Slavery

Slavery

In

America

Group Activity

Work in Groups

Group A will focus on Labor

Group B will focus on Punishment

Group C will focus on Family

Group A

Group B

Group C

The Plantation

Legal Status

Dred Scott had lived on free soil.

He sued for freedom, and 1856 it went to the supreme court.

Taney's Decision: No blacks could be citizens.

He also said that the Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional.

Even though Scott was eventually freed, all blacks were denied constitutional rights.

Punishment

How many of you currently have a job?

Have you ever made a mistake at work or failed, for whatever reason, to fulfill your duties?

What was the punishment that you received?

What is the worst punishment that you could receive if you kept making the same mistake?

Family Life

Key Terms:

King Cotton

Cotton was the main (cash) crop in the Southern States. It was the highest grossing product in the South (at 55% of the total). Eli Whitney's cotton gin increased slave productivity.

Task System

this system is based on bench marks- or points for the slaves to reference- each slave is given specific tasks according to their particular set of abilities- each slave is then given daily quotas to reach

( we will talk about what happens if these quotas are not reached later)

Crops and the South

Gang Labor

This is the harshest of the two systems; The idea here is Maximum productivity; weak workers were placed with strong workers; the overseer would push the slaves to guarantee that each slave weak or strong was at their maximum productivity.

Benefits for the slave

autonomy for the slave, they were not always hounded by an overseer, they were developing skills- slave owners would then have many slaves sell their goods, and sell the slaves skills to another as a hired hand.

Crops in the South

Work Conditions

• Setting
• Typical Hours

Group B

Group C

• Agriculture was the livelihood of the South

• Cotton was "King", therefore Slavery was the real "King"

Summary

• Slaves had very few rights

• They were brutally punished by their masters and overseers

• Masters controlled every aspect of a slave's family life

• There were ways that slaves maintained their individuality: through marriage, religion and a separate culture.

Dred Scott Case:

The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850

was part of the Compromise of 1850:

In all laws, slaves were considered to be property.

Took a man who had escaped 19 years earlier back

to his old plantation.

No right to trial by jury.

Court collections of $5 vs. $10.

South Carolina Slave Codes:

Prop VI. " The slave, being personal chattel, is at all times liable to be sold absolutely, or mortgaged or leased, at the will of his master"

Anthony Burns and the "Funeral of Liberty".

Prop. X. "Slaves being objects of property, if injured by third persons, their owners, may bring suit, and recover damages for the injury."

Prop. XI "Slaves can make no contract."

The 3/5th clause stated that for every 5 slaves in a state, 3 would be counted for congressional representation.

Prop. XII Slavery is heriditary and perpetual"

Any Questions?

Religion

?'s

How would slaves have been punished?

Possible Offenses

• Not working hard enough
• Not taking proper care of tools
• "Unclean house or person"
• Being out after curfew
• Leaving Plantation without permission
• Stealing
• Getting drunk
• Attempting to escape

Marriages

The Auction Block

Entertainment