Crash Course #13 Slaves

Why is southern cotton important to northern industry?

- North wouldn't have been able to industrialize - Reason: Cotton was the most important commodity in world trade and 1st industrially products

Why did yeoman farmers, who couldn't afford slaves, still support the cause for slavery?

- Reason: Aspirational reasons, racism inherent to the system gave even the poorest whites legal and social status

Describe the four most famous slave uprisings

- Gabriel's Rebellion (1800): (Was discovered before he was able to carry out his plot - 1811: Group of slaves from New Orleans seized cane, knives, and guns, and marched on the city before militia stopped them) - 1822: Denmark Vesey (former slave who purchased his freedom) MAY have organized a plot to destroy Charleston, South Carolina. Evidence against him is disputed and comes from an unfair trial (executed)) - 1831 (Nat Turner; most successful): (Group of 80 slaves that marched from farm to farm in Virginia. Killing the the inhabitants (mostly women/children) because the men were attending a meeting. Turner and 17 were captured/executed)

What are examples of subtle forms of resistance

- Intentional work slowdowns - Sabotaging equipment - Pretending not to understand instructions

According to John, what is the truth about slavery?

- It was coerced labor that relied upon intimidation and brutality and dehumanization - Not a cultural system, it was a legal one

How did slave owners view themselves?

- Benevolent and to contrast their family-oriented slavery with the cold, mercenary Capitalism of the free-labor North

Who was Harriet Tubman?

- Escaped Philadelphia at 29 - Made 20 trips back to Maryland to help friends and relatives make the journey north on the Underground Railroad

What is perhaps the most powerful form of resistance according to John?

- Most powerful: Carving out an identity as a human being in a social order that is constantly seeking to dehumanize you - Refusing to become the chattel that their masters believed them to be is what made slavery untenable and the Civil War inevitable

Explain the differences in plantation conditions depending on the crops involved

- Rice plantations (South Carolina): Terrible working conditions, but labored under the task system, which meant that when they completed their daily work, they would have time to do other things - Cotton plantations: Most worked in gangs, usually under the control of an overseer or another slave (called "driver"). Back breaking work in heat, whipped to work

What was one of the primary ways slaves resisted oppression?

- Running away - Some ran away temporarily (woods/swamps) and eventually returning

What was considered necessary treatment in order for slavery to function?

- Slaves had to be dehumanized (whipping, branding, rape) - Rationalized what they were doing and it was hoped to reduce slaves to the animal property ("chattel slavery")

What are the most prominent effects of the slave-based economy?

- South would remain largely agricultural and rural - Profitable that it siphoned money away from other economic endeavors - Produced 10% of the nation's manufactured goods