Antebellum South Carolina was a period considered to be between 1790 and the American civil war in 1861. In 1786 the cotton gin was created causing the cotton industry to increase its labor demand due to the increased harvest size on the plantations. Not only was the cotton industry in high demand but also so was rice harvesting causing South Carolina to become a heavily slave populated state. Image A and B both represent two periods of slavery during the antebellum South Carolina. Image A shows an advertisement for a slave sale in Charles Town South Carolina on the Ashley Ferry river, while image B shows an illustration of elderly domestic house servants looking after both white and black children. Image A was taken before the start of the antebellum period in 1760 unlike image B that was sketched towards the end of this period in South Carolina in 1863. The two images represent the change that occurred through the state of South Carolina in regards to slavery.
Firstly, image A is an advertisement of slaves that were from the West Coast of Africa. This advertisement was posted in 1760 when slavery was very common in colonial America. South Carolina had one of the largest slave ports that saw over thousands of slave owners and slaves pass through. This advertisement was posted in the South Carolina Gazette with the main goal of attracting owners of rice and cotton plantations. These slaves were being imported from the ‘Windward and Rice Coast’, which was the central Atlantic shoreline in Africa. This would have interested plantation owners, as slaves from this area were familiar with growing and harvesting rice in similar conditions of that in the lower part of South Carolina. These Africans that were brought over as slaves ...
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...antic Slave Trade and Slave Life in the Americas: A Visual Record. http://hitchcock.itc.virginia.edu/Slavery/detailsKeyword.php?keyword=Domestic&recordCount=27&theRecord=11.
Krebsbach, Suzanne. “The Great Charlestown Smallpox Epidemic of 1760.” The South Carolina Historical Magazine 97, no. 1 (1996): 30-37. http://www.jstor.org/stable/27570134.
Opala, Joseph. “Bance Island in Sierra Leone.” The Gullah: Rice, Slavery, and the Sierra Leone-American Connection. http://www.yale.edu/glc/gullah/03.htm.
Walker, Barrington. “King Cotton.” Lecture 12, Queen's University, Kingston, February 12, 2014.
Walker, Barrington. “Slavery and Anti-slavery in the Age of the American Revolution.” Lecture 10, Queen's University, Kingston, February 3, 2014.
Unknown. “Antebellum Era Collection.” South Carolina Museum. http://www.scmuseum.org/collections/cultural_history/antebellum.aspx
In “Antebellum Southern Exceptionalism: A New Look at an Old Question” James McPherson argues that the North and the South are two very different parts of the country in which have different ideologies, interests, and values. Mcpherson writes this to show the differences between the north and the south. He gives perspectives from other historians to show how the differently the differences were viewed. These differences included the north being more industrialized while the south was more agricultural. He gives evidence to how the differences between the north and south came together as the south produced tobacoo, rice, sugar and cotton, which was then sent to the north to be made into clothing or other fabrics. Mcpherson analyzes the differences
Paul Finkelman takes on the role of devil’s advocate in his book “Defending Slavery”. Within the first section of the book, Finkelman explains the background of slavery both in America and around the world, past, post-American Revolution, and around the world. He then goes on to explain the revelations which prompted the South to develop a course of action to defend slavery. In detail and chronological order, he describes the various means of defense used by those in favor of slavery in America. Their justifications for slavery and resistance against its abolishment were rooted in religion, politics, economics and other aspects that drive society.
2) Was there any degree of autonomy in the lives of enslaved women in the revolutionary or antebellum America? Use the documents to address the question of whether or not an enslaved woman could protect the humanity and if so, explore how this might be achieved. Also include how the specific era (revolutionary or antebellum) affected her autonomy.
There are many contradictions pertaining to slavery, which lasted for approximately 245 years. In Woody Holton’s “Black Americans in the Revolutionary Era”, Holton points out the multiple instances where one would find discrepancies that lie in the interests of slaveowners, noble figures, and slaves that lived throughout the United States. Holton exemplifies this hostility in forms of documents that further specify and support his claim.
Despite each individual having different circumstances in which they experienced regarding the institution of slavery, both were inspired to take part in the abolitionist movement due to the injustices they witnessed. The result is two very compelling and diverse works that attack the institution of slavery and argue against the reasons the pro-slavery individuals use to justify the slavery
Franklin, J., Moss, A. Jr. From Slavery to Freedom. Seventh edition, McGraw Hill, Inc.: 1994.
In closing, the variola virus affected a great amount in that era including, military strategy, trade, and native populations. Elizabeth A. Fenn’s book Pox Americana: The Great Smallpox Epidemic of 1775-82 sheds light on a significant aspect of that era that had not been given proper credence beforehand. She also illuminated the effect of smallpox when it came to race and social status. With regard to race, smallpox decimated much of the non European populations partly because of their lack of an innate immunity to that virus and Europeans lack of regard for those of a different race. Fenn’s argument on social status showed how the poorer strata’s of society suffered more severely from the variola virus because of their lack of finances to get inoculated; thus, the poor often suffered a worse strain of the virus which often lead to death.
Blackbird's book, like many similar autoethnographic texts, is a combination of autobiography, history, ethnography, and polemic. He opens with a conventional reference to inaccuracy in current histories. In the course of correcting the record he relates the story, preserved by elders of his nation, of a smallpox epidemic during the height of the French and Indian War, about 1757. Blackbird's story is unique because of the unusual disease vector.
Between 1800 and 1860 slavery in the American South had become a ‘peculiar institution’ during these times. Although it may have seemed that the worst was over when it came to slavery, it had just begun. The time gap within 1800 and 1860 had slavery at an all time high from what it looks like. As soon as the cotton production had become a long staple trade source it gave more reason for slavery to exist. Varieties of slavery were instituted as well, especially once international slave trading was banned in America after 1808, they had to think of a way to keep it going – which they did. Nonetheless, slavery in the American South had never declined; it may have just come to a halt for a long while, but during this time between 1800 and 1860, it shows it could have been at an all time high.
Murphy, Jim. An American Plague: the True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793. New York, NY: Clarion Books, 2003. Print.
The American Revolution was a “light at the end of the tunnel” for slaves, or at least some. African Americans played a huge part in the war for both sides. Lord Dunmore, a governor of Virginia, promised freedom to any slave that enlisted into the British army. Colonists’ previously denied enlistment to African American’s because of the response of the South, but hesitantly changed their minds in fear of slaves rebelling against them. The north had become to despise slavery and wanted it gone. On the contrary, the booming cash crops of the south were making huge profits for landowners, making slavery widely popular. After the war, slaves began to petition the government for their freedom using the ideas of the Declaration of Independence,” including the idea of natural rights and the notion that government rested on the consent of the governed.” (Keene 122). The north began to fr...
During the Antebellum Era, slavery was about one-third of the South’s population. The Antebellum Era was the period before the Civil War broke out. The South’s economy was booming which was credited to slavery. Their argument about slavery was that slaves were necessary and important to their economy. It would kill their economy if they got rid of slavery. Slavery was the foundation of their economy. Without any slaves, cotton would not be able to be produce. Nearly 60 % of their exports was cotton. Southerners would also point out that slaves were better working in plantations than working in a northern factory. According to them, the North had bad workplaces and long hours. They insisted that slaves were cared for and helped when they needed it unlike the North. However, slaves were still treated bad in the South. They would resist slavery in a variety of ways. For example, running away was one form of resistance. The most common form of resistance was known as “day-to-day” resistance which were
When one thinks of slavery, they may consider chains holding captives, beaten into submission, and forced to work indefinitely for no money. The other thing that often comes to mind? Stereotypical African slaves, shipped to America in the seventeenth century. The kind of slavery that was outlawed by the 18th amendment, nearly a century and a half ago. As author of Modern Slavery: The Secret World of 27 Million People, Kevin Bales, states, the stereotypes surrounding slavery often confuse and blur the reality of slavery. Although slavery surely consists of physical chains, beatings, and forced labor, there is much more depth to the issue, making slavery much more complex today than ever before.
It was spread by physical contact with human skin and mostly affected children and adults. This disease was so outrageous that led to a vast number of deaths in New England colonies. Also, smallpox virus transmitted through airborne from the oral, nasal mucus of the infected person. But mostly was spread from close contact or contaminated material of the infected person. It was spread very slowly and less broadly than other viral illness which took long time to identify the infection in first two weeks. Infection of smallpox started to grow between 7 to 10 days when the scabs form onto bruise. The signs and symptoms of this disease were with high fever, widespread rashes, redness, muscle pain, headache, common cold, vomiting, nausea and many more. Consequently, the virus was found in the bone marrow along with bloodstream in huge numbers. There were different types in between the smallpox disease with other classification. By preserving the virus, Boylston personally inoculated 247 people in 1721 and 1722 to prevent transmission. However, from there only six people died, and Boylston was the first American surgeon to inoculate his patients personally. The author portrays the background data Boylston used to examine the inoculation practice on different age and gender of persons to cure his patients were from previous experiments. The inoculation method provided higher rank of immunity in preventing smallpox infection. The prevention for smallpox was through inducing antibodies by vaccine which lasts longer for a person taken
Knowles, H. J. (2007). The Constitution and Slavery: A Special Relationship. Slavery & Abolition, 28(3), 309-328. doi:10.1080/01440390701685514