CH 11: THE RISE OF THE SOUTH (1815-1860) A people and a nation

1815 - Southern states

Prosperity
Growth
Power
Rural
Slavery profitable labour system for
planters
White wealth built upon black labour
(social inequality)
Institutions not evelope
!he south was slower than the north to
evelop a unifie market economy an a
re"ional transportation network#
!he south never evelope its own
bankin" capacity#
$o inustrial "rowth#
Its urban centres were mostly ports#
Small market towns epenent on
a"ricultural trae %urbani&ation without
cities'
A Southern World-View and the Proslavery Argument
(nli"htenment ieas of natural ri"hts an equality stimulate antislavery sentiment in the )pper
South# *ope for "raual emancipation#
+s slavery sprea, southerners vi"orously efene it#
+r"uments pro slavery- they looke for historical ar"uments in the .ible, they sai that slavery was
the natural status of blacks, that they were estine for labour (ue to their physical stren"th)
Some southerners efene slavery in practical terms- slaves were necessary for the economy an
prosperity#
Slavery an race affecte everythin" in the South# It shape its social structure an economy# It
also came to ominate its politics#
Southern Expansion, ndian !esistan"e and !emoval
War of /0/1 2 trans3+ppalachian frontier opene movement westwars
Southern slaveholers force slaves to move with them to the newer areas of the South for new wealth
throu"h cheap lan an the ownership of other people#
Indian treaty making
In theory, the feeral "overnment, uner the )S constitution, reco"ni&e Inian soverei"nty an
treate Inian peoples as forei"n nations# +"reements between Inians an the )S were si"ne# In
practice, frau ominate the "overnment4s approach to treaty makin" an Inian soverei"nty#
Inians sou"ht to survive throu"h accommoation# Some of them became suppliers an traers in
the nation4s e5panin" market economy# !he train" posts e5tene creit to chiefs, who fell into
ebt that they coul pay off to the "overnment only by sellin" their lan#
+s the )S e5pane westwar, white +mericans promote Inians4 assimilation throu"h eucation
an conversion to 6hristianity#
/017- 8onroe propose that all Inians move beyon the 8ississippi River# !hey refuse# 6onflict
between the state an the feeral "overnment# 18#$% ndian !emoval A"t- authori&e the
presient to ne"otiate treaties of removal with all the tribes leavin" east of the 8ississippi#
Cherokees
!hey foun it easy to assimilate# !hey were economically self3sufficient an politically self3"overnin"# !hey
create a formal "overnment with a bicameral le"islature, a court system, an a salarie bureaucracy#
!hey aopte a written constitution moelle after that of the )S# !hey transforme their economy from
huntin", "atherin", an subsistence a"riculture to commoity trae#
Geor"ia presse them to sell their lans# !hey refuse# Geor"ia annulle their constitution, e5tene the
state4s soverei"nty over them, prohibite the 6herokee national council from meetin" e5cept to cee la,
an orere their lans sei&e# !he 6herokees turne to the feeral courts to efen their treaty with the
)S#
&hero'ee (ation Vs) *eorgia +18#1,% 6hief 9ustice 8arshall sai that the Inians ha an unquestionable
ri"ht to their lans# + year later, he sai that the Inian lan was a istinct political community in which the
laws of Geor"ia can have no force# Geor"ians were an"ry#
-rail o. -ears% force :ourney from 8ississippi an +labama to the West# Winter of /0;/31# Some
6herokees went westwars, believin" that further resistance was hopeless# !hose who refuse to move
were evicte, hel in etention camps, an marche uner military escort to Inian territory (this was the
trail of tears)#
So"ial Pyramid in the /ld South
!he social istance between poorer whites an the planter class was "reat#
$on3slaveholers 2 narrower economic prospects#
/# Planters (slave owners)# <etermine to hol power# !heir interests controlle the ma:or social
institutions#
1# =eoman farmers- owne lan an "rew their own foo (most of the population)# !hey resente their
unerrepresentation in state le"islatures an the corruption in local "overnment#
;# >anless whites
7# ?ree blacks# =earne for mobility# White southerners were esperate to restrict this "rowin" black
presence#
-he Planters0 World
Slave ownership was the main eterminant of wealth in the South# Slaves were a commoity an an
investment#
8uch of the planters4 political power an their claims to leaership were built on their assumption of a
monopoly on worl cotton an on a founation of black slave labour#
Planters always ha their eyes on the international "rowth of the cotton markets#
!he +merican south ominate the worl4s supply of cotton#
Slave li.e and la1our
Poverty, coercion, resentment# Slaves provie the physical stren"th an much of the know3how to buil an
a"ricultural empire#
Slave "ulture and resistan"e
Slave culture chan"e after /0@0 when 6on"ress banne further importation of slaves# ?or a few years,
South 6arolina ille"ally reopene the international slave trae, but by /0;As, the ma:ority of slaves in the
South were native3born +mericans#
Slaves aopte 6hristianity as an instrument of support an resistance# It was a reli"ion of personal an
"roup salvation#
Strate"ies of resistance- sabota"e of equipmentB slackin" offB carelessness about workB theft of foo,
livestock or cropsB "ettin" runk on stolen liquor# Slave women trie to control their pre"nancy#
8any slaves attempte to run away to the north, some receive assistance from a network known as the
)ner"roun Railroa# Cnly a minority mae it#