Planters, Yeoman Farmers, and Slaves in the Cotton South #10

Planters, yeoman farmers, and slaves in the cotton South #10

The most important economic development in the mid-1800’s in the South was the “shift” in economic power from the “upper South” to the “lower South”. More than anything else, this shift reflected the dominance of cotton as an industry which far out produced tobacco (from the upper South). Slavery was increased at this time and it was this friction of morals (slavery vs. abolition), which would cause the outbreak of the US Civil War.

Tobacco was only grown well in certain regions and while very profitable; exhausted the land (took all the minerals from the land). The old growing regions of North Carolina, Virginia, and Maryland had mostly exhausted the land by the mid-1800’s and were moving to other sustainable crops. South Carolina and Georgia continued to produce rice but it was labor-intensive and needed irrigation and a long growing season. Sugar cane was grown along the Southern coast but only in small quantities and could not compete with the prices of the Caribbean sugar cane. A new crop was desired which was hardy to the fluctuating climate, yet highly profitable. The answer was COTTON.

cotton had sharp pointed edges—must extract carefully

Short-staple cotton

Desired for its ability to grow in almost any climate, short-staple cotton planting spread quickly across the South. Harder to process than its cousin the long staple variety (short staple had spines), the invention of the cotton gin, which strained the seeds away from the cotton fibers without fingers being cut, was invented by Eli Whitney making cotton processing 5X faster than by hand.

Cotton was desired by textile factories in Europe and in the Northeastern US and the South would provide it for everyone—more slaves needed. Cotton became so important and so wide spread that other industries began to fail because it was so profitable to raise cotton that more land dedicated to other industries were abandoned and replanted with cotton. (**dangerous to put all your eggs in one basket).

Cotton “brokers” were those middle-men who sold the cotton from the plantations to the factories at the highest cost negotiable. The leading four cities for “cotton brokers” were: New Orleans, Charleston, Mobile, and Savannah.

Southern Economy & Transportation

The South had its own professional trades as the North did: Doctors, Lawyers, editors—yet lacked an adequate banking system. The North built the foundation of society upon the banks (learned this from England), but the South relied so heavily upon the plantation economy, a sophisticated banking system did not emerge in the South as it did in the North. (this would have major repercussions in the near future during the Civil War). So, with a weak banking system, the South charged into the future without a stable economy. Even worse, they failed to learn from the North when it came to infrastructure.The South did not invest into infrastructure of roads, canals, bridges and railroads as the North had done. (this too would be highlighted in the Civil War as movement of troops and supplies were almost impossible in the South—except by walking.

Another issue in the South was that the Southern failure to produce a thriving banking system, and failure to install profitable infrastructure was a way of thinking in the South which was ANTI-industry and also ANTI-city to the point that Northerners strong work-ethic values had been replaced in the South with the idea that leisure, chivalry, and elegance far outweighed the values of work ethic in the North. (privilege outweighed duty). Southerners focused on the finer things in life trying to be gracious and refined. Only a small minority of Southerners actually owned slaves. Even at its height just prior to the Civil War, the slave population in the South never reached more than one quarter (1/4) of the white population. “KING COTTON” referred to Southern dependence on cotton.

Cotton barge—cotton for textiles

Planter Class

The Planter class dominated every aspect of Southern life: politically, socially, economically and of course religiously. The South was consumed with the idea that they were in the same group and status as the landed aristocracy having deep roots of wealth in both the new world and in Europe. Acting like Europeans from noble classes, this mentality overtook their entire lives. Their view of slavery was cemented into their DNA. Slavery was not only necessary, it was their God-given right to have slaves and command them. Above all else in the South, the men adopted an elaborate code of “HONOR”. This honor element had long since disappeared from the North but the South embraced it as a proper way to live one’s life. Saving face was one very important element in this code of honor which white males took very seriously. The Southern men cared to be referred to as Southern “gentlemen”.

The “Southern Lady”

The “cult of honor” that existed in men in the South acted to “defend” the Southern ladies. In practice, this meant that the men were even more dominant in every situation, and therefore the ladies more submissive. Southern ladies had relatively no access to education or opportunities to work and were purposefully kept from advancing by the very men that were “protecting them”. If these ladies were to have an opinion, the Southern male would have to give it to her. Women were told to obey—if not, they were slapped for not doing as their man told them to do—they did not obey. (this is very foreign to the ladies of today who have gone through liberation of women’s rights). Interesting role for Southern women, the fact is they were to stay at home in luxury and tend to the children. Unfortunately, the birth rate of the South was around 20% in 1860 but of those, half would die by the age of five. Not allowed to work or study, the Southern woman was trapped and had to fill the role the men had created.

Southern bell—submissive white Southern women

Poor white Southerners

Often overlooked are the poor white Southerners that were actually the majority of the whites. It is estimated that the aristocratic plantation owners and smaller farm slave owners represented just one fourth of the white male population. The poor whites in the South were without a voice due to a variety of factors—lack of a good education, dependent upon the rich in society for jobs, and seen by the rich as a necessary evil in their population with a purpose. (The poor whites would be in charge of keeping the slaves in line—the rich used the poor whites to constantly enforce white supremacy to get the slaves to obey or they would be punished. (public punishment was used to keep more slaves in line).

The small farmers (called yeomen farmers), had some slaves but nowhere near the numbers of the giant plantations. These yeomen farmers adopted the same role as the rich when it came to dominance above their women. The man was the king of his castle. His woman would not speak up in public. Male dominance and continued lack of education (just like the rich whites), produced a culture of submissive white women and dominant white males. (this feeds right into the mentality of the future KKK).

Another group of whites did not want slavery, they did not approve of white plantation society either, so they moved up into the hills away from the plantation life, and busy cities. (these are the hillbillies). Called “crackers”, or “poor white trash”, these whites lost the desire and work ethic all together. They did not go to school, became less and less ambitious. Often realizing that the land in which they chose to live could support no crops, they tried to hunt and gather whatever they could eat and became less and less ambitious to even try to look for food. (some of them even got so lazy they ate clay to survive). These are the famous “clay eaters” who had lost all sense of dignity and ambition to live. (really…I mean really?...Yes, clay. (duh).

poor white trash called “hillbillies” lived in the hills and even ate mud to survive

Slavery—the “peculiar institution”

By the 1860’s, the only places in the Western Hemisphere that still had slavery in place were Brazil, Cuba, Puerto Rico and of course the US South. It was peculiar two ways—first, slaves were isolated from everything and everyone off of their plantation or farm (during which time they developed their own culture), and secondly, the black slaves and their masters created a dependent bond. The peculiar bond was that they both needed each other so survive. Slave codes (laws), forbade slaves to own land, leave their master’s property without permission, could not be out after dark, to congregate (gather into groups), except for church, could not carry a gun, and most importantly; could not hit a white man (even in self-defense). This last one especially served to keep the African-American slaves one notch below the poor whites. This kept the racial line firmly in place. The codes also forbade whites to teach the slaves to read or write English and the slaves could not testify in court. Killing a slave was not considered a crime whereas a slave who resisted punishment or killed a white person was always put to death. (the Southern mentality was that they were property—not equal humans, much more like farm animals than human in the hearts and minds of the disillusioned Southerners.Everyone with even a trace of black blood was considered black. Period. No exceptions. Some slaves however, (like Fredrick Douglass and others), did learn to read and write and many of these people took up the cause of abolition to end slavery in this country. Some black slaves lived in almost prisonlike conditions with their masters controlling them at every moment. Very few lived with their direct family members as slaves but with their family unit. The majority of the slaves had conditions somewhere in between these two extremes yet the racial line was deep and defined. The large plantations worked in the “gang” system in which a group of slaves had defined tasks to do—digging or hoeing, or planting seed…and each gang had a manager called a “driver”. The driver forced the slaves to continue working long hours at their group task. This was most often employed on the very large plantations. Each gang would do one task in the process of the planting or harvesting cycle.

Fredrick Douglass was a former slave and leader of the abolition movement

Free blacks in the South

Although there were roughly 250,000 free blacks in the Southern states by the start of the US Civil War in 1860, the trend was that masters had no intention of freeing their slaves—especially in light of Nat Turner’s Revolt (1831: in Virginia, Nat Turner and other slaves killed 60 white men, women and children prior to being caught and killed)—whites feared that a slave uprising could overwhelm their fantasy land in the South and disrupt their social order and black codes in place to maintain their way of life. Most blacks in the South were slaves; yet a tiny minority were not—although whites would treat them as if they were of lower slave status. The most common form of resistance—passive resistance: (like Gandhi), the slaves resisted by working slower, or pretending to not understand. This form of resistance was most common and led the white drivers to call them lazy and worthless. (in fact the slaves were working slower on purpose).

The Culture of Slavery

Slave culture did exist and it was based upon African rituals and songs but was transformed in the bondage of slavery to be distinct to these former Africans. The element of sadness was woven into their culture as an obvious reflection of their lack of freedom. A common language did emerge called “pidgin” which was a blend of African language base mixed in with English. It served second, generation slaves and beyond as a vehicle to communicate with the whites…(the whites made no effort to learn the pidgin language—the slaves had to communicate as best they could. (arrogant white bastards).

Rituals and religion also drew upon their African heritage; as did dance. Slaves incorporated religion, song, and dance as a release of emotions to their current condition of servitude. African-Americans became Christians (largely due to their master’s permission), yet it was also a blend of African traditions mixed in with white Christianity. They became Methodists, Baptists or Protestants—even a few developed their own form of Christianity based upon voodoo or other religion directly tied to their African heritage. (Blues, Jazz, Rock ‘n’ Roll, and Rap all owe their beginnings to African-American song developed during the harsh years of slavery). Work songs helped the slaves manage the day as the whole group would sing a song to keep focused and moving along with monotonous tasks as forced they were forced to do by their “driver”.