Contemporary woodcut illustration of the Nat Turner Revolt (1831)
Below please find this week’s web questions written by your classmate, Desiree Perez. Please note that you need to respond to just one or two in your comments.
1) What, in your opinion, was one of the main reasons the South didn’t experience a great industrial transformation as in the North? Why?
2) Why do you think Southerners claimed they led a more refined life than the North? Do you think they really believed this?
3) What was a greater factor in keeping slave revolts to a minimum? The fear of punishment and death or the manipulative concept of paternalism?
4) What effect did slave revolts, such as the Nat Turner Revolt, have on the relationship between slaves and their masters? Did they give slaves more leverage in their relationship with their masters or did they just make life more difficult? Why?
AMERICA TO 1877 
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The South wasn’t able to achieve an industrial transformation primarily because they were too invested in an agricultural economy. They didn’t have a need for an industrial sector, since they were able to get what they needed in that respect from the North, and they were therefore not inclined to produce an industrial economy.
They also had, in their agricultural economy, a system that worked for them. Although not many people were wealthy, the notion of the attainment of wealth was never far off, and that was enough to keep people invested in this type of economy. In order for an industrial society to emerge, they’d need to have had large amounts of people in need of work, and wealthy entrepreneurs to capitalize on this work force. Even if people would have given up their small farms to work in a factory, there weren’t a large amount of wealthy investors with liquid capital who would have been able to start up any significant factories.
I think that the reason that the south did not have the same kind of economic growth that was experienced in the north was a compound issue. One of the major contribution was the reliance on the cash crop system. The old money in the south and the rise of the big planters created the mind set that farming was the way to make money in this area they saw the northern industrialization as the weaker half of the country trying to catch up. This also lead to a society that modeled itself after the landed gentry in England to a extreme extent so the idea that being anything other than a gentleman farmer was extremely distasteful to many rich southerns and they would want to invest in such ventures. Because it would be seen as bad taste. Another reason that the south did not develop in the same way as the north was that the south had a huge portion of its money tied up in its slaves and to switch from that would be disputatious in the short term because they would have to reposeful their labor pool an that would lead to hard times and for a society that was often times short of capital so the transition was never going to occur.
I think that South did not become as industrialized as the North because of several reasons. The book mentioned about the weather being a factor along with its soely agricultural environment and lack of connecting railroads. However, I think there is more to this. Slavery became inbeded in the culture and was the bases of the economy. The aristocratic agricultural society became a set way of life in the south. The racist, superiority culture of the south I believe styfiled the creativity and advancement of the south. Yes, they had slaves in the north at one time but the south seemed to embrace a superiority psychological complex that didnt grip the north as much. This narccistic mentality blinded them. Slavery also caused a breakdown of the family. The family is one of the fundamental institutions of society. Wives were cheated on, slaves raped, emotional, physical abuse, bitterness, this all connects to the advancement of a society. And at a time when the industrial revolution was happening, they were kept out of it until later on.
The south didn’t become industrialized as quickly based on the structure of their economy. While the north had a more diverse way of generating capital, the south was in need of a much larger unskilled labor force than the north. Additionally, the north had a different class system, one in which the distance in wealth between individuals weren’t so drastic.
I say that because of the presence of slaves, whose very presence allowed white laborers in the south in horrible conditions to continue working because they still had someone else that they could torment. In the north by contrast, several protests indicate that workers were more aware of their circumstances and what was fair or not, so they took action. Ultimately, looking at the lowest classes in a society and their mobility or lack thereof speaks to how they look at those around them.
“Oppression Breeds Resistance” this famous quote describes the effect that the institution of slavery had on African Americans especially in the “Old South”. In the case of Nathaniel Turner’s Slave revolt the Caucasian slave masters were extremely fearful of slaves and how they would react to the dehumanization and subjugation to the most horrendous conditions of the slave system.The rebellion committed by Nathaniel Turner was not a new concept, and was certain to happen. Slave revolts had been going on since the inception of the institution of the system. Even on the treacherous voyage African captives displayed resistance.(ie: Amistad)
However resistance was demonstrated in both non violent and violent ways. In the case of Nathaniel Turner it was violent. On the other hand the slaves sometimes used indirect methods such as refusal to work simply running away. Nevertheless many slaves were not concerned with maintaining a connection with the slave masters. Life was already challenging, and fighting for freedom in the form of revolt was necessary even if the consequence was death.
The south was known for its agriculture economy and life. In the south farmers and owners would invest almost all of their assets in farming and slavery. For them to become industrial is saying to the the owners to loose all their money. They also felt their investment in farming was making them enough money and some actually thought what the North was doing is absurd. For the farm owners to own slaves who do most of the work and not pay them anything and still get huge amounts of revenues to come in was the life.
Also to become industrial the south wasn’t ready for such a thing, the South was equipped to be an agricultural society but to have factories and stores that meant more buildings and more workers, not to mention most of the South wasn’t well educated when it came to industrialization. Also industrialization would recommend a lot of investment money wise and all the South were invested in farming and slaves.
1) What, in your opinion, was one of the main reasons the South didn’t experience a great industrial transformation as in the North? Why?
The South was so dependent on slavery that it did not need an industrial revolution that would boost its economy. Slavery was its income through hard labor farming. The South was earning from cotton and wheat. I don’t think the South needed an industrial revolution when its economy itself from farming was going so well. There were also many people who believed that America should not have manufacturing like Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson at first strongly believed that America should only be an agricultural society. He believed that because he thought industrialization would deteriorate the old republican life. Jefferson believed “people who worked in the soil were holy and would be the most special to God.”
2) Why do you think Southerners claimed they led a more refined life than the North? Do you think they really believed this?
I think they thought they were better than the North because they started believing in aristocratic social class system. Wealthy southern whites believed in the code of chivalry and protected women. Plantation owners dueled and already had a mind set of being part of a noble class. The south also had their own “Cotton Kingdom.” Brinkley says that “the cotton economy created many fortunes” and “entrenched the planter class as the dominant force.”
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The South was mainly providing raw materials such as tobacco, cotton, and sugar cane. They cultivated the land, farmed, grew the crops, and harvested it. None of this depended on industrialization unlike in the North. In addition, they also had slaves that did almost all the work for them.
During the industrial revolution, most of the work was happening in factories, and as a result the economy in the South became weaker.
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The economies between the North and South were very different in many aspects. Both economies were primarily developed based on their climates. For the South, the long, hot summer days allowed agriculture to lead in developtment while the North, working with its resources, developed an industrial amd commercial economy. By the 1850’s, the demand for cotton has increasingly grown due to the textiles industries and this staple crop was mainly grown in the deep south. With the labor from slaves, the demand of cotton sky-rocketed, producing 60% of the economy. During this time, the phrase, “Cotton is King” became famous as Southern planters heavily relied on its production, making the agricultural economy boom. Southern planters of the South differed from the North becuase they became wealthy from the production of cotton, leaving little interest or investment on anything else.
The economic stance between the North an South did differ. As Tania mentioned one of the many reasons were because of their climate. The climate in the south made the soil richer and easier to grow crops. The people of the south didn’t have to rely on “working” themselves for they had slaves to cater to the plantations where they can then sell and trade goods. In the north, natural resources were limited. They worked with what they had and saw that industrializng was easier and a created a better economy for them. They were able to produce goods oppose to growing them.
I think that revolts that started to up rise in the South made it even more difficult on the slave and master relationship. As discussed in class, after the Haitian revolution took place, many southerners were paranoid with the idea that this may take place in the United States. The time of revolt in America was a climax in which there was a definite possibility that Slavery would end soon. The fear did not only up rise from the revolt it also took place through the change of mindset of the people. As discussed, an era of abolitionism and anti-slavery began to immensely grow. From the time of the Missouri Compromise up to the several revolts occurring, fear was implemented on both the slaves and the masters.
Everything seems to occur in chronological order, from the America Revolution to revolutions in France and Haiti, therefore the possibility of slave revolt was an inevitable factor, education and the ability to obtain freedom in the north by a sum of money as well enabled African Americans and northerners to view slavery as an immoral and unethical industry. Whether the South agreed or not, it was inevitable to stops the revolts from occurring especially as the rates of escaping was increasing.Therefore fear was increasing among the slaves and the masters.
Southerners, specifically wealthy slave owners believed they lived a more refined life than those in the North because of their social behaviors and assets. The wealth generated from the labor of enslaved Africans seemed to have equated “greatness.” Being the master of a plantation, even if the plantation were not doing well, was enough to help a man believe that he belonged to an elite class of citizens. Owners of the enslaved felt that their core values and lifestyles were a template for American society. Compared to Northerners, Southern folks adhered to a disciplined Christian faith. Many were conservative individuals who believed that the goodness of God had bestowed upon them the responsibility of caring for an inferior race. Outside of attending respectable social events, Southerners enjoyed the lavish comfort of their homes. I believe Southerners acted strongly in the traditions they created because they wanted to ensure the longevity and prosperity of the slave institution.
#2- The southerners claiming they were more refined than the North was easy cop out for them. I do not think the really believed this. Because they relied on slavery for the “bread and butter” many of them developed this old aristocratic way of thinking about themselves. In all actuality if the northerns were not “refined” like southerners it stems from different lifestyles. The northern industralized economy depended on the working men not the free-labor slave source as the south. South did not gain their wealth through their own sweat and labor no matter how much they believed they did; or their that their wealth equated them to such a higher standard than northerners. I agree with Nnenna’s statement about southerns developing this “way” about themselves in order to created prosperity. I think it may also to have been a way to encourage slavery in other parts of the country. Almost as if they were saying look at us, look how great we are, all this through our lavish slave plantation. They were trying to show slavery as something great.
3) What was a greater factor in keeping slave revolts to a minimum? The fear of punishment and death or the manipulative concept of paternalism?
In my Opinion the greater factor in keeping slave revolts to a minimum was the fear of punishment and death. In the souh the law helped no consequence if a owner killed a slave while punishing him, this was not considered a crime so it happened often. However slaves faced the death penalty for killing or even resisting a white person and for inciting revolt. So it is evident that the message that was being sent to slaves was their life was worthless if their master could them without reason and not be punished for his actions. Although slavery was a harsh system many slaves would rather continue living then death. Some would even result to the “sambo” act, which was a role that a slave played of how he envision the white world expect him to act.
Two prime example of slave revolt was that of Gabriel Prosser, Denmark Vesay, and Nat Turner. Both Prosser and Vesey plot of rebellion was leaked before it was acted on and in both cases the slaves that were found involed was executed. In Turners rebellion sixty white men, women, and children were killed before the uprising was put down. In this case over hundred slaves involed were executed.
1. The south was primarily an agricultural based economy due to the fact that the free labor of slavery was wildly profitable to plantation owners. With slavery being abolished in the north and farming conditions much poorer than the south, people began to work in and build up factories. As more and more factories were built, more and more of the northern economy was based on industrial goods and factory labor.
I believe the reason they had such strict limitations to slaves and such fear of revolts from the slaves was fear of death, the punishment they inflected on the slaves could be turned back around and be flipped, just as they feared the slaves getting any knowledge, because keeping the slaves completely ignorant benefited them, and the slaves awareness of how wrong they really were being treated would be tamed. The less the slaves knew of the wrong doings upon them, even the slightest thought of revolt in a slaves mind was a major threat to slaveholders, because in many cases the richer slave holders could have easily been out numbered by the slaves the owned. I don’t think it had anything to do with the paternalist theory, in no way were they parental figures to slaves, you can feed an ally cat scraps it doesn’t mean you have a parental relationship with the cats, because you sometimes feed it, specially say if you owned a grocery store and only used the cat to chase away mice, you wouldn’t assume that the owner of the store has a loving relationship with the cat, in the same example you want to give the cat reason to be able to run away, you would keep giving it food and not allow it to stray to far or become more dependent.