Slavery in the South

Eli Whitney's invention of the cotton gin in 1793 (see my blog for May 15, 2015) further established slavery as a way of life in the South. From the slave ships, traders, sellers, and buyers, slavery became big business.

Slavery actually began in America as early as 1619, when the first group of slaves were brought to Jamestown, Virginia, to work in the profitable tobacco fields. The system spread throughout the country, but more so in the agriculturally based South. Charleston became a hub of slave trading for many of the areas around, even as far away as western North Carolina.

Slave market in Charleston

Slavery soon grew out of vogue in the North, which had more industrial growth than agricultural. Many of the states there began to outlaw the practice. By 1840, most slavery had been abolished in the North. However, slavery became interwoven with the economic system of the South. A few years prior to the Civil War, one-third of the Southern population consisted of slaves.

Although many of us envision large plantations with close to a hundred slaves when we think of Southern slavery, this was not necessarily true. That certainly happened, but the largest percentage of households that owned slaves owned fewer than five.

Slave quarters at Boone Hall Plantation, Mount Pleasant, SC

Slave revolts, like those by Gabriel Prosser in Richmond in 1800, Denmark Vessey in Charleston in 1822, and the Nat Turner in Southampton County in 1831, brought fear to slave owners, and laws were enacted to "keep the slaves in their place." These slave codes restricted the slaves' education, movement, and right to assemble. The harsher laws and treatment only served to fuel the abolition movement, and the rift grew wider. Eventually, it would lead to the Civil War. The Constitutional Rights Foundation says that "No issue has more scarred our country nor had more long-term effects than slavery."

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