The North, The South &

The SlavesBy: Sachi & Brenae

1790-1860

Chapter Overview

In this Chapter, we will be covering things like how: In the period of 1850 life was good or bad depending

on who you were. If you were a slave life was hard and troublesome.

Many, if not all, of their right’s were restricted. If you were a plantation owner life was put in five

sweet and simple words: Life in the Big House. Cotton was a very popular commodity at that time. There were many other different types of people in

the 1850’s besides whites and slaves, like: yeoman farmers, mountain men, an white farmers.

Lesson 1The Cotton Kingdom

The Cotton Revelation Cotton was the most popular export item at that time. It

became half of US all exports. Plantations were a large farm where crops were grown by

slaves. It was known has the “cash crop” because of how it boomed

our economy. Farmers had to grow some kind of crop to keep their land. The period before the Civil War as called the antebellum

period. The few, if any, cities in the South were very small due to their

agrarian society.

Lesson 1The Cotton Kingdom

Proslavery Movement Even white Southerners who didn’t own slaves took a proslavery

stand during the antebellum years. Economic security was one powerful reason for the proslavery

position in the South. Some white Southerners only supported slavery out of fear. They

believed that if the slaves were free they would take over, the white’s would lose their property and put white people in harms way.

The Quakers was one of the many groups that were against slavery believing that all people, even slaves were to be treated equally.

But some people believe that slavery had always been in the Bible and that slavery had existed for over thousands of years.

Lesson 2Life on the Plantation

Master of the Land If a slaves wanted to marry , the slave’s master had to

grant permission. Slave’s often had to work all days no matter what the

weather was, if they did not obey the master would often threaten to harm the family or sell the slave.

Master’s believed that they had the duty to teach their slaves about Christianity.

Some slaves worked in the “big house” while others worked out in the fields.

Women often ran the big house keeping everything in order.

Lesson 2Life on the Plantation

The Slave Community When slaves got married, to make it official they would

“jump the broom”. Slaves had two names; their birth names, and the names

their masters gave them. African cures for sicknesses were all natural remedies. Slaves created people that created banjo’s and drum’s. Slaves used lyrics of songs as secret meanings to

communicate with each other as means of resisting. Slave owners often went to harsh conclusions when the

slaves did not obey them, like cutting of the slaves leg tendon.

Slaves often tried to poison their owners.

Lesson 3The Other Souths

Yeoman Farmers The majority of the white Southern farmers did not own

slaves. The Yeoman farmers were owners of small farms and they

grew cotton and other cash crops. The Yeoman farmers often borrowed slaves and hired white

laborers. Church was very important to the social lives of the

Yeoman farmers. Yeoman farmers supported the proslavery position.

Lesson 3The Other Souths

The Appalachian Culture People in the mountains enjoyed opportunities to get

together. They often met at harvests, where women gossiped and

men talked politics. Artisans were people that were trained in skilled traits like

printing often lived in the cities. Cities such as New Orleans had fine colleges, and wealthy

white people. If slaves did pick up some learning they had to keep it

private because the master’s would take it as a sign of wanting authority if the slaves learned.

Free blacks were still subjected to harsh laws.

You may not have ever though that America could’ve been so harsh back in the days. Even though it was a very harsh period of time America wouldn’t have gotten to where it was if we hadn’t gone through the period of slavery.

Slaves were treated brutally as if they weren’t even people,

and if it wasn’t for cotton and how it boomed our economy at that time we wouldn’t have needed slaves as much as we did. Plantation life was an especially hard time on the slaves. Even though the slaves went through all the brutality that they did, they also made a common, strong bond that will always be admired and never forgotten.

Chapter Overview

ReferencesBook:Hougton Mifflin Social Studies; A More Perfect UnionPublished in July 31, 1998Authors:Beverly J.; Nash, Gary B.; Salter, Christ Armento

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