<html> <head> Christine Loughman <center>Slaveholders in Nineteenth Century Southern America</center> </head> <body> <p> When people hear the phrase "the South" in America, one of their first thoughts is that of slavery. The Southern United States is known for, amongst other important things, the culture of slavery that was abundant for several hundred years. Slavery was an aspect of society that was found in all walks of life, ranging from Northern New England towns to Western frontier homes. But, the South is where slavery was preserved for many years after it was being abolished in other parts of the country. There is such a wide array of topics that can be explored in regards to slavery. Slaveholders were the ones who actually took responsibility for their "property;" therefore, their role was crucial. The ideas and images that the modern man has in regards to the common slaveholder are not all true, and this paper will strive to determine the true meaning of a Southern slaveholder back in the nineteenth century. How did these people, whom the majority were men, justify slavery in their own minds? What beliefs did they hold that supported (or contradicted) the issue of slavery? Society s arguments that supported slavery reflected their thoughts regarding society as well.<a name="#1"><sup><a href="#1n"><strong>1</strong></a></sup></p> <p> While large cities in the North were expanding and transforming themselves into industrialized societies, the economy of the South was still dependent on agriculture. Agriculture flourished in the South because of the ideal conditions in which to grow and cultivate crops. In his diary, Augustus Hull mentioned the fact that there was no business "except planting at which Negro labor could be made profitable;" slave labor was the determining factor in the success of the agriculture business of the South.<a name="#2"><sup><a href="#2n"><strong>2</strong></a></sup> After the War of 1812, cotton became the staple crop for the southern United States. Not only did Southern planters use cotton for their own benefit, such as making their slaves clothing, but they realized that they could use this cotton crop to their economic advantage. They started growing a surplus amount in order to sell it to other places. Since planters started growing such an excess amount of cotton, they needed extra labor to assist them in the fields. Also, cultivating cotton was a very difficult task. It was much more difficult than growing corn and rice, two other important crops of the South. By placing so much emphasis on one crop, cotton, the wealth was pushed into the hands of very few large plantation owners who could afford to buy hundreds of slaves.<a name="#3"><sup><a href="#3n"><strong>3</strong></a></sup></p> <p> Many times, the distinction between slaveholders and plantations owners is not clear. Some Southerners during the antebellum period owned large plantations resembling the ones seen in movies in modern times; these plantations could have hundreds, even thousands of slaves working the land. Other people owned smaller homes that would never be classified as plantation houses, yet still used slaves in order to cultivate their land. In Athens during this time, approximately ten percent of the white people owned any slaves, and only one or two percent owned enough to be considered planters.<a name="#4"><sup><a href="#4n"><strong>4</strong></a></sup> Other slaveholders in Athens had less than four slaves, and "nine-tenths of the people" did not own any slaves.<a name="#5"><sup><a href="#5n"><strong>5</strong></a></sup> Many of the planters who resided in the smaller homes would actually accompany their slaves in the field<a name="#6"><sup><a href="#6n"><strong>6</strong></a></sup>; these men could not afford to lose any of their crops due to not having enough field help, and the more they planted, the more of a profit they would make.</p> <p> When the word "slaveholder" is used, it is referring to men. Many people in modern times believe that the nineteenth century South was an uneducated society, but that was not true. Slaveholders in particular were well-educated, even when compared to the standards in Europe<a name="#7"><sup><a href="#7n"><strong>7</strong></a></sup>. The majority of slave-owners at the time were white, middle-class, and well-educated. Contrary to popular belief, southerners were fascinated by school and education, particularly the subject of history. They studied Greek and Roman classics, the Bible, English literature, such as Shakespeare, as well as ancient and medieval history<a name="#8"><sup><a href="#8n"><strong>8</strong></a></sup>. One of the main reasons why they studied these historical texts was in order to find documented support for a slave society; ancient civilizations such as those of Egypt, Israel, Greece, and Rome had all based their societies on the institution of slavery<a name="#9"><sup><a href="#9n"><strong>9</strong></a></sup>. The South studied historical texts not only for the pleasure that they obtained from reading them, but also to validate the argument that slavery was moral and right.</p> <p> But, along with the slaveholders' interpretations of history also came some misunderstandings. The South claimed that they had "organic social relations" that would lead to progress. They were building a modern slave society that rested upon "time-honored social and spiritual foundations"<a name="#10"><sup><a href="#10n"><strong>10</strong></a></sup>. The problem with this argument is this: how can such an ancient and backwards movement such as slavery provoke progress in the American South? The answer is, it cannot. "The mainstream of modern Western thought has cast slavery and progress as irreconcilable opposites, insisting that slavery impeded progress by restricting the freedom of every individual to contribute to society through the pursuit of self interest"<a name="#11"><sup><a href="#11n"><strong>11</strong></a></sup>. Yet, the slaveholders did not see this, or they did not want to let themselves see this. They saw themselves as "carriers of the cause of progress" and felt sure that slavery was going to help society move forward<a name="#12"><sup><a href="#12n"><strong>12</strong></a></sup>. They reassured themselves as well as the rest of society that slavery was acceptable and a symbol of progress and modernization in the United States.</p> <p> Southerners distinguished between moral and material progress. In relation to moral progress, more people were accepting the teachings of Jesus Christ and Christianity<a name="#13"><sup><a href="#13n"><strong>13</strong></a></sup>. "As for material progress, southerners noted the astonishing transformation of modern times-the industrial revolution and all its works-and they pronounced it self-generating, irreversible, and on the whole good"<a name="#14"><sup><a href="#14n"><strong>14</strong></a></sup>. Their acceptance of the new material life that was forming and the spread of Christianity were two significant aspects of what the Southerners referred to as "progress." They even went so far as to refer to their progress as "Christian slavery," making the argument that it stood as the "modern bastion against a relapse into barbarism"<a name="#15"><sup><a href="#15n"><strong>15</strong></a></sup>. The difference between the barbaric slavery of previous times and the slavery of the South were the Christian morals that the Southerners were evoking.</p> <p> The amount of slaves a Southerner owned depended on how wealthy he was. It was very simple to determine the wealth of a slaveholder. First and foremost, the amount of slaves one owned showed how much money a slaveholder possessed. Slaves were a pricey commodity because they were such an important source of labor. Most slaves were worth between $500 and $700 dollars<a name="#16"><sup><a href="#16n"><strong>16</strong></a></sup>. In public records dating from 1811, one man bought several slaves for a large amount of money: <blockquote> Georgia, Baldwin County. I received January 7th 1811 of H. Lamar. One thousand dollars in full for three Negroes. One Negro named Charly about twenty five years of age. One woman named Judah twenty two years of age & one boy named Edmond about five years old& <a name="#17"><sup><a href="#17n"><strong>17</strong></a></sup></blockquote> One thousand dollars in the year 1811 was worth much more than it is today. The fact that one man would spend that amount of money on three slaves clearly indicates their worth and value to the South.</p> <p> Another major factor in determining how many slaves someone owned was which type of plantation they were cultivating. Rice plantations had more slaves working the land as opposed to cotton plantations<a name="#18"><sup><a href="#18n"><strong>18</strong></a></sup>. Rice was such an important crop during the antebellum period because vast amounts of it were being shipped to other parts of the country, even to Europe<a name="#19"><sup><a href="#19n"><strong>19</strong></a></sup>. Also, the fact that places such as Savannah were rice ports was a huge economic advantage to the rice planters<a name="#20"><sup><a href="#20n"><strong>20</strong></a></sup>.</p> <p> There was a wide range of views in regards to Negroes, but the overall consensus of the majority of the population of America during the antebellum period was that Negroes were inferior. James Holsey, of Columbus, Georgia, thought of his slaves as his own personal property<a name="#21"><sup><a href="#21n"><strong>21</strong></a></sup>. James Henry Hammond, a prominent South Carolina politician, expressed similar views; "A race inferior to her own, but eminently qualified in temper, in vigor, in docility, in capacity to stand the climate, to answer all her purposes"<a name="#22"><sup><a href="#22n"><strong>22</strong></a></sup>. Hammond looked at slaves as humans whose sole purpose was to do work for the white people. Hammond thought that, since his Negroes could stand to be out in the sun for long periods of time, then they were obviously predestined to work in the fields. The views of Holsey and Hammond were reflected in Southern ideologies during the antebellum period. Amanda Matilda Murray, a visitor to Major Butler's plantation, located in Hopeton, thought that all Negroes "in intellect and moral character, they remain and ever will remain, inferior to the whites"<a name="#23"><sup><a href="#23n"><strong>23</strong></a></sup>. The word "inferior" is used constantly when describing the relationship of blacks to whites. A common misconception many Americans have is that slaves were thought of as animals, yet research shows that many slaveholders knew their slaves were human and treated them as humans; the slaves were just on a much different, lower level than their masters.</p> <p> Each family was different when it came to treatment of their slaves. Some treated their slaves harshly, while others were more lenient and gave their slaves a bit more freedom. The Manigault family, who moved to an island above the city of Savannah in 1833, treated their slaves extremely well. He gave them weekly rations; the slaves would receive "one peck of corn or corn meal"<a name="#24"><sup><a href="#24n"><strong>24</strong></a></sup>. If plantation rules were broken, the slaves were whipped, incarcerated in jail, or, in the worst case, they would be sold<a name="#25"><sup><a href="#25n"><strong>25</strong></a></sup>.</p> <p> Even though many slaveholders let their slaves have their freedom, they did not want the slaves to forget who their master was. In Athens in the early 1800s, the grand jury wanted to pass laws enforcing control over slaves. The jury was concerned with the excessive amount of permission being granted to slaves to leave their plantations; the jury stated that these slaves were a bother and their actions tended to "corrupt other slaves"<a name="#26"><sup><a href="#26n"><strong>26</strong></a></sup>. With the exceeding number of black people entering Athens during this time, the town wanted to make sure that they kept the slaves under control. By the year 1850, more moves were made to exert control over the slave population. In Athens, slaves and free Negroes were not allowed to be away from their homes "after 9:15 P.M. without a permit"<a name="#27"><sup><a href="#27n"><strong>27</strong></a></sup>. Athens also passed several other ordinances regarding Negroes, including the ownership of dogs (no Negro was allowed to have one); they were not allowed to loiter on porches and other public places on Sundays; and, Negroes were not allowed in barrooms at any time<a name="#28"><sup><a href="#28n"><strong>28</strong></a></sup>. Many people agreed with the laws passed to restrict the freedom of the Negroes. Hull thought the laws were necessary "for the good of the negro himself" as well as for the good of society. The South tried everything in their power to prohibit the freedom of the slaves. Manigault tried to impose order on his plantation, but, even his Negroes had the tendency to act up; in a letter, he stated that his Negroes were usually well-behaved, but, like all Negroes, they will cause trouble "if not watched and attended to"<a name="#29"><sup><a href="#29n"><strong>29</strong></a></sup>. Slaveholders were not exerting control over their slaves in order to keep them safe; they were doing it for selfish reasons. Slaveholders knew that, if slaves from several different plantations mingled, then they would put mischievous thoughts into each other's heads. Also, slaveholders liked to keep an eye on their slaves at all times in order to show who the master of the household was. The slaveholder never wanted his slaves to forget who possessed the authority.</p> <p> Slaveholders were very concerned with the health of their slaves because slaves were so expensive, and their owners wanted to keep them healthy so they could work in the fields and cultivate crops. In a letter Major Butler wrote to a new agent of his who was looking after his land, Butler expresses his anger about how his slaves have been treated: "He says my negroes are starving, they have been without a grain of corn for two weeks and living entirely on fish and oysters. I cannot expect you to know how my mind is hurt by this information& "<a name="#30"><sup><a href="#30n"><strong>30</strong></a></sup>. Manigault was also interested in the health of his slaves, which was important because slaves were so expensive to buy and he did not want any of them to die; death of a slave would be a loss of labor and capital. On Manigault's plantation, slaves suffered such ailments as fever, sickness from the weather, and cholera. The health of the slaves also depended on the type of plantation that they were working on. On a cotton plantation, the Negroes were generally healthier, but they were much unhealthier when working on a rice plantation because of the "constant moisture" and the "alternate floodings and drying of the fields"<a name="#31"><sup><a href="#31n"><strong>31</strong></a></sup>. Being exposed to wetness and extreme differences in the land caused the Negroes of these rice plantations to fall ill much more often. The South Carolina politician James Henry Hammond also was perturbed by the illness and deaths of his slaves. He said that the sickness and mortality rates of his slaves are issues that have "caused me more anxiety and suffering" than anything else in his life<a name="#32"><sup><a href="#32n"><strong>32</strong></a></sup>. The majority of planters spent so much money on their slaves that to see them fall ill, maybe even die, would be an irreconcilable waste of money as well as a loss to the field labor that the planters so much depended on.</p> <p> Slavery was a common feature of every day life during the nineteenth century. Regardless of where a foreign traveler journeyed during this time, slavery was very apparent. What the modern person knows about slavery has been learned through movies depicting the romantic life of the Southern plantation owner back in the nineteenth century. The reality of the matter is that slavery and slaveholders were both very different in many aspects. For example, not all slaves were treated harshly; some got along extremely well with their masters In Hull's diary, he wrote that many slaves loved their masters; some looked up to them as their "protector, guide, and friend"<a name="#33"><sup><a href="#33n"><strong>33</strong></a></sup>. Many of the slave relationships were not as great as the one Hull describes, but it shows the wide range of attitudes that many slaves had in regards to their masters. There are many overall depictions that society has of slaveholders: white males who are married with several children of their own, living in a large plantation home and growing cotton with the help of many slaves. But, this paper has proven that the typical slaveholder does not conform to all of the stereotypical ideals that one may associate with a slaveholder in the nineteenth century South.</p> <p><center>For More Information</center></p> <P><center><strong><a href="http://www.duke.edu/~jdg6/PubCh00.doc" Target="blank">"Writhing in Their Shackles": An Examination of Southern Slave Revolts</strong></a></center></p> <P><center><strong><a href="http://www.africanaonline.com/slavery_antebellum.htm" Target="blank">Slavery in the Antebellum Era</strong></a></center></p> <P><center><strong><a href="http://www.africanhertour.org/story/" Target="blank">The Story of the Underground Railroad</strong></a></center></p> <p><a name="#1n"><a href="#1"><strong>1. </strong></a>Faust, Drew Gilpin. <em>Southern Stories: Slaveholders in Peace and War.</em> (Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1992), 73. <p><a name="#2n"><a href="#2"><strong>2. </strong></a>Hull, Augustus Longstreet. <em>Annals of Athens, Georgia.</em> (Danielsville: Heritage Papers, 1978), 288. <p><a name="#3n"><a href="#3"><strong>3. </strong></a>Hynds, Ernest. <em>Antebellum Athens and Clarke County Georgia.</em> (Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1974), 61. <p><a name="#4n"><a href="#4"><strong>4. </strong></a>Hynds, 120. <p><a name="#5n"><a href="#5"><strong>5. </strong></a>Hynds, 61. <p><a name="#6n"><a href="#6"><strong>6. </strong></a>Hynds, 122. <p><a name="#7n"><a href="#7"><strong>7. </strong></a>Genovese, Eugene. <em>The Slaveholder s Dilemma.</em> (Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1992), 1. <p><a name="#8n"><a href="#8"><strong>8. </strong></a>Genovese, 4. <p><a name="#9n"><a href="#9"><strong>9. </strong></a>Genovese, 5. <p><a name="#10n"><a href="#10"><strong>10. </strong></a>Genovese, 7. <p><a name="#11n"><a href="#11"><strong>11. </strong></a>Faust, 10. <p><a name="#12n"><a href="#12"><strong>12. </strong></a>Genovese, 11. <p><a name="#13n"><a href="#13"><strong>13. </strong></a>Genovese, 4. <p><a name="#14n"><a href="#14"><strong>14. </strong></a>Genovese, 4. <p><a name="#15n"><a href="#15"><strong>15. </strong></a>Genovese, 5. <p><a name="#16n"><a href="#16"><strong>16. </strong></a>Hynds, 174. <p><a name="#17n"><a href="#17"><strong>17. </strong></a>Children Nicholas. From the Cobb-Erwin-Lamar Collection, Letters, 1811. Manuscript 86. <p><a name="#18n"><a href="#18"><strong>18. </strong></a>Clifton, James M. <em>Life and Labor on Argyle Island.</em> (Savannah: The Beehive Press, 1978), xxxii. <p><a name="#19n"><a href="#19"><strong>19. </strong></a>Clifton, xxvi. <p><a name="#20n"><a href="#20"><strong>20. </strong></a>Clifton, xxvii. <p><a name="#21n"><a href="#21"><strong>21. </strong></a>Holsey, John Brother Cade. <em>The Incomparable.</em> (New York: Pageant Press, 1963), 13. <p><a name="#22n"><a href="#22"><strong>22. </strong></a>Bleser, Carol. <em>Secret and Sacred.</em> (New York: Oxford University Press, 1988), vii. <p><a name="#23n"><a href="#23"><strong>23. </strong></a>Bell, Malcolm. <em>Major Butler s Legacy: Five Generations of a Slaveholding Family.</em> (Athens: The University of Georgia Press, 1987), 104. <p><a name="#24n"><a href="#24"><strong>24. </strong></a>Clifton, xxxiii. <p><a name="#25n"><a href="#25"><strong>25. </strong></a>Clifton, xxxiv-xxxv. <p><a name="#26n"><a href="#26"><strong>26. </strong></a>Hynds, 17. <p><a name="#27n"><a href="#27"><strong>27. </strong></a>Hynds, 50. <p><a name="#28n"><a href="#28"><strong>28. </strong></a>Hull, 128. <p><a name="#29n"><a href="#29"><strong>29. </strong></a>Clifton, xxxiv. <p><a name="#30n"><a href="#30"><strong>30. </strong></a>Bell, 131. <p><a name="#31n"><a href="#31"><strong>31. </strong></a>Bell, 127. <p><a name="#32n"><a href="#32"><strong>32. </strong></a>Bleser, 73. <p><a name="#33n"><a href="#33"><strong>33. </strong></a>Hull, 288. </body> </html>