Chapter 11 APUSH terms

Task system / Gang-labor system / House servants, 1800 - 1861 Task system

A system of labor in which a slave was assigned a daily task to complete and allowed to do as he wished after it was finished. The task system was used throughout the South before the Civil War, but it was most common in the rice growing areas of South Carolina. It was also frequently used on smaller farms.

Free Blacks, 1860

About 250,000 free blacks lived in the South, over 50% in Virginia and Maryland by 1860. Some free blacks (usually urban blacks) had found a way to earn money and buy their own and their families' freedom. Others had been freed by their masters (usually after the master's death). White fears about slave revolts resulted in laws which made manumission more difficult.

Poor whites aka "poor white trash" or "crackers" or "clay eaters"

About 500,000 whites who lived in abject poverty and squalor, quite often worse than the slaves. Most owned no workable land and worked as common laborers. Poor whites suffered from dietary deficiencies (at times reduced to eating clay) and diseases such as hookworm and malaria. Poor whites were regarded with contempt by other southern whites and, at times, by slaves as well.

Herbert Gutman, 1976

He argued slavery had not weakened or destroyed the African-American family, but to the contrary, blacks survived slavery with their family structure intact.

John Blassingame, 1973

He refuted Elkins' study and argued that despite the constrictions of slavery American-born slaves were able to retain their African culture.

Four Classes in the South, 1800-1861 Yeomen aka "Plain Folk"

Largest group in the South, worked small farms, sometimes with slaves (small enough farms that owners sometimes worked alongside their slaves), to produce their own food, such as corn.

Antebellum

Latin for "before a war"; commonly used by historians to refer to the period prior to the Civil War (1861-1865)

Planters

Planters owned at least forty or fifty slaves and 800 or more acres. Southerners likened them to European aristocracy, but most were first generation settlers. In contrast to the "cavalier" myth, planters were involved in a competitive and profitable business - growing staple crops. Planters exercised a great deal of political and economic power with exports, especially cotton. 2-3% of southern white planters owned half of all southern slaves. ¾ of all white families owned no slaves.

Elizabeth Fox-Genovese, 1988

In contrast to some feminist historians who argued black women identified more with white women because they shared subordination to men, Fox-Genovese contended that black women retained their loyalty to the slave community and their own families.

Urban Slavery, 1800-1861

In order to maximize the use of slaves in urban areas, they were typically given less direct supervision or more "freedom." A majority of urban slaves were women (domestic servants), but also included slaves on contract (hired out by their master to another white) and some skilled workers (who were often hired out as well). The biggest southern fear was that slaves had the opportunity to see free blacks in cities and as fears of slave insurrections grew owners increasing took male slaves from urban areas and sold them to rural areas. Consequently, females slaves came to outnumber male slaves in urban areas.

Robert Fogel, Stanley Engerman, Time on the Cross, 1974

Very controversial study that was heavily criticized because it portrayed slavery as a successful and somewhat humane labor system. They argued slaves were better treated and lived in better conditions than northern factory workers in the same period.

Denmark Vesey, 1822

A mulatto who inspired a group of slaves to seize Charleston, South Carolina in 1822. He was betrayed by one of his followers and he and his thirty-seven followers were hanged before the revolt started.

Chivalry

Complicated code of "honor" among white males that led to the idea of avenging any insult to one's character. This was related to ethical conduct and bravery, but it was also connected to the need to preserve dignity and authority. Concerns about the code of chivalry or need to defend one's honor sometimes led to duels. Chivalry was particularly concerned with avenging any insult to southern white women.

Stanley Elkins, 1959

Elkins was influenced by studies on Nazi concentration camp survivors and he argued slavery had the same damaging effect on slaves. He argued that the institution reduced slaves to a childlike "Sambos" personality.

Kenneth Stampp, The Peculiar Institution, 1956

Emphasized the harshness of the system and damage to slave families.

Eugene Genovese, 1974

Genovese took the position that operating within the paternalistic assumptions of slavery slaves were able to build their own culture and develop their own family life, and social and religious traditions.

King Cotton, 1812-1861

Phrase used to show the dominance of cotton in the economy of the antebellum South (1801-1860). The strong demand for cotton in industrial Britain enriched southern planters and determined the course of southern economic and social development. The demand for cotton encouraged western expansion and new states, such as Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas, produced cotton.

Ulrich Phillips, 1918

Portrayed slavery as a benign institution where kind masters looked after their childlike and contented slaves.

Interstate slave trade, 1800's

Slave trade between states that continued after the abolition of the Atlantic Slave Trade in 1808. Slaves were most often sold from the Upper South to the Lower South, a move undesirable to slaves because it usually meant harder labor and less chance of escape. The interstate slave trade broke up many families in the decades preceding the Civil War.

Nat Turner's Insurrection, 1831

Slave uprising in which a group of sixty slaves led by Nat Turner, who believed he was a divine instrument sent to free his people, killed almost sixty whites in South Hampton, Virginia. This led to a sensational manhunt in which one hundred blacks were killed. As a result, slave states strengthened measures against slaves and became more united in their support of fugitive slave laws.

Southern Defense of slavery, 1790s-1860s

Southern whites' opinion about slavery shifted from seeing it as a "necessary evil" (1790) to being a "positive good" (after 1840). As conflict over slavery grew so did Southern fears of slave insurrections and their adamant defense of slavery. They used racism, biblical texts, and historical examples to justify slavery.

George Fitzhugh

Southern who defended slavery by arguing that Northern "wage slavery" was more exploitative than AfricanAmerican slavery. He also argued that whites were protecting slaves from a competitive world in which slaves were ill-equipped to survive

Slave Resistance

The amount of repression a slave suffered depended on his or her master. Most received adequate housing and diet (although their life span and child morality rates was higher than whites). Strict slave codes (codes of laws) that limited slave movement and isolation on rural plantations made revolts next to impossible. Most slave resistance took the form of quiet resistance - slaves sabotaged their work areas, slowed down work for their masters, and ridiculed their owners

New Free vs. New Slave States, 1815-1840

The federal government tried to maintain a balance between slave states and free states. The new states admitted were: Indiana (1816, free), Mississippi (1817, slave), Illinois (1818, free), Alabama (1819, slave), Maine (1820, free), Missouri (1821, slave), Arkansas (1836, slave), and Michigan (1837, free).

Paternalism, 1800's

The idea that slavery was a set of reciprocal obligations between masters and slaves, with slaves providing labor and obedience and masters providing basic care and necessary guidance. The concept of paternalism denied that the slave system was brutal and exploitative. While paternalism did provide some protection against the worst brutality, it did not guarantee decent living conditions, reasonable work, or freedom from physical punishment. Slave owners used this concept to rationalize and justify slavery.

Slaves

The number of slaves grew to nearly 4 million by 1860. The cotton-growing areas of the South were growing more dependent on slavery while agriculture in the upper South was moving away from agriculture. Their treatment varied from master to master, depending on the character and disposition of the owner. But the institution was firmly fixed on physical coercion and slaves had no legal rights.

House servants

They worked within the household and their physical labor was less arduous, but they enjoyed less privacy and were under the constant scrutiny of their master. Female slaves who were house servants were also at more risk of sexual exploitation by their master.

Gang-labor system

This system offered less freedom than the task system because in gang-labor slaves worked set hours under careful supervision. This was commonly used on large farms and plantations (cotton, sugar, and tobacco plantations).