Over the course of the 1830s, 40s, and 50s, slavery became so endemic to the “Cotton Belt” that travelers, writers, and statisticians began referring to the area as the “Black Belt,”

But then cotton came, and grew, and changed everything

III. Cotton and Slavery

In 1793, just a few years after the first, albeit unintentional, shipment of American cotton to Europe, the South produced around five million pounds of cotton, again almost exclusively the product of South Carolina’s Sea Islands.

The astronomical rise of American cotton production came at the cost of the South’s first staple crop—tobacco

Some even sent their own agents to purchase cheap land at auction for the express purpose of selling it, sometimes the very next day, at double and triple the original value—a process known as “speculation.”

Throughout the 1820s and 1830s, the federal government implemented several forced migrations of Native Americans, establishing a system of reservations west of the Mississippi River upon which all eastern peoples were required to relocate and settle.

Perhaps most importantly, though, it came up at a time when land in the Southwest—southern Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and northern Louisiana—became readily available for anyone with a few dollars and big dreams.

Thousands of people, each one with his or her own dream of massive and immediate success, rushed to the area quickly becoming known as the “Cotton Belt.

Tobacco, then, was expensive to produce

By 1835, the five main cotton-growing states—South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana—produced more than 500 million pounds of “Petit Gulf”

the Indian Removal Act of 1830, allowed the federal government to survey, divide, and auction off millions of acres of land for however much bidders were willing to pay

On their own time, enslaved people used available materials to construct musical instruments, such as drums, rattles, bells, banjars (an ancestor to the banjo), fiddles, and other instruments.

In the Americas, new languages emerged and evolved. They were, again, pidgin or creole languages which emerged from the blending of African, European, and Americanized-European languages.

For the enslaved, understanding the language of European and American slave traders and plantation owners was necessary

stories in their homes and neighborhoods in the New World,

Africans brought to the Americas the greatly varied cultures of their homelands, including folklore, language, music, and foodways

folklore of Africans and their descendants in the Americas was crucially fashioned not simply by an African past, but by the complex ways African cultures interacted with European and American peoples and cultures in the New World.

For the enslaved, understanding the language of European and American slave traders and plantation owners was necessary

So, whether he has two little or too much, his approach to the gin- house is always with fear and trembling.

This done, the labor of the day is not yet ended, by any means. Each one must then attend to his respective chores. One feeds the mules, another the swine- - another cuts the wood, and so forth;

The hands are required to be in the cotton field as soon as it is light in the morning,

An hour before day light the horn is blown. Then the slaves arouse, prepare their breakfast, fill a gourd with water, in another deposit their dinner of cold bacon and corn cake, and hurry to the field again.

Solomon Northrup was a free black who was kidnapped in New York and sold into slavery for twelve years

"THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS REST"

But the reason of my return was, that the Spirit appeared to me and said I had my wishes directed to the things of this world

The consequences of a speedy removal

removal of the Indians beyond the white settlements is approaching to a happy consummation

now occupied by a few savage hunters.

How many thousands of our own people would gladly embrace the opportunity of removing to the West on such conditions!

now occupied by a few savage hunters.

It puts an end to all possible danger of collision between the authorities of the General and State Governments on account of the Indians.

Two important tribes have accepted the provision made for their removal at the last session of Congress,

the slaves had been evangelized and educated by Jesuit missionaries in the early days of the colony

Other independence movements in the Americas at the time, like the American Revolution (1775–1783) or the independence struggles in Spanish America,

The pro-ratification “Federalists,” on the other hand, argued that including a bill of rights was not only redundant but dangerous; it could limit future citizens from adding new rights.

The Constitution itself had been a controversial document adopted to strengthen the government so that it could withstand internal conflicts.

the “Great Compromise”: each state would have two senators, who could vote independently

After nearly a month of debate, Virginia voted 89 to 79 in favor of ratification.

The Virginia Plan

the Constitutional Convention

thousands of farmers in western Massachusetts were struggling under a heavy burden of debt

the United States had faced the threat of collapse.

That was part of why Massachusetts had chosen to side with its wealthy bondholders over poor western farmers.

The delegates arrived at the convention with instructions to revise the Articles of Confederation.

That weakness meant that the burden of paying back debt from the Revolutionary War fell on the states.

only Rhode Island declined to send a representative

Thomas Jefferson, thought “a little rebellion now and then” helped keep the country free, others feared the nation was sliding toward anarchy and complained that the states could not maintain control.

resorted to tactics like the patriots had used before the Revolution, forming blockades around courthouses to keep judges from issuing foreclosure orders.

s than two years before the national celebrations of 1788 and 1789, the United States had faced the threat of collapse.

political leaders saw both the debt and the struggling economy as a consequence of the Articles of Confederation

I. Introduction

First, it was simply impossible to secure unanimous endorsement by all thirteen states of even the most modest amendment -- and the proposed Constitution was far more than a modest amendment to the Articles. Second, the framers of the Constitution realized that the state legislatures woud not accept a system that diminished their authority. Third, the framers noted that they were creating a new constitution for a united American people.

national political community; it helped to focus the American people's attention on the political component of their national identity.

all except Rhode Island, which of course had refused to send any delegates to the Federal Convention at all.

all except Rhode Island,

The major intellectual problem in understanding ratification is sorting out the relationships between the Federalists' -- and the Anti-Federalists' -- understandings of politics and society and their positions on the Constitution.

places would cost thousands of dollars sold in the 1830s for several hundred, at prices as low as 40¢ per acre.

Few knew that the seven bales sitting in Liverpool that winter of 1785 would change the world.

II. The Importance of Cotton

Haitian Revolution

popular protest by common colonists

With no one to distribute the stamps, the Act became unenforceable.

The moderates worried that supporting the Massachusetts militia would be akin to declaring war.

ollowing the Association, a number of these colonists began to worry that the resistance was too radical and aimed at independence.

Women on both sides of the conflict were frequently left alone to care for their households. In addition to their existing duties, women took on roles usually assigned to men on farms and in shops and taverns.

Washington needed something to lift morale and encourage reenlistment. Therefore, he launched a successful surprise attack on the Hessian camp

Slaves could now choose to run and risk their lives for possible freedom with the British army, or hope that the United States would live up to its ideals of liberty.

Women, too, became involved to an unprecedented degree in resistance to the Townshend Acts.

some colonists began to fear a pattern of increased taxation and restricted liberties.

In both Britain and the colonies, land was the key to political participation,

Britain had largely failed to define the colonies’ relationship to the empire and institute a coherent program of imperial reform.

At the same time, British goods and luxuries previously desired now became symbols of tyranny.

Hence, many authors asked: once the colonists assented to a tax in any form, what would stop the British from imposing ever more and greater taxes on the colonists?

These acts increased the presence of the British government in the colonies and circumscribed the authority of the colonial assemblies, since paying the governor’s salary had long given the assemblies significant power over them.

But to save face and to try to avoid this kind of problem in the future, Parliament also passed the Declaratory Act, asserting that Parliament had the “full power and authority to make laws . . . to bind the colonies and people of America . . . in all cases whatsoever.”

With no one to distribute the stamps, the Act became unenforceable.

some colonists began to fear a pattern of increased taxation and restricted liberties.

These factors led Britain in the 1760s to attempt to consolidate control over its North American colonies, which, in turn, led to resistance.

These political, intellectual, cultural, and economic developments built tensions that rose to the surface when, after the Seven Years’ War, Britain finally began to implement a program of imperial reform that conflicted with colonists’ understanding of the empire and their place in it.

Only a small fringe in Britain held these ideas, but in the colonies, they were widely accepted.

n both Britain and the colonies, land was the key to political participation

They sought to eliminate Britain’s growing national debt by raising taxes and cutting spending on the colonies.

The revolution created politicians eager to foster republican selflessness and protect the public good but also encouraged individual self-interest and personal gain.

So Britain’s next attempt to draw revenues from the colonies, the Townshend Acts, were passed in June 1767, creating new customs duties on common items, like lead, glass, paint, and tea, instead of direct taxes.

5. The American Revolution

The American Revolution

Consequences of the American Revolution

The War for Independence

“tea parties”

The Causes of the American Revolution

The aristocracy then were wealthy or successful because they had greater access to wealth, education, and patronage and not because they were innately superior.

British subjects enjoyed a degree of liberty unknown in the unlimited monarchies of France and Spain

Britain had largely failed to define the colonies’ relationship to the empire and institute a coherent program of imperial reform.

The colonies had resisted the implementation of direct taxes, but the Declaratory Act reserved Parliament’s right to impose them.

colonists began to fear a pattern of increased taxation and restricted liberties.

we know better than to repeal our masculine systems.

Men of sense in all ages abhor those customs which treat us only as the (servants)

I desire you would remember the ladies and be more generous and favorable to them than your ancestors.

we are determined to foment a rebellion, and will not hold ourselves bound by any laws in which we have no voice or representation.

Men of sense in all ages abhor those customs which treat us only as the (servants) of your sex

herever the English went they caused disturbances for they lived under no Government and paid no respect either to Wisdom or Station. I hoped for better things, that those Old Talks had no truth in them.

where he reported that those Medal Chiefs who did not behave well Should be broke & their Medals given to others.

it is true the Land belonged chiefly to those who have given it away

I expect they will be equally Bountyfull which must be done if they wish equally to gain the affection of my people.

it is true the Land belonged chiefly to those who have given it away

I expect they will be equally Bountyfull which must be done if they wish equally to gain the affection of my people.

Another Race of White Men Come Amongst Us

"The delays we meet with in carrying on the Service, from every parts of this country, are immense.

provincial soldiers under his command were challenging his authority.

British Acts of Parliament

The delays we meet with in carrying on the Service, from every parts of this country, are immense. They have assumed to themselves, what they call Rights and Priviledges, totaly unknown in...[England]....

Parliament started legislating over all the colonies in a way rarely done before. As a result, the colonies began seeing themselves as a collective group, rather than just distinct entities.

During the war, the British Crown issued the Royal Proclamation Line of 1763, which marked the Appalachian Mountains as the boundary between Indian country and the British colonies.

However, the British General Jeffrey Amherst discouraged this practice and regulated the trade or sale of firearms and ammunition to Indians.

This gave the British a larger empire than they could control, which contributed to tensions leading to revolution.

These victories were often the result of alliances with Native Americans.

In 1754 a force of British colonists and Native American allies, led by young George Washington, attacked and killed a French diplomat. This incident led to a war

Seven Years’ War or the French and Indian War.

Whereas the French had maintained a peaceful and relatively equal relationship with their Indian allies through trade, the British hoped to profit from and impose “order.”

“This land where ye dwell I have made for you and not for others. Whence comes it that ye permit the Whites upon your lands…Drive them out, make war upon them.

The British received much of Canada and North America from the French, while the Prussians retained the important province of Silesia. This gave the British a larger empire than they could control, which contributed to tensions leading to revolution.

Catholicism threatened to literally capture Protestant lands and souls.

the French had maintained a peaceful and relatively equal relationship with their Indian allies through trade

Seven Years’ War

wives asserted more control over their own bodies.

V. Seven Years’ War

For white women, the legal practice of coverture meant that women lost all of their political and economic rights to their husband.

An elected assembly was an offshoot of the idea of civic duty, the notion that men had a responsibility to support and uphold the government through voting, paying taxes, and service in the militia

Leaders like Edwards and Whitefield encouraged individuals to question the world around them.

The spasms first appeared amongst known sinners in the community

for learning has brought disobedience, and heresy

However, all the colonies dealt with threats of censorship and control from imperial supervision

While in practice elites controlled colonial politics, in theory many colonists believed in the notion of equality before the law and opposed special treatment for any members of colonial society.

The assembly was composed of elected, property-owning men whose official goal was to ensure that colonial law conformed to English law.

Political structures in the colonies fell under one of three main categories: provincial, proprietary, and charter.

Elect

Calvinists (and Puritans) believed that mankind was redeemed by God’s Grace alone, and that the fate of an individual’s immortal soul was predestined.

They dug up graves to eat the corpses of their former neighbors

Powhatan, or Wahunsenacawh

English colonization would look very different from Spanish or French colonization,

the powerful Spanish Armada would be destroyed, and the English would begin to rule the waves.

French colonization developed through investment from private trading companies.

Catholicism had always justified Spanish conquest, and colonization always carried religious imperatives.

New diseases wiped out entire civilizations in the Americas

Native Americans lived free from the terrible diseases that ravaged populations in Asia, Europe and Africa. But their blessing now became a curse.

Like the French later in North America, the Spanish tolerated and sometimes even supported interracial marriage.

Indians acquired horses

were it not for the corruption and viciousness of degenerate men, there would be no need of any other, no necessity that men should separate from this great and natural community

make them take sanctuary under the established laws of government, and therein seek the preservation of their property.

Such resistance many times makes the punishment dangerous, and frequently destructive to those who attempt it.

The great and chief end, therefore, of men uniting into commonwealths, and putting themselves under government, is the preservation of their property

Thirdly, in the state of Nature there often wants power to back and support the sentence when right, and to give it due execution

men when they enter into society give up the equality, liberty, and executive power they had in the state of Nature into the hands of the society,

Now this distress lasted Almost two years: - Poor – Me – Miserable me. – It pleased God to bring on my Convictions more and more, and I was loaded with guilt of Sin, I saw I was undone for ever; I carried Such a weight of Sin in my breast or mind, that it seemed to me as I should sink into the ground every step; and I kept all to my self as much as I could; I went month after month mourning and begging for mercy,

all the while fearing we should be too late to hear the Sermon

I saw how stubborn and willful man was

equal to the greatest and subject to nobody,

supreme power cannot take from any man any part of his property without his own consent

legislative or supreme authority cannot assume to itself a power to rule by extemporary arbitrary decrees, but is bound to dispense justice and decide the rights of the subject by promulgated standing laws

fears and continual dangers

men when they enter into society give up the equality, liberty, and executive power they had in the state of Nature into the hands of the society,

there wants an established, settled, known law, received and allowed by common consent to be the standard of right and wrong, and the common measure to decide all controversies between them.

thought that would be a happy change for they had no Souls a

I was possesst with a notion that if I had it I would die and goe right to hell,

by an Eye of faith

Catholicism threatened to literally capture Protestant lands and souls.

Defiant slaves could legally be beaten, branded, mutilated, even castrated

more people to marry earlier in life

Whether or not African Americans, Native Americans, and women would also be included in this notion of equality

only a tiny portion of males could vote

The Master of Life told Neolin that the only way to enter Heaven would be to cast off the corrupting influence of Europeans, by expelling the British from Indian country:

only a tiny portion of males could vote

Relationships between colonists and Native Americans were complex and often violent. In 1761, Neolin, a prophet, received a vision from his religion’s main deity, known as the Master of Life

These victories brought about the fall of French Canada, and for all intents and purposes, the war in North America ended in 1760 with the British capture of Montreal. The British continued to fight against the Spanish, who entered the war in 1762. In this war, the Spanish successfully defended Nicaragua against British attacks but were unable to prevent the conquest of Cuba and the Philippines.

working from dawn to dusk in groups with close supervision by a white overseer or enslaved “driver” who could use physical force to compel labor.

Virginians used the law to protect the interests of slaveholders.

By 1750 there were approximately 100,000 African slaves in Virginia, at least 40% of the colony’s total population

Slave owners could not be convicted of murder for killing a slave;

New ideas governing romantic love helped to change the nature of husband-wife relationships. Deriving from the sentimental literary movement, many Americans began to view marriage as an emotionally fulfilling relationship rather than a strictly economic partnership.

African women faced other hardships, especially sexual abuse and rape

brutal cruelty

lmost suffocated us.

pieces of cloth

guilty

brutal excesses as disgrace human nature

two of the White men offered me eatables; and on my refusing to eat, one of them held me fast by the hands, and laid me across I think the windlass, and tied my feet, while the other flogged me severely.

also reports that African women faced other hardships, especially sexual abuse and rape:

and cut one of his legs so round the bone, that he could not move, the nerves being cut through; others cut our cooks throat to the pipe, and others wounded three of the sailors, and threw one of them overboard in that condition, from the forecastle into the sea.

During many voyages, however, the enslaved rebelled and attacked their captors.

“six or seven hundred” dead

rapes, whippings, and diseases like smallpox and conjunctivitis aboard slave ships

Dysentery, known as “the bloody flux,” left captives lying in pools of excrement

Some were not wars at all, but merely illegal raids performed by slave traders.

Seventeenth-century European legal thought held that enslaving prisoners of war was not only legal, but more merciful than killing the captives outright.

For Phillips, the profitability of slavery was the only justification he needed

“I can’t think there is any intrinsic value in one color more than another, nor that white is better than black, only we think it so because we are so.”