Nat Turner led a slave rebellion in Southampton County, Virginia in 1831 that resulted in the deaths of about 60 white people. Turner and other rebel slaves were executed in response. As a consequence of the rebellion, southern states passed laws restricting slaves' ability to assemble or learn to read and write in order to prevent exposure to abolitionist ideas. Between 1831 and the Civil War, there were no other major uprisings by slaves. The cotton gin made short-staple cotton profitable, leading to the expansion of cotton plantations in the deep south and a strengthening of the slave-based plantation system. By 1860, half the southern population were slaves, with the majority working on large cotton, rice or sugar plantations.

1. Masters and Slaves

2. August 22, 1831
•
Rebellion
– Southampton
County, Virginia
– Nat Turner, Preacher,
has a dream (black
angels wrestling with
white angels)
– Plantation to
plantation killing
– About 60 whites
killed
– Rebels executed,
including Turner
– Inspired by
abolitionists?
– Consequences?

3. Consequences:
• Quarantine slaves
from possible
exposure to
antislavery ideas and
attitude
• Cannot assemble
• Cannot learn to read
or write
• Between 1831 and
Civil war there is no
more mass killings of
whites

4. The Upper South
• The problems with
Tobacco:
• New crops and methods
• Fertilizer, rotation of
crops, diversified farming
• Increased need for
capital, reduce demand
for labor
• Interstate slave trade
• Less need = less hold on
public loyalty

5. Slavery and the Southern Economy
• Vital and growing
economic interest
• 1790’s to Civil War,
plantation agriculture
expands enormously
• Greater dependence on
slave labor
• Mostly on Plantations
• Half of South’s population
by Civil War
• 90% of Cotton and almost
all rice and sugar

6. The Rise of the Cotton Kingdom
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Climate and soils of deep south affect
needs of labor and types of crops
Rice, Cotton, and Sugar: crops that
require little knowledge, much labor
Strengthened hold of slavery and
plantation system
The cotton gin makes short staple
cotton profitable
Westward expansion = new cotton
fields
From 1792 to 1817, the south’s
output of cotton rose from about
13,000 bales to 461,000, by 1840
1.35 million, by 1849 – 2.85 million,
and 1860 – 4.8 million
Any incentives to depart from
slavery?

7. Slavery and Industrialization
• Dependence on North for
capital, marketing
facilities, and
manufactured goods
• Cotton’s prosperity
impeded industrialization
and left the region
dependent on one-crop
agriculture
• Industrialization was
based in cities, where
there were populations of
poor whites

8. The Planter’s world
• In 1860 only 25% of
whites belonged to
family owning slaves
• Only 3% of whites
owned 50 slaves or
more (wealthy)
• Influence on southern
life (free time + money
= involvement in politics
and high offices)

9. Planters and Slaves
• Kindly and
Paternalistic?
• Self interest in slaves
well being (economic
necessity)
• 1808 ban on slave trade
(turn to domestic
reproduction)
• Ultimate base of
authority = fear

10. The Black Experience Under Slavery
• Physical and
Psychological means to
insure docility and
obedience
• How?

11. Forms of Resistance
• Open revolt
• Running away
• Working slowly
and inefficiently
• Feigning injury
sickness
• Stealing provisions
• Sabotage
• Poison

12. Slave Families
• Stabilizing effect
• Fidelity
encouraged by
masters
• Creates positive
and negative
effects -What are
they?

13. The South: A Divided Society
• Slave treatment
• Non-slaveholding
whites
• Backcountry vs.
plantation belt
• Class, race, culture,
geography.