Chapter 1:
Brown/APUSH
American History
Chapter 11 p.293-312
Cotton, Slavery, and the Old South
Chapter Summary
The North and South differed in many ways, but none proved more significant than the South's staple crop economy and the labor force that worked it. Cotton (and in some areas tobacco, rice, and sugar) created a system of business and commerce that made Dixie different from the rest of the nation, and the most obvious difference was the region's reliance on slavery. More than an economic system, slavery was a critical, creative force in a social order that included planters, their ladies, plain folk (men and women), and, of course, the slaves themselves. The result was a complex society that has often been romanticized and frequently misunderstood. Bound together by race and by a firm belief in a patriarchal, hierarchical system, whites of different classes and genders shared many of the same beliefs and wanted many of the same things. At the same time, there were significant differences among members of the white community, differences which were not always apparent to the casual observer. African Americans, also united by race and in most cases by slavery, found a variety of ways to maintain their dignity and, in so doing, managed to create an enduring cultural system that transcended their condition and enabled them to endure the hardships they faced.
Chapter Eleven Main Themes
← The effect of short-staple cotton's rise on the economic development of the South, and the impact this enthroning of "King Cotton" had on subsequent Southern social and political development.
← The class and gender dynamics of Southern white society, in both myth and reality.
← The character of the different varieties of the South's "peculiar institution," and African-American's various forms of resistance to it.
← The separate culture of African-American slavery, and how it manifested itself in religion, music, language, and family life.
Analytical Journal
Cult of honor De Bow's Review Denmark Vesey
Gabriel Prosser Gang system Nat Turner
Pidgin “Sambo” Slave codes
Task system
Defining the chapter terms in your journals will help you better understand:
• The significance of the shift of economic power from the "upper South" to the "lower South."
• How cotton became "king," and the role it played in shaping the "southern way of life."
• How trade and industry functioned under the southern agricultural system.
• The structure of southern society, and the role of an enslaved people in that society.
• The place of the South, with its increasing reliance on King Cotton, in the nation's economy.
• The continuing historical debate over the South, its "peculiar institution," and the effects of enslavement on the blacks.
Each of the terms above contributes to a comprehensive understanding of the roles cotton and slavery played in the political, social, and economic development of the South. As you define these terms, demonstrate why each person, event, concept, or issue is important to a thorough understanding of this chapter.
Long Essay Questions
1. Dr. Brinkley quotes a prominent historian who wrote, “The South grew, but it did not develop.” (p. 293) Assess the validity of this statement for the years between 1800 and 1860.
Possible thesis statement: By the 1850s, the South was both similar to and different from the place it had been in 1800.
Discuss
• Similar.
• Different.
• Possible conclusion: While the South grew during the 60 years prior to the Civil War, especially in economic strength and geographic location, it’s social and political structure remained largely unchanged.
2. “Slavery dominated every political, social, and economic aspect of southern life.” Assess the validity of
this statement. (Adapted from the 1984 AP U.S. History free-response question.)
Possible thesis statement: The basic political, social, and economic patterns of life in the South were defined by the institution of slavery.
Discuss
• Political
• Social
• Economic
Possible conclusion: Even though three-fourths of the white southern population did not own slaves, the political, social, and economic lives of all southerners was dominated by institutionalized slavery.
3. Given the fact that three-fourths of southern whites did not own slaves, why did virtually all of them
support slavery as an institution?
Possible thesis statement: Despite the fact that three-fourths of southern whites generally did not benefit from the institution of slavery, most did not oppose the planter elite for a variety of political, social, and economic reasons.
Discuss
• Political.
• Social.
• Economic
Possible conclusion: While many southerners may have resented the political, social, and economic power of slave owners, most failed to oppose the system. While they did not directly benefit from slavery, they had a stake ( especially a social stake ( in upholding it as an institution. As long as an inferior class of people was held in bondage, whites ( no matter how poor and unempowered ( saw themselves as a superior race, as well as a ruling race.
Long Essay Exam Tips
Using the Slave Narrative in Free-Response answers:
• The slave narrative is one of the most important primary sources available to help historians understand slavery and the South, and Frederick Douglass's Narrative is a classic in this genre. Be sure to look for the point of view from both a slave and slaveholder perspective. Important ideas in slave narratives are: identity, literacy, slavery's injury to blacks and whites, perspective, and irresponsible power.
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