CTC US HIST I Ch. 11

The Amistad (p. 425)

A ship transporting slaves from one port in Cuba to another and tried to force the navigator to steer it to Africa. Wended its way up the Atlantic coast, until American vessel seized it off the coast of Long Island.

Nat Turner's Rebellion (p. 428)

A slave preacher and religious mystic in Southampton County, Virginia who came to believe God had chosen him to lead a black uprising. He traveled widely in the county conducting religious services. Most important slave uprising in nineteenth-century America, led by a slave preacher who, with his followers, killed about sixty white persons in Southampton County, Virginia, in 1831.

the "peculiar institution" (p. 397)

An institution unique to southern society.

"Cotton is King" (p. 398)

In the nineteenth century, cotton replaced sugar as the world's major crop produced by slave labor. Its strength rested on a virtual monopoly of cotton, the South's "white gold."

Lords of the Loom and Lord of the Lash (p. 400)

Lords of the Loom (New England's early factory owners) relied on cotton supplied by the Lords of the Lash (southern slaveowners).

the proslavery argument (p. 405)

Fewer and fewer white southerners shared the view, common among the founding fathers, that slavery was, at best, a "necessary evil."

"plain folk" (p. 401)

Non-slave owning white families who lived outside the plantation belt in hilly areas unsuitable for cotton production. They worked the land using family labor rather than slaves or hired workers.

the slave family (p. 418)

Slaves did not marry first cousins, they lived in two-parent families, because of constant sales, the slave community had a significantly higher number of female-headed households than among whites, as well as families in which grandparents, other relatives, or even non-kin assumed responsibility for raising children.

Denmark Vesey's conspiracy (p. 427)

1822, a slave carpenter in Charleston, South Carolina, who had purchased his freedom after winning a local lottery. His conspiracy reflected the combination of American and African influences then circulating in the Atlantic world and coming together in black culture.

Underground Railroad (p. 425)

A loose organization of sympathetic abolitionists who hid fugitives in their homes and sent them on to the next "station," assisted some runaway slaves.

Harriet Tubman (p. 425)

Best known member of the Underground Railroad. Born in Maryland in 1820, she escaped to Philadelphia in 1849 and during the next decade risked her life by making numerous trips back to her state of birth to lead relatives and other slaves to freedom.

"silent sabotage" (p. 424)

Doing poor work, breaking tools, abusing animals, and in other ways disrupting the plantation routine. "Day-to-day resistance."

paternalism (p. 404)

Planters' values glorified not the competitive capitalist marketplace, but a hierarchical, agrarian society in which slaveholding gentlemen took personal responsibility for the physical and moral well-being of their dependents - women, children, and slaves. "The master, as the head of the system, has a right to the obedience and labor of the slave, but the slave has also his mutual rights in the master; the right of protection, the right of counsel and guidance, the right of subsistence, the right of care and attention in sickness and old age."

fugitive slaves (p. 424)

Runaway slave. Thousands of slaves gained their freedom by running away to British lines during the War of Independence and War of 1812.

REVIEW QUESTION 3. How did the planters' paternalism serve to justify the system of slavery? How did it hide the reality of life for slaves?

The planters' paternalism had been a feature of American slavery even in the eighteenth century, and it became deeper part after 1808. It made the relationship of masters and slaves closer, and gave owners an economic interest in the survival of their human property. Moreover, the paternalist outlook hided the brutal reality of slavery. It let slaveowners think of themselves as kind masters even though they bought and sold their human property. Some slaveowners tried to change the system of slavery to abolish its oppressive part, but they couldn't end slavery.

Second Middle Passage (p. 398)

To replace the slave trade from Africa, a massive trade in slaves developed within the U.S. More than 2 million slaves were sold between 1820 and 1860.

REVIEW QUESTION 5. Compare slaves in the Old South with those elsewhere in the world, focusing on health, diet, and opportunities for freedom.

In the nineteenth century, American slaves enjoyed better diets, lower rates of infant mortality and longer life expectancies than the slaves in the West Indies and Brazil. The health of the slaves in America was better than in the Caribbean because of its geographical setting where the American slaves lived were less delicate to tropical diseases. Also the owner in the Old South started to take care of their slaves because they were not able anymore to get new slaves from Africa and slaves started to become really expensive. Nevertheless, the laws were tighter and stricter in the Old South compare to other countries and it got even worse over the years. Even when the slaves enjoyed better health and diet than in other countries, nonetheless, they experiences less freedom than other slaves from other places.

REVIEW QUESTION 1. Given that most northern states had abolished slavery by the 1830s, how is it useful to think of slavery as a national - rather than regional - economic and political system?

It is useful to think of slavery as a national-rather than regional-economic and political system is because there was so many slaves that it affect the economy at a national level. Even though the north abolished slavery the business men and factories from the north still made profits from slavery. The production of cotton used a lot of slave labor. Seventy-five percent of the world's cotton came from America with the use of slave labor. The banks and insurance companies also financed and insured the plantations involving slavery. Slavery had an influence on the whole nation not just the southern states.

REVIEW QUESTION 8. Identify the different types of resistance to slavery. Which ones were the most common, the most effective, and the most demonstrative?

One of the types of resistance to slavery, which was one of the most common, was called "day-to-day resistance" or "silent sabotage" which the book says was things like, "doing poor work, breaking tools, abusing animals, and in other ways disrupting plantation routine." "Then there was the theft of food, a form of resistance so common that one southern physician diagnosed it as a hereditary disease unique to blacks." They also, less frequently committed larger crimes.

slave religion (p. 421)

Some blacks, free and slave, had taken part in the Great Awakening of the colonial era, and even more were swept into the South's Baptist and Methodist churches during the religious revivals of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.

REVIEW QUESTION 2. While some poor southern whites resented the dominance of the "slavocracy" most supported the institution and accepted the power of the planter class. Why did the "plan folk" continue to support slavery?

Some poor whites hated the power of the great planters and against the "slaveocracy", but most poor whites made a connection with the economic and social power of the planters. In the face of outside criticism, regional loyalty served to cement bonds between planters and the South's "plain folk." Moreover, some small farmers in the plantation region were responsible to lookout the runaway slaves and those on the roads without permission. Sometimes the "plain folk" rented slaves from planters and regularly elected slaveowners to public offices in the South. Most small farmers believed that their economic and personal freedom were rely on slavery. Thus, the "plain folk" supported slavery.

REVIEW QUESTION 4. Identify the basic elements of the proslavery defense and those points aimed especially at non-southern audiences.

The basic elements of the proslavery defense was that white people were better than black people. There was an argument that there should be an upper class and a lower class. Some argued that it was good for society to have slavery that without slavery human can not progress. Some southerners argued that for equality to exist among whites there need to be slaves to do the jobs of unskilled labor. Without slavery the whites would not be free. Some pro-slavery arguments came from the bible that servants should obey their master.

REVIEW QUESTION 7. How did enslaved people create community and a culture that allowed them to survive in an oppressive society?

The enslaved people could create community and a culture in that oppressive society because they never forgot to fight for their freedom. The enslaved people forged a semi-independent culture because they were controlled by white. In that time, they still had their own music and dances, style of religious worship, and the use of herbs. Along with the black population far outnumbered the white, the salve culture began to play an important role in America. Also, many African slaves lived and had children in America. Their children were influenced by African traditions and American culture.

REVIEW QUESTION 6. Describe the difference between gang labor and task labor for slaves, and explain how slaves' tasks varied by region across the Old South.

The gang labor and task labor were different on the crop and the size of the holding, and slaves' tasks varied in the different regions of the South. First, the gang labor existed on large plantations in the Cotton Belt and in the sugar fields of the southern Louisiana. The gang slaves were under the direction of the overseer. And, the task labor existed on the rich plantations of South Carolina and Georgia. The task slaves were assigned verily tasks for day. Also, slaves had different tasks because of different regions. Some task slaves worked in the poor fields, they needed to work as field hands; most city slaves were servants and cook laborers; and many urban slaves even lived on their own.