discussion reply

(1) NH – 11. What is Abraham Lincolnâ€s background and why is it important in understanding the events of 1860-1861? Explain. What is the Deep South and why does it secede in 1860? Explain. Is secession done democratically [in the circumstances of the time]? Were there Southerners who opposed secession? Why? What does the Deep South do to influence other slave states?

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To better understand the events of 1860-1861, including the secession of the Deep South, what Southerners opposed the secession, and the influence the Deep South had on other slave states, one must understand some background information regarding Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln, born in Kentucky, was elected into the Illinois state legislature in 1834 at the young age of 25. He supported the Whig Party, idolizing Henry Clay and Daniel Webster. Actively, “Lincoln opposed the spread of slavery to the territories, and had a grand vision of the expanding United States, with a focus on commerce and cities rather than agriculture.†[1] Self-taught, he was also able to pass the bar examination and become a lawyer in Springfield. These political and legal practices lead to Lincolnâ€s strong opinions on the abolition of slavery and his ability to enforce it.

The Deep South or “cotton states,†was the Southern area that depended largely on agriculture and slave labor. This area was proslavery due to the high demand for the goods it produced. Always present, however, were those who opposed slavery. Antislavery activists fought both quietly and aggressively for their beliefs, the latter exampled well by “antislavery fanatic†John Brown, who murdered five proslavery Kansas settlers. [2] There were also the descriptive and revealing writings of Harriet Beecher Stowe in Uncle Tomâ€s Cabin that expressed to the oblivious the horrible conditions of slavery. Such exposing stories made antislavery increase rapidly and violent acts like that of Brown made the Southerners fearful of expansion.

Some Southerners opposed the secession, but When Lincoln won the election of 1860, “the Republican platform declared that slavery could spread no farther.†[3]The Southerners who were upset by this, “sought territorial expansion because the wastefulness of cultivating a single crop, cotton, rapidly exhausted the soil, increasing the need for new fertile lands.†[4] The farmers and planters believed the workload could not be successfully completed without the help of slave labor. Fortunately, industrial advances would eventually eliminate the need for a large amount of personal labor.

To influence other slave states, the Deep South repressed freedom of speech and silenced abolitionists. “In 1835 an angry mob destroyed abolitionist literature in the Charleston, South Carolina, post office.†[5] Soon after, a postmaster-general “stated he would not enforce delivery of abolitionist material.†[6] This was an effort made to reduce the effects of abolitionist activistâ€s revealing truths about slavery. The Deep South also continued to demand expansion for more fertile soil and influenced other slave states that the growing demand for product could only be done thoroughly through slave labor. Abraham Lincoln was able to prevent the expansion that Southerners believed in, with hopes to grow through “commerce and cities rather than agriculture,†and eventually abolish slavery. [7]

12. After answering one of the questions above, what questions and issues do you have about this period of reform in American society? Please post these for your colleagues to consider.

-What if the territories gained from Mexico in the “Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo†had been left to “popular sovereignty†in regards to free/slave states? Would slave states have expanded rapidly? Would it have been significantly harder to end slavery if such an expansion occurred?

1.“Abraham Lincolnâ€, History.com (A+E Networks, 2009), accessed on October 4, 2014. http://www.history.com/topics/us-presidents/abraham-lincoln
2.Alonzo Hamby, Outline of U.S. History (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of State, 2011), 139.
3.Hamby, Outline, 139.
4.Hamby, Outline, 133.
5.Hamby, Outline, 134.
6.lbid.
7.“Abraham Lincolnâ€, History.com (A+E Networks, 2009), accessed on October 4, 2014. http://www.history.com/topics/us-presidents/abraham-lincoln

(2) CH – What is the plantation system of agriculture and why did it have such an impact on Southern society, especially in the post-1815 period?  Describe the society of the Old South, especially the planters†world.  How did the plantation economy affect whites and blacks?

The plantation system of agriculture, according to Hambly, is defined as owning 20 or more slaves, which applied to approximately 46,000 of southern families: “There were some 385,000 slave owners out of about 1.5 million white families… Twelve percent owned 20 or more slaves, the number defined as turning a farmer into a planter.â€[1] Slavery had been such an important factor for the rise and economic sustainment of southern agriculture that life without it seemed to be unfathomable to the local population. “Poor whitesâ€, defined as people who did not own any slaves, comprised greater than seventy-five percent of the whole southern population, but these individuals still supported slavery as an institution because it elevated them on a social scale.[1]

Offering insight into the structure of plantations, Hambly also goes on to say, “Before 1830 the old patriarchal system of plantation government, with its personal supervision of the slaves by their owners or masters, was still characteristic. Gradually, however, with the introduction of large-scale cotton production in the lower South, the master gradually ceased to exercise close personal supervision over his slaves, and employed professional overseers charged with exacting from slaves a maximum amount of work.â€[2]

Following the introduction of the cotton gin and the profitability of the exportation of cotton as a cash crop both overseas and to northern textile mills, all hopes of abolishing slavery quickly faded and an increased demand for cheap and expendable labor swept through the South. Since the slave trade with Africa had been abolished by Congress in 1808, southern farmers had to increase the number of the slave labor force from within their ranks, this led to “a system of brutality and coercion in which beatings and the breakup of families through the sale of individuals were commonplace… African-American laborers [were treated] as if they were domestic animals.â€[3] This increase in economic prosperity for whites and bondage for African Americans slaves drove the barriers between the two races even further apart and solidified a caste system in the South that would last until post-Civil War emancipation.

[1] Alonzo Hambly, Outline of U.S. History (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of State, 2011), 132.

[2] Alonzo Hambly, Outline of U.S. History (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of State, 2011), 132-133.

[3] Alonzo Hambly, Outline of U.S. History (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of State, 2011), 133.

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