprecedented international economic system of labor management, capital and investment -first in med (11-13 c.) then African Coast (12-15 c.) then South America, the Caribbean and finally North America (16-17)
Coastal Low Country in the Charter Generations (NC and SC)
-a colony of a colony (Barbadians) -Imported slave code and legal racial hierarchy from Barbados recruited Native Americans as slave catchers; also enslaved and sold Native Americans -The economy (rice in 1690+) -originally started a society with slaves but had a very quick transition to a slave society -consistently has black majority
Slavery and the American Revolution
-a problem of language and rhetoric -weakened the institution of slavery in the south temporarily, but strengthened it in the long run -weakened the institution of slavery in the North -Gradual emancipation in the North
Plantation Generation in the North
-a society with slaves with a few slave societies -Urban areas (elite and tradesmen dominate slaveholding class) -rural areas (large landowners dominate slaveholding class) -Slave labor and the business of slavery was key to the diversified economy -direct imports from Africa -few lived in family groups -few had surnames -couldn't own property -rarely registered marriages or baptized their children
The revolutionary generation in the Lower Mississippi valley
-an international space (Spanish took control from French in 1770) -US took control from Louisiana Purchase in 1803 which doubled the size of USA -Slavery was not questioned in the region -both French and Spanish supported American cause -planters flee to west with their slaves -runaways increase and maroon colonies flourish -cotton and sugar revolutions (society with slaves to a slave society, slaves work harder and die earlier, imports of enslaved people
What is the Atlantic Slave Trade?
-complex, extraordinary, and unprecedented movement of peoples and capital -Africans and Europeans on equal footing for most of the trade
Plantation Generation in Coastal Low Country
-rice revolution -skilled slave trades necessary for rice cultivation -Degradation of black life was swifter and deeper than the Chesapeake -a more divided black community (light-skinned Urban Atlantic Creoles were minorities, culturally African rural were majority) -Black majority was a distinguishing characteristics
1741 NYC Conspiracy
-set fired -biracial collaboration -plot betrayed - 13 burned alive, 16 hanged, 4 executed, 2 starved in chains, 70 banished -fear fueled by 1712 revolt
Coastal Low Country in Charter Generations (GA)
-slavery was initially banned, 1751 ban on slavery was lifted -replicated SC slave code -Grew rice and Indigo
Middle Passage
-thoughtfully violent -death was common -women and children kept quarter deck often unchained during the day -men kept below deck usually chained 24/7 -revolts were common
Lower Mississippi Valley in the Charter Generations
-transformed from a slave society to a society with slaves (French society set out to create a slave society similar to Haiti but didn't work) -Tabacco and Indigo -The Code Noir -Importing people directly from Africa -Natches Bambara Rebellion (native Americans and Black people, freaks colonists out)
universal characteristics of slavery
1. slaves were property 2.They were outsiders-religious, ethnic, linguistic 3.lacked ties to family, kin, and community 4. Coercion was used against them 5. labor power was at complete disposal of master 6.Deprived the right over sexuality and reproduction
Charter Generations Time Period
1619-1740
Nathaniel Bacon's Rebellion
An interracial uprising among the powerful elite planter class-poor men who wanted the opportunity to become landowners
Unique Slave system in the American Colonies
Creation of race based slavery- legislating race perpetual and habitual slavery-no exit chattel slavery- commodification of people
Chesapeake Bay
DE, VA, MD
General characteristics of West African Slavery
Domestic Slavery, Captive Slavery
Lower MS Valley
LA, Fl
Coastal Low Country
NC, SC, GA
The North States
NY, NH, MA, RI, CT, NJ, PA
societies with slaves
slave labor was marginal to the overall economy; slaveholders were part of but did not dominate the social, economic and political elite
1712 Slave Rebellion
night of April 6,1712, large and well planned and violent uprising began on Maiden Lane, Africans and Native Americans plan the rebellion
General Characteristics of European slavery
prior to Middle Ages slavery was common, after Middle Ages slavery was marginal, replaced with serfdom
slave society
slave labor was center of economy; slaveholders were the ruling social, political and economic elite
Atlantic Creoles
the First Generation of North American Slaves -familiar with commercial world of the Atlantic