hist 2610 unt chapter 11
From the 1830s to the 1840s, how many slaves did the majority of plantations in the American South have?
3 to 6 The largest number of plantations had just 3 to 6 slaves, but there were also many plantations with 20 to 50 slaves.
In 1860, what percentage of American exports were cotton exports?
Almost 66 percent Almost two thirds of American exports was cotton.
How did the abolition of the international slave trade to the United States in 1808 affect slavery as practiced in the South?
Because owners could not easily replace their slaves, conditions were somewhat improved. With the legal trade in slaves from abroad curtailed after 1808, slave owners looked to natural reproduction to maintain their labor force, which required better living conditions for slaves.
Why did female slaves embrace religion with particular enthusiasm in the nineteenth century?
Christian churches might intervene when men abused them. Female slaves were especially vulnerable to sexual assault from their masters, overseers, or other slaves; Christian churches might help protect an abused slave from her abuser.
What tone does William Travis strike in his appeal for reinforcements to be sent to the Alamo in 1836?
Confident Travis tries to project an air of confidence in his ultimate success, promising "Victory or Death""
What drove Nat Turner to organize a slave revolt in rural Virginia in 1831?
He believed that God had given him this mission.
Why did Henry Clay lose the presidential election of 1844?
He failed to take a strong stand on Texas annexation. Clay attempted to finesse the Texas issue by not taking a definite position. The insurgent Liberty Party, committed to annexing Texas and expanding slavery, siphoned off enough Clay support to elect Polk.
How did the Liberty Party change the election of 1844?
It captured enough votes in New York to throw the state to Polk. The small Liberty Party adamantly opposed slavery, denounced the annexation of Texas, and gained just enough votes in New York to throw the state and the election to Polk.
How did the abolition of slavery in the northern states and most of the world in the first half of the nineteenth century affect slavery in the American South?
It forged tighter bonds among southern whites in defense of slavery. In an effort to unite disparate groups and shore up support for the institution of slavery, planters employed both their economic and political authority, highlighted ties of kinship with non-slaveholding whites, and promoted an ideology of white supremacy.
Why did settlers from the United States organize a rebellion against Mexican rule in 1836?
Mexico's president had appointed a military commander for Texas. Antonio López de Santa Anna had appointed a military commander for Texas to force the settlers to obey Mexican laws.
Why was Mexico's hold on New Mexico still weak by the mid-1840s?
New Mexicans flouted Mexican authority to trade with Indians. New Mexico flaunted trade regulations from Mexico City by trading with the Comanche in order to maintain peaceful relations with them.
Why could poorer whites not afford to antagonize affluent planters in the American South in the first half of the nineteenth century?
Planters provided credit, transport, and charity. Few poor whites could afford to alienate the planter elite, who served as affluent benefactors and the providers of credit, transportation, and assistance.
Why did so many non-slaveholding Southerners admire the slaveholding planter elite in the American South in the first half of the nineteenth century?
Planters tended to look out for their fellow church members. Non-slaveholding Southerners genuinely admired planters who looked out for fellow church members.
Why did laws that were passed after Nat Turner's Rebellion to tighten control over the lives of slaves end up harming the South economically?
Signaling that slaves were dangerous discouraged outside investment. Although intended to crack down on the possibility of slave rebellion, the laws suggested the rebellion was a real threat, which discouraged investors from risking their money in southern business ventures.
Why was support for abolition of slavery strongest in western Virginia compared to other parts of that state in the 1830s?
Slavery had never been profitable there. Slavery had never been profitable in the western counties of Virginia; as a result, representatives from that region argued for the gradual abolition of slavery.
How did southern slavery change from the 1820s to the 1840s?
Southern states passed more stringent slave codes. From the 1820s to the 1840s, most southern legislatures passed laws that prohibited owners from manumitting their slaves, made it illegal for whites to teach slaves to read or write, placed new restrictions on independent black churches, abolished slaves' access to courts, outlawed slave marriage, banned antislavery literature, defined rape as a crime only against white women, and outlawed assemblies of more than three blacks without a white person present.
In the nineteenth century, what did southern planters, yeomen farmers, and middle-class professionals have in common?
Support for slavery Regardless of their different social statuses and their varying economic interests, all three groups supported slavery.
Why had the trans-Mississippi West become more crowded over the course of the first four decades of the nineteenth century?
The U.S. government had forced eastern tribes to move west while settlers entered the region.
Why did nineteenth-century slaves embrace evangelical Protestant denominations such as the Baptists and the Methodists?
The emotional style of evangelical worship was similar to the worship style found in Africa. Evangelical Christianity, like African religious traditions, emphasized emotion in worship, a similarity that some slaves found appealing.
Why did Southern planters increasingly think more carefully about how to treat their slaves after the 1810s?
The end of the international slave trade made slaves more valuable. Without access to a continuous supply of slave imports from abroad, planters depended more heavily on natural reproduction, which required better living conditions, resulting in lower death rates.
Why did the South become increasingly dependent on the North and West between the 1790s and 1840s?
The focus on slavery in the South left its society underdeveloped. Slavery limited the development of cities, technology, and educational institutions, leaving the South increasingly dependent on the North and West for many of its needs.
Why did nineteenth-century southern planters focus on expanding the amount of land under cultivation?
They believed it was the best strategy to increase the yields of their crops. Planters limited their investment in new technologies, such as iron plows or seed drill, that would have increased agricultural productivity both because of a lack of capital and a reluctance to place expensive technology in the hands of slaves who they feared would damage it. Instead, planters concentrated on acquiring more land.
How did successful southern cotton planters use their profits?
They built grand houses and purchased luxury goods. Planters wanted to display their success with large estates and a luxurious lifestyle. The success of cotton planters from the 1840s on therefore fueled a period of conspicuous consumption among the southern elite.
Why did many Southerners in the 1840s and 1850s have negative attitudes about cities?
They had a reputation as escape hatches for runaways. It was not only the presence of immigrants and free blacks in southern port cities but also their reputation as escape hatches for runaway slaves that ensured cities remained suspect in the South.
What did the slaves who followed Nat Turner and the slaves aboard the Amistad have in common?
They outraged southern slave owners by opposing slavery. Slave owners were outraged by both incidents. Nat Turner's Rebellion showed that slave rebellion could endanger their lives, while the Supreme Court's decision to emancipate the Amistad slaves shocked slave owners.
Why did the younger sons of wealthy planters from the 1830s to the 1850s often live in rougher quarters than their fathers?
They were forced to move to the frontier and work on isolated plantations. In search of new cheap and fertile lands for cotton cultivation, the sons of wealthy planters often found themselves forced to live in rougher quarters on the frontier.
How did field slaves on southern plantations during the 1820s to 1850s most commonly voice their frustrations?
Through song Songs provided both a rhythm for work and the chance for slaves to communicate their frustrations or their hopes in a routine and daily fashion.
Why does Edward Strutt Abdy note that no buildings stand between the Capitol and the slave pen?
To show that congressmen must know the pen exists Abdy aims to show that the pen operates in plain sight, and anyone who cared to investigate could easily see what he saw: "a wretched hovel," and site of awful human suffering.
As planters grew wealthier in the nineteenth century, where did the younger sons of the planter families go to make their livings?
To the west to start new plantations Unable to make it in the settled areas of the South, the younger sons of planter families often moved west in search of new lands to farm and create their own plantations in the future.
What course of action did journalist Benjamin Lundy recommend to change U.S. policy toward Texas?
Voting new leaders into office Lundy argued that the only way to change U.S. policy in Texas is for the current president and Congress to hear "the VOICE OF THE PEOPLE, expressed in their primary assemblies, by their petitions, and through the ballot-boxes."
Why did the westward expansion of cotton production shatter black families between the 1820s and 1840s?
Westward expansion extended the slave trade within the South. The sale of family members to new plantations farther west broke black families apart.
Why did the Whigs invite women to participate in the presidential campaign of 1840?
Women embodied the kind of moral force the Whig Party sought to represent. The Whigs welcomed women into the 1840 campaign because they embodied the kind of moral force that the Whig Party claimed to represent. By 1840, thousands of women had circulated petitions against Cherokee removal, organized temperance societies, promoted religious revivals, and joined charitable associations.
Why did unifying all southern whites around a shared sense of racial identity become more important for slave owners in the years before the Civil War?
Worldwide, opinion was turning against slavery. Outside the United States many countries were abolishing slavery. For example, Britain forbade slavery in its colonies in 1834, France in 1848.
In the nineteenth century, the South's economy was generally based on
agriculture. Although some southern cities such as Charleston, Savannah, and New Orleans thrived in the nineteenth century, the economy was still overwhelmingly agricultural.
The painting of New Orleans, 1841, shows the city as typical of southern urban centers in that it is
an active seaport. Although fewer cities developed in the South as compared to the North, a number of southern seaports, such as New Orleans, Savannah, and Charleston, did become prominent urban centers. New Orleans' location on the Mississippi near the Gulf of Mexico made it an ideal place for trade.
According to Edward Strutt Abdy, slave dealers in the nation's capital are not only cruel but also
cunning. According to Abdy, the slave dealers sink still lower than simply selling humans for money; they must also misrepresent the terms of sale. When the slave dealer Robey sold a slave whose term of labor was only six years, he made sure she was sent far away from anyone who knew that fact so that she would not be able to prove her claims.
Refer to the passage to answer the following question: "In this wretched hovel, all colors, except white—the only guilty one—both sexes, and all ages, are confined, exposed indiscriminately to all the contamination which may be expected in such society and under such seclusion. The inmates of the gaol, of this class I mean, are even worse treated; some of them, if my informants are to be believed, having been actually frozen to death, during the inclement winters which often prevail in the country. While I was in the city, Robey had got possession of a woman, whose term of slavery was limited to six years. It was expected that she would be sold before the expiration of that period, and sent away to a distance, where the assertion of her claim would subject her to ill-usage. Cases of this kind are very common." In his description of the slave pen in Washington, Edward Strutt Abdy's tone can be described as
righteous indignation. Abdy is angry—an anger he clearly feels is justified by the inhumanity of the slave pen, a place of degradation located, as he says, "'right against'" the seat of the nation's legislature.