Slavery in the Upper And Lower South

In contrast to the other three colonies discussed, the institution of slavery in South Carolina was initiated, legalized, and maintained for distinct reasons; the founders of the colony felt that slavery was absolutely necessary for economic prosperity and their unwavering urge to protect the institution at all costs contributed towards the severity of the slave-enforcement acts and codes. By looking at the legislation passed in South Carolina, one can grasp the extent to which slaves were legally stripped of every right imaginable, suffered barbarous treatment, and were attempted to be rendered psychologically and physically powerless--all because of the deep-seated fear of the enslaved population that was instilled within white slave owners and law-makers. In South Carolina, slavery was a horrendous business that was never questioned ethically or legally. The white settlers coming from Barbados--who had already been involved in the slave trade for years--migrated to South Carolina equipped with slaves already accustomed to difficult climate conditions (similar to South Carolina), which made them more pleasurable to slave owners expecting a strong work force. Another unique aspect to South Carolina was the overwhelming black majority in the colony for it is true that, “by 1708, less than twenty years after the decision to move from white indentured labor to black slave labor, the number of blacks in the colony exceeded whites,” (Higginbotham, 1978, pg. 152). Due to the

Instead, the South relied heavenly on Slaves to do the labor of picking cotton and the Northerners’ exportation of manufactured machinery to them. The climate in the south was perfect for their most valuable export; cotton, so growing them was easy. As the southerners bought bigger plantations for the growth of cotton, the worse slavery had grown. Therefore, the southerners had this social construct that the slaves were their biggest possessions because of the 4th highest ranking they had on income, they also had a mindset that the slaves were like family, and believed Africans needed the help of white men. The grossing on their beliefs justified slavery in the South, although much of abolitionists in the North had a different opinion on the matter. Northerners believed slavery was uncivilized and deprived from the equality the constitution had stated; however, the daily lives of the Southerners treating the slaves like property didn’t change at all.

Both free and enslaved Africans were discriminated against in this time period but responded differently towards their challenges. African Americans found ways to cope with their situation one being religious gatherings (Doc D). They sang old traditional African songs and danced. By doing so, they can forget about life troubles for a moment and give themselves a sense of hope that someday they would by free. Some slaves where more violent than other and began rebellions against their white owners. The use of rebellion was inspired to them by the Bible and that God was pleading for their cause with earnestness and zeal (Doc G). Slaves who caused mischief was relocated deeper south where the treatment and condition was even worse. The Fugitive Slave Law forced the North to send back any slaves who escaped to the North in return for a reward. Slaves who tried to escape to the North were also relocated. By relocating them, the chances of escape decreased for them. Even

In the article “The Central Theme of Southern Slavery” Ulrich B. Phillips asserts that among several other motives that served as a drive for white Southerners to support slavery, the predominant one was their desire to preserve white supremacy in the South. He claims that all of the states in the US are similar except for the opinion about slavery. Phillips emphasizes that the idea of slavery in the South was important and perceived by southerners as heritage and a tradition. He also claims that the institution wasn’t merely economic, but also a system of social order. In addition, the white southerners saw abolition as a major threat to their economic freedom. According to Phillips, some Southerners saw deportation of african-american citizens as another solution to the slavery crisis in the United States. However,

The south losing economic profit was not the only worrisome thing on the rich southern aristocrat’s mind, they also feared their political, and social influences being ripped away from them. The manifest destiny of the 19th century allowed European settlers the ability to expand their territory across North America believing it was their destiny to conquest all things on the north America continent. The liberation of African American from slavery went against the manifest destiny since the destiny focused on European settlers enforcing their political and social authority over others. Comparatively, the south dreaded the rise of free African Americans since the rise would shatter the racial hierarchy put in place by white supremacist of America.

Cotton was the king of the South. It was bringing in large amounts of money as the textile industry in the North grew. Slavery was vital to the economic well-being of the South, and when the North began to question the “peculiar institution” of the South the wall of civility between the two sectionalized areas began to crumble. Due to the growing issue of slavery in the 1850s, the United States of America was in a state of total disarray and turmoil. The tension that had always existed between the North and South over the matter of slavery was no longer ignorable. As the United States expanded to the West, the status of slavery in the new states erupted in a violence that could no longer be controlled by sectionalism. The peace treaties that had worked in the past became Band-Aids over stab wounds. Southern states began to leave the United States of America to form the Confederate States of America and war was declared as the South fired onto the forts of the North. The Civil War was caused directly by the issue of slavery; the fugitive slave act in the Compromise of 1850, Dred Scott v. Sandford, and Bleeding Kansas prove that slavery was the key factor in the eruption of the nation.

Throughout the 1800s in America, slavery was a controversy between the north and the south. A Slave was one who was the property of another human being under law and was forced to obey them. The North felt that slavery was unfair and inhumane, whereas in the South, they felt as though slavery was crucial to their success. African American slaves were not allowed many rights: they were not allowed to testify in court against a white person, could not receive an education, or even sign contracts. Due to the brutality they faced each day, many slaves escaped with hopes to find freedom. The Underground Railroad, a system utilized by many runaway slaves to help them escape from the South to Canada, played a large role in the downfall of slavery and eventual abolition in the United States following the Civil War.

Southern slavery was based on paternalism to justify the brutal reality of slavery, in which slaveholding gentlemen took personal responsibility for the physical and moral well being of their dependents – women, children, and slaves. The slave owner demanded unquestioning obedience from their dependents and intended to make them perfectly dependent to the white man. Most planters lived on their plantation with compelling strict order. Without the owner’s permission, slaves

The South, on the other hand, was highly dependent upon the institution of slavery. It was still primarily an agricultural society that needed as many laborers as possible in order for the plantation owners to make ends meet. According to historian Douglas Harper, “In 1793 came the cotton gin, which brought a 50-fold increase in the average daily output of short-staple cotton, promoted the rapid expansion of a ‘cotton kingdom’ across the Deep South, and made large-scale slavery profitable.” Because of this, the slave became an essential tool to the farmers of the south; more money became invested in slavery rather than in industrial improvements. Based upon the 1860 U.S. Census, there were almost a whopping total of four million slaves in the South alone. In fact, the more slaves an owner had, the more prestige. “Most slave owners owned fewer than five slaves, and only 12 percent of Southerners had twenty or more slaves. Many whites who had no slaves looked with envy upon the wealthy, and to a degree admired them.” This hierarchy had a clearly defined social structure which created distinctions between rich and poor whites as well as racial segregation. This agricultural society and its strict hierarchy only increased the social and racial disparities found in the southern region of the United States.

One effect on the issue was that the economy in the south was fueled by cultivation of staple crops that required slaves for labor. In the South slavery wasn’t thought as an evil as in the North because to the Southerners defense the slaves in their opinion were treaty in contrast to workers in England and peasants that were Irish, also the end of slave trade brought higher value to the slaves causing their owners to be less harsh because they were more valuable. Although slavery fueled the economy in the South it was not the same in the North therefore there was no complete dire need for slavery, and although the slaves probably weren’t treated as bad as the north had thought they still saw it as

Africans were always seen as slaves rather than free people. It came to a point were generation from generation, people with African ancestry were legally enslaved for life. European colonists’ even committed to legalizing enslavement of hundreds and thousands of people, but it led to Africans being slaves based on race. Slavery was a big part in Virginia and South Carolina. The history of slavery in Virginia first appeared in 1619 where the Africans were indentured servants. As for South Carolina, majority of their population were African Americans. 65% of their population of about 18,000 people were African American slaves. Upon the social, economic and political development of slavery in Virginia and South Carolina, it impacted their race, class and gender.

People went from having ten slaves in a farm to having 500 in a plantation. Slave brutality worsened because of this transition, abolitionist and free-soilers in the north did not like this drastic expansion. They opposed the Mexican War because it was a way for the United States to gain territory, and make them slave states thus increasing the expansion of slavery (Doc.4). Therefore compromises like the Compromise of 1850 were created, this compromise proposed that, “slavery does not exist by law, and it is not likely to be introduced into any territory acquired by the United States from the Republic of Mexico…” (Doc.5). Northerners also started showing opposition to slavery by not adhering to the Fugitive Slave Act. They believed that slavery is, "opposition to the first principles of principles of religion, morals, and humanity." and that its inconsistent with "our aims, as a free, humane, and enlightened people" (Doc.2a). On the other hand southerners believe that "slavery was one of the most dynamic economic and social processes..." and that without slavery "you could not have civilization... slavery freed upper class from manual labor"

The North, on the other hand, continued to rally up groups that held the belief that slavery was morally wrong, and this started to worry the south of their political power. Many events of the mid- nineteenth century led to the secession of the

Yes, I believe the North and the South had good reasons to fear each other’s influence on the course of national affairs. If a president was elected, and he supported slavery, then the South’s power, or influence, would affect federal decisions such as new states becoming slave states. The North did support slavery, but did not want slavery to expand, thus the North was at unease if the South gained more influence. Vice-versa, if a president was elected, that did not support slavery, the North would have more influence, and the new states admitted to the Union would be free states, and

All territory north of the line would forever be free, all territory south of the line would receive federal protection for slavery. South Carolina threatened the separation to begin with because the Continental Congress sought to tax all the colonies on the basis of a total population count that would include slaves. The south was a profitable land where efficient plantations were worked by slave labor producing cotton for the world market. Majority of the white population was made up of subsistence farmers who lived isolated lives away from poverty and whose literacy rates were low compared to those in the North. The South began to industrialize which added to the social tensions. The issue of slavery provided togetherness for the white bloc and contributed to a patriarchal system where the masses of the whites still looked to a planter professional elite for political and social guidance. The northern masses have different opinions of the powerful and living conditions among the urban poor were precarious, educational levels were far higher than in the