How Slavery Shaped The Antebellum South

From colonial times there were differences in geography that gave rise to variations in culture and economy in the United States. Due to the differing characteristics, a sectional economy molded the United States into two distinct regions: the north and the south. The north, a commercial society, which supported industry and commerce while the south, an agrarian civilization, flourished in the production of raw materials with use of slaves. The two economies were both self-supporting and capable to create a stronger, more productive nation. The regional differences sought to build America, in turn threatened to destroy it. Many Historians believe that the Civil War was constructed over the issue of slavery. However, the concerns of states'

The North and South are similar and different in many ways.Both the North and the South wanted slaves and not free blacks.However the south is not wealthy and the north is wealthy and they both have poor people.The society in the north is wealthy and the society in the south is not wealthy.The Economy is wealthy in the north but the economy in the south is not so wealthy.

Although slaves and slaveholders were significantly different, the Institution of Slavery negatively impacted the American South and its entire population.

Slaves were used to cultivate cotton, the South’s main export. (Doc 2) The slaves were more efficient and required less pay than their white counterpart. This caused the South to be more in favor of using slaves, especially when expanding to western territories because they could save money. Some northerners claimed that the conditions that slaves lived in were cruel and brutal, but the South Carolina governor argued in 1835 that “English [factory] operatives” and “millions of paupers” had it worse than southern slaves. (Doc 1) Southern farmers heavily invested in slaves because of their ability to work hard and their inexpense. They did not feel that slavery was unlawful or immoral, because they felt that the black skin color made them inferior to

A large majority of whites in the South supported slavery even though fewer of a quarter of them owned slaves because they felt that it was a necessary evil and that it was an important Southern institution.

Two societies, two regions, the north and the south had very different views on slavery and struggled to be on the same terms. Slavery was basically claiming human beings as property. Slavery was very crucial and accepted in the southern states. In the south, slavery was considered a necessity in order to maintain the agricultural economy of the entire region. The fertile soil and climate of the southern region made it ideal for large scale farms (plantations) and crops like tobacco and cotton. Slavery was a southerner’s way of life as economic growth stimulated from the ever-expanding system of staple crop production, notably cotton that depended on the labor of at most 4 million slaves. Slaveholders worked these African American slave’s days in and out on plantation farms growing crops mostly cotton that was also sold to the north! The southerners protested that slavery could not be eliminated without

To start off with, one of the main events that involved slavery during the Antebellum period would be through increased production of cotton. As a result of Eli Whitney’s cotton gin, as well as other sewing machines, there was an increase demand of cotton export from the South to England. In order to keep up with this high demand, farmers bought large areas of land for a surprisingly small amount of money. However, the increase in land called for an increase in slave labor to harvest and cultivate the crop. Slave labor was a resource that plantation owners and Southerners relied on, because the slaves could not quit due to them having a fixed number of years, as well as slaves not being allowed to demand higher wages. This slave labor, in addition

Slavery, The Compromise of 1850, and Bleeding Kansas all had huge effects in leading to the Civil War. Slavery is an obvious reason that the Civil War begun, the Civil War was about freeing the slaves throughout the United States. Secondly The Compromise of 1850 was also a reason it began because it upset the South. This compromised stated that the South could no longer expand making more slave states. Although it did stop the South from it also put a fugitive slave law into effect which meant all slaves in the North that had escaped had to be returned. They made this law because the North was trying to avoid war which obviously didn’t work the way they intended it too. Then lastly Bleeding Kansas also had an effect because it was the Civil

Slavery was a big part in the south during this Time the slave owners thought "slavery meant freedom and it was their right to have slaves" ( Foner 403 )Even though slavery was a debatable topic of that time in the South slavery was still considered normal the people wanted slaves to help them make more money cause people with slaves were seen to make more crops and had more money. Slaves were treated awfully they were put through many obstacles such as master beating them they had to separate from their family's and the woman were sometimes forced to have sex with the masters. They were seen as just a piece of property. The slaves felt hopeless they had no choices and they were stuck some tried running while others would endure the hardships of being a slave out of fear but some would also go through drastic measures such as killing their master to

The North and South emerged as two distinct regions because they had various differences. These differences included the geography, the economy, and the society and transportation systems during Antebellum. One of the most striking differences between the North and the South was the climate and geography. The North had rocky soil which made farming hard, because of this they turned to trade with things like timber for shipbuilding. The North’s climate had frozen winters and hot/humid summers.

The slaves in the Antebellum Period were often inflicted with a multitude of different health issues. Many of the slaves were prone to tuberculosis (scrofula), sickle-cell anemia, rheumatism, fevers, and the influenza. Hereditary Syphilis occurred in the bloodline of families, Women were left neglected after childbirth, occasionally after a miscarriage or a stillborn delivery (Busick 5-6). The diseases and failure to care and provide for these slaves sometimes left them with debilitating pain, and at times, death. The treatment for many ailments was often intensely painful, ineffective, or both. Slaves underwent bleeding, calomel ingestion, cayenne pepper enemas, and steam baths. The slave master was often oblivious to the ineffectiveness and

Many items came from the south such as cotton, sugar, and rice. Because of the high need for these cash crops, slave labor was used. As stated above, the development of the cotton gin “transformed the south and condemned millions of African Americans to slavery”. (Faragher 202)The south relied on the slave labor for their economy as the more slaves the south had, the more crops could be tended to, and ultimately sold to the North. Slavery was essential to the south's economy, and even though the North was against slavery, clearly the North relied on slavery to expedite their need of materials. The Southerners invested in the slave labor instead of the factories and machines like the North. The Southerners were content with buying land, having a small farm and a few

Slaves play a major roles in shaping the south. For obvious reason southern society took slavery to be a critical factor in economic and social identity. Slaves was the ultimate source of the south finances, through crops, marketing, trade monopolies slavery and industry productions. Slavery labor was excessive and slavery produce, one hundred percent return on of capital profits for south. The enforce labor works of slave was free and made easy for southern society obtain their status. Through their expropriation of slave distribution a great deal of southern land proprietor, industrial, business and the society flowing exchange industry could withstand. (Cobb, 2015) A great deal of farm and business and business dispensing slaves labor because they were consider property and did free labor service without

When property laws are applied to people, slavery exists; slavery was the backbone on which the United States, especially the South, was built. slavery began in America when the first African born slaves were captured, and forcibly brought to the North American colony of Jamestown, Virginia, in 1619, to help aid in the production of tobacco and other crops. slavery was something commonly practiced throughout the American colonies throughout the 17th and 18th centuries. During the 17th century, European settlers of North America turned to African born slaves as a cheaper, more plentiful labor source than indentured servants, who would work for a certain amount of years while living with their owner, they would then gain freedom after a certain amount years. Some historians estimate that a total of over 7 million African born slaves were imported to the New World during the 18th century alone.

In 1830 slavery was originally sited in the South, where it lives in various structures. African Americans were imprisoned on diminutive farms, big plantations, in cities and towns, within homes, outside the fields, and in industry and transportation. Even if slavery had such a great series of faces, the fundamental concepts were always similar. Slaves were considered possessions, and they were possessions for the reason that they were black. Their rank as property was inflicted by aggression actual or threatened. People, black and white, lived jointly within these limits, and their lives as one took a lot of forms (Solomon, 1855).