Have a Happy Chanukah, Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year.

I hope you all enjoy your Winter Break.

~ Mr. Mullady

Some More Practice Questions for the Test

1. Which of the following was not a cash crop grown in the South?

A. Tobacco B. Rice

C. Cotton D. Wheat

2. Which of the following economic relationships is correct?

A. The North provided the West with raw materials.

B. The South provided the North with manufactured goods.

C. The West provided the North with food.

D. The South provided the North with food.

3. Explain how a plantation owner in the South was economically tied to the North.

4. Which of the following wrote a criticism of the American South?

A. Pierce Butler B. Thomas Jefferson

C. Frederick Law Olmsted D. Hugo Caberet

5. Which of the following is true about Yeomen farmers?

A. Yeomen tended to treat their slaves worse than Plantation Owners.

B. Plantation Owners would hire Yeomen to work as slave catchers.

C. Yeomen farmers made up 1% of the Southern population prior to the Civil War.

D. Yeomen farmers worked small plots of land that they owned.

6. What were two reasons that would explain why Nat Turner's Rebellion was more successful then Denmark Vessey's plot and Gabriel Prosser's Conspiracy?

7. Gabriel Prosser was inspired to lead a slave uprising after learning of the success of a slave uprising in what country?

A. Mexico B. Cuba

C. Haiti D. Brazil

Practice Questions for the Test

The Life in the South Test is next Wednesday, December 21st. Here are some practice questions for you to work on.

1. What was the most common reason for a slave to run away for a short time?

2. Who was the inventor of the cotton gin?

3. What were three traits that Denmark Vessy, Nat Turner, and Gabriel Prosser had in common?

4. What were three cash crops that were grown in the South prior to the American Civil War?

5. Why would a plantation owner allow their slaves to own a small plot of land?

6. How did slaves use religion to inspire hope?

7. Explain the economic relationship between the North, South, and West.

8. Where were most Maroon Societies located? Why?

9. What is petite marronage?

10. What event inspired the Alabama slave codes?

11. Why were slaves not allowed to read or write?

12. Most Southerners owned slaves.

True or False

13. Why was Southern soil exhausted?

Prosser Notes

• 
  
• Here are the Notes from today's class on Gabriel Prosser
• 
  
• A. Background

• 1. born in 1776, on a Tobacco Plantation in Virginia
• 2. became literate, and was trained as a blacksmith
• 3. his master, Thomas Henry Prosser was cruel to his slaves
• 4. was hired out in and around Virginia, where he became familiar with other slaves, free blacks, and some white laborers
• 
  
• 
  
• B. Inspiration
• 
  
• 1. news of a slave uprising in Saint Dominique in the Caribbean.
• 2. hatred towards dishonest white merchants
• 3. inspired by the success of free blacks
• 4. belief in the Declaration of Independence and the rights of the common man.
• 
  
• C. Prosser's Plan
• 
  
• 1. if the slaves rose up against the plantation owners, the poor whites would join the slaves in rebellion. “Death or Liberty”
• 2. seize the capital of Richmond and hold the governor captive before moving to Norfolk and Petersburg.
• 3. Gabriel’s army consisted of recruited slaves, free blacks, white laborers and abolitionists.
• 4. A stockpile of weapons, from swords to scythes and rifles was amassed.
• *This would have been the largest slave revolt in the United States
• 
  
• D. Gabriel's Capture
• 
  
• 1. Shortly before the planned uprising, the governor of Virginia had heard rumors of a slave rebellion being planned, but dismissed them as being too farfetched.
• 
  
• 2. A torrential thunderstorm hit Virginia the day of the planned uprising, forcing Prosser and his followers to delay the rebellion for the next day.
• 
  
• 
  
• 3. One of the Gabriel's supporters confesses to his master of the planned uprising, and the governor is immediately alerted.
• 
  
• 4. Virginia offered a full pardon to any slave that came forward to help catch those involved in the planned uprising. Prosser is captured and executed on October 10, 1800.
• 
  
• 
  
• 
  

Marronage

Marronage

Slaves in the United States used many different methods to resist slavery, one these methods was to run away from their masters. Slavery was an interdependent system; both masters and slaves relied on each other for survival. Since the masters relied on their slaves for work, slaves used this dependency to their advantage by exerting their rights.

The decision to runaway had great risks and slaves would use three different methods to stay away from the plantation:

1. Join and assimilate Native American tribes. Many Native Americans would assist runaway slaves by making them a part of their tribe.

2. Disguise themselves as free African Americans and live in free African American communities in the South.

3. Creating independent societies away from whites

These large independent societies were called Maroon Societies, and were created and governed by runaway slaves. Maroon Societies had to be well hidden and were very mobile in order to avoid capture from slave hunters. The Southeast of the United States had the highest number of Maroon Societies in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Florida.

H.W. for tonight:

A. Finish the questions on Marronage that was classwork. Here is a link to the slavery site that we have been using.

B. Answer the following questions using your notes and the Slavery Site.

1. What were three factors that would have made escaping very difficult?

2. Where did some slaves choose to runaway to? Why those locations?

3. Who did plantation owners often hire to be slave catchers?

4. Define Covert Resistance:

example:

5. Define Overt Resistance:

example:

Quiz is tomorrow

H.W. Questions

Today in class we read an analyzed the Alabama Slave Codes of 1833. In the United States Slave Codes existed wherever there was slavery. The purpose of these laws was to both support and regulate the institution of slavery.

The Alabama Slave Codes were passed shortly after a slave uprising that was led by a slave named Nat Turner. Turner's Rebellion sent shockwaves across the South, and left many white planters and farmers traumatized by the thought of a large slave uprising. As a result of this fear, many state legislatures began to strengthen their already slave codes. In 1833, the Alabama State Legislature modified their slave codes by addressing specific features of the Turner Rebellion.

The Slave codes are an excellent example of the racism and cruelty of the slave period as well as the fear and paranoia that slavery helped foster. They also show us that slaves and free blacks were capable of independent action. Without intending it, Alabama’s slave codes testify to the ability of slaves to assert their own humanity and to challenge the system of chattel slavery in large and small ways. BECAUSE some slaves learned how to read and write, southern states made it illegal for whites to teach them those skills. BECAUSE some slaves revolted, southern states made it illegal for them to gather in unsupervised groups. Slave laws actually prove that slaves were capable of doing all sorts of things which no other kind of “property” could possibly do. These codes demonstrate the humanity of the slaves as well as the inhumanity of the slave system.

Homework: Answer Four of the Following Questions.

1 Look at the Alabama Slave Codes, based on the severity of the punishments involved, identify four significant fears you believe white lawmakers had about any or all of the following: the slave system itself, slaves, freed slaves, free persons of color or even certain white people. How would you explain those fears?

2. How did slave owners use religion as a way of controlling their slaves? How did slaves use religion as a way of promoting faith? What religious figure became important to slaves? Why?

3. What types of lessons did slave mothers teach their children? Why were they so important to slave culture?

4. Choose three of the Alabama Slave Codes that are directly connected to Nat Turner's Rebellion. Explain how the laws are connected.

5. What type of clothing were provided to slaves? Why did slaves receive medical care?

6. How many people were killed during the Nat Turner Rebellion? Where did the Rebellion take place? Why was Turner so successful in recruiting and organizing his uprising?

Plantation Economy

Today in class we read some excerpts from Frederick Law Olmsted's Cotton Kingdom. Cotton Kingdom was originally published as a series of articles for a Northern magazine. In his work, Olmsted describes the Southern plantation system as being flawed and ineffective. Olmsted believes that it was this economic system that prevented the South from enjoying the amount of canals, railroads, turnpikes, and schools that the North had.

Olmsted is one of several hundred Northern authors, artists, and journalists to travel to the South to describe Southern culture. Some came to the South to write about the evils of slavery in hopes of convincing others to abolish slavery. Artists depicted the horrors of slavery that were published in many Northern magazines and journals. Here is a woodcut that depicts a slave child being taken from his family.

Artists and authors from the South responded to these attacks from the North with their own forms of propaganda. Books, articles, and plays were written that defended slavery, some even claimed that slavery was sanctioned by God. Southern artists created images of slavery that depicted slaves as being content and happy.

H.W. tonight is to finish the classwork from Friday.

Getting a Sense of the South

Tonight for homework you are going to need your textbook. Complete the Getting a Sense of the South worksheet that was started in class by using the pages in the textbook.