Chapter 11: The Peculiar Institution

Compared to slaves in Brazil or the West Indies, American slaves had (1.) diets. This was because the South had abundant food supplies and wild game. The slaves supplemented the food provided by their masters by (2.) in the forest and cultivating (3.) themselves.

(1.) better (2.) hunting (3.) vegetables

Slaves developed a distinct version of Christianity that offered solace in the face of hardship and hope for liberation from bondage. Identify the statements that describe the religious life of slaves.

- Although it was illegal for slaves to gather without a white person present, every plantation appeared to have its own black preacher who would hold church services exclusively for the slave population. - Slave religion was a mix of African tradition and Christian beliefs practiced for the most part in secret.

Identify the statements that describe Frederick Douglass's critique of slavery.

- Douglass relates slavery to American values in order to question a society that does not practice its commitment to liberty for all people by enslaving black people. - Douglass says that slaves are the truest Americans in that all they want is liberty.

Identify the statements that describe the Underground Railroad.

- Harriet Tubman was the most famous "conductor" on the Underground Railroad. - The Underground Railroad was not a single, centralized system, but rather a series of interlocking local networks involving black and white abolitionists helping slaves reach safety. - "Stations" on the Underground Railroad were hideouts maintained by abolitionists to help fugitive slaves.

Identify the key differences between slavery in the United States and slavery in Brazil.

- In the American South, states set limits on voluntary manumission, requiring such acts be approved by the legislature. - At the point of emancipation in Brazil, more than half of the slave population had already gained its freedom, while only 10 percent of slaves in the United States had gained its freedom by emancipation.

Identify the legal status and restrictions put on slaves in the American South.

- It was illegal to teach a slave to read and write. - Under the law, slaves were seen as property. - Slaves could not testify in court against white persons, sign contracts, or acquire property.

Identify the statements that describe slave marriage and life in the United States.

- One of every three slave marriages in slave-selling states, like Virginia, was broken by sale. - Most adult slaves married and when their unions were not disrupted by sale, they typically married for a lifetime.

Read the passage below from "Slavery and the Bible," an essay from De Bow's Magazine (1850). ... Abraham, the chosen servant of God, had his bond servants, whose condition was similar to, or worse than, that of our slaves. He considered them as his property, to be bought and sold as any other property which he owned. ... We find, that both the Old and New Testaments speak of slavery—that they do not condemn the relation, but, on the contrary, expressly allow it or create it; and they give commands and exhortations, which are based upon its legality and propriety. It can not, then, be wrong. What arguments does De Bow make in attempt to demonstrate that the Bible sanctions slavery?

- Slavery appears in both the New and Old Testaments of the Bible. - If the servant of God, Abraham, had slaves, then slavery is not morally wrong.

Identify the obstacles faced by slaves attempting to escape.

- Slaves did not receive formal education and as a result they had little or no sense of geography, making it difficult to determine where to go after escaping. - Often bonds between family members and friends were enough to deter slaves from leaving the plantation. - There were regular slave patrols, law enforcement, and a legal system designed to ensure slaves did not escape from their masters.

What does it reveal about the slave population in 1860?

- South Carolina had the highest concentration of slaves. - Slave ownership was not evenly distributed throughout the South but was concentrated around areas with fertile soil and easy access to national and international markets.

Identify the statements that describe the Old South.

- Southern railroads tended to be short lines designed to bring cotton to ports rather than integrate the South into a larger national network. - In 1860, the South produced less than 10 percent of the nation's manufactured goods.

Identify the statements that describe the southern planter class.

- The "planter class" was a term for the families who owned twenty or more slaves, and as a result, produced the most profits. - The planter class wielded significant political influence in the South because of its wealth and power.

After abolition in the North, slavery had become the "peculiar institution" of the South. Identify the statements that describe this "peculiar institution" in the antebellum American South.

- The Old South was the largest and most powerful slave society in the modern world. - The slave economy in the South revolved around the region's monopoly on cotton, which was referred to as "white gold." - In the South as a whole, slaves made up one-third of the total population, and in the cotton-producing states of the Deep South, around half.

On the eve of the Civil War, nearly half a million free blacks lived in the United States, the majority of them in the South. Identify the statements that describe the restrictions under which free blacks lived.

- They could not strike a white person, even in self-defense. - They were not allowed to testify in court against whites. - They were prohibited from owning dogs, firearms, or liquor.

Identify the statements that describe the Second Middle Passage.

- Virginia played a key role in the Second Middle Passage. - Slave trading within the United States between 1820 and 1860 was a visible, established business. - Many commercial districts in southern cities contained the offices of slave traders, complete with signs reading "Negro Sales" or "Negroes Bought Here."

The most widespread expression of hostility to slavery as an institution was "day-to-day resistance" or "silent sabotage." Identify examples of the forms of "day-to-day resistance" that the slaves performed.

- breaking tools, doing poor work, abusing animals - leaving gates open and removing rails from fences

Slaveowners employed a variety of means in their attempts to maintain order and discipline among their human property and persuade them to labor productively. Identify the methods used to control slaves and force them to work for their masters.

- prohibiting relations between house servants and field hands to prevent collaboration against the master - whipping slaves and other physical punishments

Most slaves who succeeded in escaping slavery, like Frederick Douglass, came from the Upper South, especially from states that bordered free states like Virginia, Maryland, and Kentucky.

True

Many slaves fully understood the impossibility of directly challenging the slave system. This meant their folktales and biblical favorites tended to glorify the weak outwitting much stronger foes. Identify why the following Bible stories and folktales were popular with slaves.

David - defeats Goliath, who appears to be the unbeatable, all-powerful giant Brer Rabbit - glorifies the weak outwitting stronger foes like the bear and the fox Exodus - God chooses Moses to lead the enslaved Jews out of Egypt into a promised land of freedom.

North American slave culture drew very little on African heritage. This was due to the fact that so many American slaves were American born and heavily influenced by white Christianity, political beliefs, and music.

False

Slave revolts in the United States were much larger and more frequent than in Brazil and the West Indies.

False

With the price of slaves rising dramatically after the closing of the African slave trade, it made economic sense for slaveowners to pay less for health care and shelter.

False

Identify the escapes or contributions to escapes made by the following individuals.

Harriet Tubman - She was the best known "conductor" on the Underground Railroad. It is estimated that she saved seventy-five men, women, and children from slavery. Henry Brown - He packed himself into a crate and had it shipped from Richmond to Philadelphia. William and Ellen Craft - She impersonated a sickly owner traveling with her slave.

Slave owners attempted to prevent slaves from learning about the larger world around them. How did slaves acquire knowledge of current events?

Many owners were unaware that slaves created neighborhood networks that transmitted news of local and national importance between plantations

Resistance to slavery occasionally moved beyond individual and group acts of defiance to outright rebellions. Match the rebellions to their corresponding events.

New Orleans - Some 500 men and women armed with sugarcane knives, axes, and guns marched toward the city, destroying property until they were stopped by the military. Denmark Vesey's conspiracy - The leader of this rebellion was outspoken about equal rights and well informed; he was accused of supposedly organizing a rebellion in South Carolina but was caught before it came to fruition. Nat Turner's Rebellion - Led by a slave preacher and religious mystic in Southampton County, Virginia, this was the last large-scale slave rebellion in the South.

Read the passage below. "The master," writes a planter, "as the head of the system, has the right to the obedience and labor of the slave, but the slave has also the 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." Identify the outlook on slavery described in this passage.

Paternalism

In some ways, gender roles under slavery differed markedly from those in the larger society. Why did the nineteenth century's "cult of domesticity" not apply to slave women?

Slave women were expected to work in the fields with the men, not take care of the home life.

What does this advertisement reveal about how slaves were perceived in the South?

Slaves were considered property, and as such they were no different than a piece of furniture or a horse

The largest plantations were concentrated in coastal South Carolina and which geographic feature?

The Mississippi River

In the South it was illegal under any circumstances, even self-defense, for a slave to kill a white person.

True

Frederick Douglass escaped from slavery and became the nation's preeminent advocate of racial equality, but despite his efforts, slavery continued to grow throughout his lifetime.

True

The amount of revenue generated by slavery for the South and the rest of the country made it extremely difficult to abolish the peculiar institution in a region where cotton was king. These profits were a powerful obstacle to abolition.

True

While there were no traditional gender roles when it came to slaves' forced labor, in their private lives slaves did take on traditional gender roles, with women caring for the home and men providing for the family.

True

Slavery in the American South and the West Indies differed considerably. Identify the demographic differences in slavery in the following regions.

West Indies: - The number of male slaves outnumbered the female slaves. American South : - Marriage among slaves in this region was much more common, leading to a greater possibility of creating family life. - The number of male and female slaves were about the same.

Identify the following slave rebellions and revolts in the nineteenth-century Atlantic World.

slave ship Amistad - a celebrated incident in which fifty-three slaves took control of their ship and tried to redirect it to Africa Louisiana - an uprising that occurred on sugar plantations north of New Orleans. Some 500 men and women marched on New Orleans shouting "Death or Freedom." slave ship Creole - a ship seized by 135 slaves being transported from Norfolk to New Orleans; they changed its course to the British Bahamas where they were given refuge Gabriel's rebellion - the first of four major slave conspiracies in the beginning of the nineteenth century that was led by a literate blacksmith who planned a large slave rebellion around Richmond

In the thirty years leading up to the Civil War, fewer and fewer whites viewed slavery as a "necessary evil." Identify how the following arguments were used by southerners to justify to themselves and to the world their use of slavery.

white supremacy - the belief that blacks were innately inferior to whites and unsuited for life in any condition other than slavery biblical passages - the interpretation of passages in religious texts including the injunction that servants should obey their masters classical Greece and Rome - the view of slavery as necessary for human progresses, as the ancient republics of great Europe were also built on the institution of slavery