Plantation Economy and Slavery in America

PLANTATION ECONOMY AND SLAVERY IN AMERICA

Identify the different characteristics of plantation economy and explain how it generated resistances from the slaves.

At the time of the American Revolution, slavery was a national institution; although the number of slaves was small, they lived and worked in every colony. Even before the Constitution was ratified, however, states in the North were either abolishing slavery outright or passing laws providing for gradual emancipation. The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 barred slavery

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from the new territories of that period. Thus, slavery effectively existed only in the South and became that region's “peculiar institution”.

According to Kenneth M. Stampp, the American slavery was a ‘peculiar institution’ with its own peculiarities. It developed in shape and character from 1619 – 1820s during which slavery became widespread. Initially its evolution before 1700 was slow process of gradual growth but the institution became strong, firm and expansive in the 18th century.

The American revolution of 1776 did not provide political freedom to blacks. The principle of political philosophy was limited to whites while to retain the ‘peculiar institution’ the humanity of the blacks was downgraded further making postrevolutionary society of America more white society than its colonial predecessor.

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Between the first federal census in 1790 and the eve of the Civil War, the slave population in America increased from approximately seven hundred thousand to almost 4 million. The formal end to the foreign slave trade in 1808 had no impact; the smuggling of slaves was common.

The period also marked the beginning of westward movement that also led to expansion of slave population and slaveholding in new territories. It saw the beginning of abolitionist movement in the northern states. In 1808, ban was imposed on importation of slaves. In 1820, Missouri compromise banned slavery from the territories acquired from Louisiana Purchase.

The nationwide distribution of slaves also changed during this time span. In 1820, slavery was concentrated in the tobacco‐ growing areas of Virginia, North Carolina, and Kentucky and along the coasts of South Carolina and northern Georgia. In 1860, it had significantly expanded into the Deep South,

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particularly Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas, following the spread of cotton production.

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Cotton Kingdom Cotton production was originally limited because separating the seeds from the fibre of the plant variety that grew well across most of the South was a time - consuming process. The introduction of the cotton gin resolved this problem and made the use of large numbers of field hands to work the crop economical. The cotton generation came into power after 1790 due to demand, technology, land, and labour that came together to create cotton boom. The demand for cotton came from Britain, technological advancement through the cotton gin, development of new strains of cotton, westward expansion and removal of indigenous tribes brought in new land and War of 1812 led to expansion of white settlements in westward region especially in Alabama and Mississippi.

These profound changes led to great forced migration of slaves. By 1830, southern politicians were talking in terms of

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preserving their distinct slave society. Slavery was now a social institution, a method of controlling one race by another. It was now a labour system. It had also become a sectional institution of the South.

The principal source of slaves for the Cotton Kingdom was the Upper South, which included the states traditionally considered to be border states—Delaware, Maryland, and Kentucky—as well as Missouri, Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Arkansas. Agriculture in this part of the South was diversifying, and although tobacco and rice remained staple cash crops, more and more land was being devoted to wheat, corn, rye, and oats for local consumption. Half of the country's corn was grown in the South. These cereal grains were not as labour intensive as cotton or tobacco planters in the region were finding themselves with more slaves than they needed. Alexandria, Virginia, became a major centre of the internal slave trade, and according to one estimate, 300,000

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slaves were sold from there into the Deep South in the two decades before the Civil War.

The use of slave on cotton plantations led to increase in total output and income which in turn assisted in ability to buy more land and consequently more slaves by the planters. By the beginning of 19th century, cotton constituted 50% - 60% of America's total exports.

The entire institution of slavery was paradoxical in nature. 1. It was racial based on skin colour and bondage was for life and hereditary with almost no scope for manumission 2. There was a continuous increase in slave population due to element of paternalism in master-slave relationship. 3. The slaves were a property based on the denial of the slave’s humanity.

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The masters treated their slaves both as humans and property in their day to day activities which meant that the slave society was based on double standards.  For the master, there was need for profit paternalism, economic interest, and social standing.  For slaves, there was resignation, resistance, rebellion, and accommodation to the slave life.

Slavery was considered as a civilizing institution made necessary by racial inferiority of Afro-Americans. Plantation system provided decent living conditions for slaves who were looked after by their masters from births to deaths. Masters only gave light punishments and the system was based on give and take. Therefore, slavery was maintained for racial and cultural reasons. There was no economic self-interest and it was believed that it would die peacefully.

According to Kenneth M. Stampp, the plantation system was evolving “an arena of persistent conflict”.

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According to Stanely Elkins, it was an oppressive institution based on ‘inherent internal problems’.

There existed significant regional variations in the plantation economy:  In sugar and rice plantations that required elaborate irrigation system and machinery for grinding and threshing that was done only by the planter class. In these plantations, slaves enjoyed more day-to-day economy as they worked on their own pace. They all had their individual kitchen gardens and sold their vegetables in the market.  In the Upper South, there was shift from tobacco to wheat production and this led to less supervision on slaves finally culminating in their manumission. They also employed agricultural workers and unskilled black labour who were given food and cash.

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E. D. Genovese 1. American slavery was embedded in the capitalist world economy. 2. It created a unique form of social relations and new distinct way of life which made it different from the north. 3. It established a hierarchical society based on paternalism which linked dominant and subordinate classes in a complex pattern of mutual responsibilities and obligations and lacked the spirit of individualism. 4. It was a semi-feudal economic set up in which all economic activities of the plantation economy were associated with the slavery.

The South maintained extensive commercial relationship with the world market and this assisted in the growth of merchant class and the profit earned flowed back into the plantation system as the business interest of this class was closely tied up

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with the plantation system. Therefore, they had no interest to invest their capital profit in industrial expansion.

Banking in the south was a conservative system which guaranteed the movement of staple crops and extension of credit to the planter class. Credit was given for land, slave, and crops. This credit system led to expansion of cotton production and later overproduction that resulted in the decline of cotton process and increase in prices of slaves. The banks assisted in cotton shipment and maintained the value of money. During the course of time when the plantation economy developed in the south, it prevented the growth of industries and helped in consolidation of the plantation system. This, according to Genovese, meant that the planters were not capitalistic but precapitalistic, quasi-aristocratic landowners who adjusted their slave economy with the capitalistic world. This also created southern backwardness as every aspect of southern economy was tied to slave ownership.

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Result All the capital was invested in land, crop, and slaves, and not in industries or urban centres.

Problem (According to Genovese) 1. Slavery concentrated economic and political power in the planter class who were against wage labour system, urbanization, industrialization, and high tariff rates. 2. Slavery established the basis of planter’s position and power in the southern society based on the system of paternalism between master and slaves.

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James Ford Rhodes The plantation economy was an immoral and inhuman institution based on exploitation of black labour by white men

U. B. Philips Slavery as a labour system was beneficial to both master and slave. Blacks were enslaved as they were inferior and submissive in their behaviour and the institution of slavery assigned them to become civilized.

Kenneth M. Stampp Slavery was degrading to both the exploiter and the exploited.

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Stanley Elkins American slavery is portrayed not only dehumanising but also a brutal institution that created a ‘sambo personality’ of slaves as they became docile, childlike and inferior and compared slave based plantation system like Nazi concentration camps.

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