THE SOUTH

PART 1, 27 MARCH 2017

 OBJECTIVES: STUDENTS
WILL
A. describe the cultural features of the
Antebellum South.

Journal:
Quick check:
1. Name the most important crop in the South.
2. Name two other food crops grown in the South.
3. Name one Southern cash crop.
SCAVENGER HUNT: THE SOUTH

Take out your scavenger hunt from

Friday and ADD NOTES!
Use the back if needed.
 STAPLE CROP: COTTON

Became the primary crop after tobacco, rice,

and indigo prices dropped (Revolutionary War)
Increased demand as textile mills emerged
Strengthened Southern economy
All parts of processing stimulated the economy
(picking, ginning, carding, pressing / baling, and
shipping)
 COTTON GIN

Helped to process short-staple cotton (more

seeds) quickly
Ability to process cotton efficiently revived the
Southern economy after the Revolutionary War
led to
increase in cotton production
some farmers only produced cotton
increase in a demand for slaves
 GLOBAL COTTON MARKET
KING COTTON
Increased demand
In British textile mills emerged in the 1790s
early 1800s as American textile mills emerged

Increased demand for mass-produced thread, cloth, and

clothing
Cotton weighs little, stores well easy and cheap to ship
Increased use of: slave labor, steamboats (shipping)
Many believed that the global market would fail without
cotton
 FACTORS

Crop brokers that managed the cotton trade

Middle management between merchants,
shippers, and buyers
Helped farmers get loans to buy supplies, gave
financial advice
 COTTON BELT

Area from Virginia to Texas that had high cotton

production
Grew substantially
Between 1820 and
1860
 SOUTHERN FOOD CROPS

Corn = primary southern food crop; most corn

grown in southern states by 1830s
Rice, sweet potatoes, wheat, sugarcane
 SOUTHERN CASH CROPS

Tobacco time consuming to process,

1939 a slave discovered a faster way to dry tobacco
increased production

Hemp and flax used to make rope and sack

cloth; increased production as part of the
shipping of cotton
 ADD THIS NOTE AT THE
BOTTOM!
Most Southern factories were built
to process crops like cotton or
sugarcane.
 TREDEGAR IRON WORKS

One of the most productive iron works in the US;

in Richmond, VA
Made factory machine parts, locomotives,
cannon and ordnance for the government
Will provide the South with important resources
during the Civil War.
 PLANTERS

Large-scale farmers who owned more than 20

slaves; wealthiest members of southern society
Often lived in mansions on large plantations
(Photos: Orton, Brunswick Co, NC; Stagville,
Durham Co, NC)
TRYON PALACE, NEW BERN, NC
 PLANTERS LIFESTYLE

Planters ran the business (slave labor, managing crops,

etc)
Overseers planters hired them to manage slaves in the
fields
Field slaves agricultural labor, processing crops
Wives ran the household (supervising house slaves,
entertaining, raising children)
House slaves typically women; cooking, cleaning, caring
for children, body slaves (like a butler or ladies maid)
 YEOMEN AND POOR WHITES

Yeomen = owners of small farms; few or no

slaves; usually 100 acres or less of land
Families worked the land, alongside slaves
they owned
Poor whites lived on land that didnt grow cash
crops; often hunters, fishers, subsistence
farming, hiring out labor
 RELIGION

Christian
Neighbors often saw each other at revivals or
church socials
Women had a social position, often volunteering
in church socials
Many wealthy slave owners believed that
Christianity supported slave owning
Many slaves became Christian and were
sometimes included in worship on plantations
 SOUTHERN CITIES

Biggest cities were port cities along the coast

fewer Southern cities than Northern cities
Urban leaders (often where governors / state
government were housed) wanted their cities to
seem modern
Public water systems
Well-maintained streets
Public libraries, orphanages, schools
 FREE AFRICAN AMERICANS

250k+ free African Americans

Descended from slaves freed after the Revolutionary War
Refugees from Haiti after the slave revolt
Those freed by owners or who had purchased their
freedom from their owners

Often lived as skilled workers

Formed their own community with economic ties
and within church settings
Faced harsh discrimination
 FREE AFRICAN AMERICANS

Some free African Americans created isolated

communities on the coastal islands
These freed slaves spoke a creole language called
Gullah

Gullah: https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=iCd5W4gwJsI
 SUMMARIZING

What different groups made up Southern

society?
Added: List them according to the social
hierarchy wealthiest to least wealthy.
 SUMMARIZING

Planters wealthy farm / slave owners

Factors - (wealthy) business managers
Overseers - work on plantations
Yeomen small farmers (few or no slaves)
Poor Whites traded goods they could create / gather
Free African Americans often doing odd jobs or
skilled laborers
Slaves treated as something between people and
property