Foner Chapter 11 Question

What was happening to the material condition of slave life in the 19th century?

It improved. Food supplies and wild game were abundant in the South, and many slaves supplemented the food provided by their owners with chickens and vegetables they raised themselves, animals they hunted in the forests, and, not infrequently, items they stole from the plantation smokehouse.

What was the impact of slavery on the Southern economy?

It let the South down a very different path of economic development than the North's, limiting the growth of industry, discouraging immigrants from entering the region, and inhibiting technological progress.

What point does Foner make about the life of Frederick Douglass?

That he was the prime example of the "self-made" American man who rose drastically from humble origins to nation and international distinctions. He was the most influential African-American of the 19th century and the nation's preeminent advocate of racial equality.

What was the most widespread form of resistance to slavery?

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

About what percentage of slaves worked outside of agriculture?

75% of woman and nearly 90% of men.

Where did religion fit into the slave system?

A distinctive version of Christianity offered solace to slaves in the face of hardship and hope for liberation from bondage. Every plantation seemed to have its own black preacher and urban free blacks established their own churches, sometimes attended by slaves.

Why was the Amistad incident important?

Because in this instance 53 slaves collectively seized their freedom. This inspired similar uprisings and resistance to slavery therefore became more common.

What does Foner think 1831 might mark a turning point in the history of slavery?

Because in this year Parliament debated a program for abolishing slavery throughout the British empire, underscoring the South's growing isolation in the Western world.

Why did Southerners think that "cotton is king?"

Because it replaced sugar as the world's major crop produced by slave labor. Cotton sales earned the money from abroad that allowed the United States to pay for imported manufactured goods. Senator James Henry Hammond of South Carolina declared that "cotton is king."

According to Foner, how did slavery affect the North?

By northern merchants and manufacturers participating in the slave economy and sharing in its profits. Money earned in the cotton trade helped to finance industrial development and internal improvements in the North.

Looking at the map on page 409, where were the centers of cotton, tobacco, rice, and sugar production?

Cotton - the lower south; tobacco - the upper south and Florida; rice -GA and SC; sugar - Louisiana.

How did slave owners maintain order and subordination among the slave population?

Force, whippings, incentives and rewards for good work, and the ultimate punishment was the threat of being sold.

Looking at the map on page 397, where were the large slave plantations concentrated in 1860?

In SC, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Arkansas.

Looking at the map on page 392, what are the heaviest concentrations of slaves in 1860?

In VA, SC, NC, and Alabama

Looking at the table on page 407, where were the greatest concentrations of free blacks?

In the North.

According to Foner, how was life for free blacks different in the upper and lower South?

In the Upper South, where the large majority of southern free blacks lived, they generally worked for wages as farm laborers. In the lower south, very few free blacks (less than 2& of the area's black population) lived.

Where was the Vesey conspiracy and what was its result?

It reflected a combination of American and African influences then circulating in the Atlantic world and coming together in black culture. Was caused over Denmark Vesey rebuking blacks who stepped off the city's sidewalks to allow whites to pass and took a leading role in the local African Methodist Church. In the end, 35 slaves and free blacks were executed.

According to Foner, how did abolition in the rest of the Americans affect the South?

It strongly affected the debates over slavery in the US. Southern slave owners judged the vitality of the Caribbean economy by how much sugar and other crops it produced for the world market and abolitionists disagreed, pointing to the rising standard of living of freed slaves, the spread of education among them, and other improvements in their lives.

How was slavery in the cities like and unlike rural slavery?

Most city slaves were servants, cooks, and other domestic laborers. Urban slaves even sometimes lived on their own. Rural slaves nearly never lived on their own and mainly worked in agricultural.

What were the main points in the pro-slavery argument?

Racism, the legitimation for slavery in biblical passages such as the injunction that servants should obey their masters, that slavery was essential to human progress, that it guaranteed equality for whites by preventing the growth of a class doomed to a life of unskilled labor.

What does Foner say about the law of slavery?

That in this law, they could not testify in court against a white person, sign contracts or acquire property, own firearms, hold meetings unless a white person was present, or leave the farm or plantation without the permission of their owner.

What is one example of the Southern code of honor?

That men were expected to defend, with violence if necessary, their own reputation and that of their families.

What does Foner say about the "plain folk" of the South?

That racism, kinship ties, common participation in a democratic political culture, and a regional loyalty in the face of outside criticism all served to cement bonds between planters and the South's "plain folk." In the plantation regions small farmers manned the slave patrols that kept a lookout for runaway slaves those on the roads without permission.

What does Foner say about slave revolts in the South?

That resistance to slavery occasionally moved beyond such individual and group acts of defiance to outright rebellion. The four largest conspiracies occurred within the space of thirty one years in the early 19th century.

What does Foner say about gender roles in the slave system?

That slave men and women experienced, in a sense, the equality of powerlessness. Slave women regularly worked in the field and slave men could not act as the economic providers for their families.

What did defenders of slavery like George Fitzhugh say about slavery and liberty?

That the "Negro slaves of the South are the happiest, and, in some degree, the freest people in the world."

What does Foner say about gang labor on Southern plantations?

That the 150,000 slaves who worked in the sugar fields of southern Louisiana also labored in large gangs. In this system, once a slave's task had been completed, he or she could spend the rest of the day hunting, fishing, or cultivating garden crops.

What does the article from DeBow's Review on p. 405 say about the Bible and slavery?

That the bible essentially says that its belief is found upon precepts taught in the Bible and takes that book as the standard of morality and religion.

What does Foner say about the position of free blacks in the U.S.?

That they had no voice in selecting public officials, they were prohibited from owning dogs, firearms, or liquor, and they could not strike a white person, even in self-defense.

What does Foner say about the values and lifestyles of the planter class?

That they provided the route to wealth, status, and influence. They not only held the majority of slaves, but they controlled the most fertile land, enjoyed the highest incomes, and dominated state and local offices and the leadership of both political parties.

What does Foner say about the family life of slaves?

That this stood at the center of the slave community. Most adult slaves married and their unions, when not disrupted by sale, typically lasted for a lifetime. Slaves also did not marry first cousins.

What does Foner say about runaway slaves and the "Underground Railroad?"

That this was a loose organization of sympathetic abolitionists who hid fugitives in their homes and sent them on to the next "station," assisted some runaway slaves. He said that thousands of slaves gained their freedom by using this system.

What does Foner say about the Nat Turner rebellion and its consequences?

That this was the best known of all slave rebels and that it was the act of a handful of followers marching from farm to farm assaulting the white inhabitants. This was the last large-scale rebellion in southern history. The result of this was the VA legislature fastening even more tightly the chains of bondage.

According to Foner, "paternalism" was the central value of Southern culture. What does he mean by the term?

That with this outlook, the brutal reality of slavery was both masked and justified and it enabled slave owners to think of themselves as kind, responsible masters even as they bought and sold their human property.