Changes in the kind of cotton, increase in production
" Most important economic development was shift of econ. power from "upper South" to "lower South."
- early 1800s: upper South relied on tobacco, which rapidly exhausted land      & was subject to price depressions
- lower South relied on rice, sugar, & long-staple (Sea Island) cotton, which were      limited to small areas
" short-staple cotton: hardier, coarser, could grow successfully in a variety of climates, cotton gin largely solved problem of difficult processing
" cotton production spread from South Carolina & Georgia westward, across Alabama and Mississippi to Louisiana, Arkansas, & Texas
" by Civil War, cotton constituted nearly 2/3 of total US exports (5 million bales of cotton/ year)

Differences that set the South apart
" great profitability of agriculture, esp. cotton … little incentive to look to manufacturing
" climate (long, hot, steamy summers) less suitable for industrialization
" values- chivalry, leisure, elegance

Southern way of life
" cavalier lifestyle: planter class believed to be entrenched aristocracy, refined &  
    gracious way of life, elaborate code of chivalry obligated men to defend their
    "honor" by dueling, "manhood" important
" Southern lady: lives centered in the home, "defense" of women important to men,
    less access ro education than in the North, suffered from husbands' frequent
    infidelity, "plantation mistress" became not much more than an ornament
" levels of society:
- planter class: owned 40 or more slaves & 800 or more acres, newly wealthy,       competitive businessmen
- "plain folk"- modest subsistence farmers who owned a few slaves, male-        dominated family structure
- "hill people"- proud sense of seclusion, slavery unattractive, expressed         animosity toward planter aristocracy
- non-slaveowning whites: tied to slavery through kinship networks, credit, &         markets


"Peculiar Institution"
" Slavery as a way of life: 
- slave codes forbade slaves to read, acquire property, leave without permission,
    carry weapons, etc.
- "head drivers," trusted slavers, worked under overseers as foremen
- slave quarters crowded & dirty
- slave women worked hardest, in the field & caring for children
- high death rate & short life spans
" Slave trade: professional slave traders led slaves by foot, train, or boat; domestic slave trade separated families & auctioned off slaves like livestock / Africans smuggled into US until 1850s
" Slave resistance:
- 2 extremes: Sambo (obedient) & rebel
- 1800: Gabriel Prosser gathered 1000 slaves outside Richmond…unsuccessful
- 1822: Denmark Vesey's plot in Charleston was crushed
- 1831: Nat Turner & his followers killed 60 white men, women, & children
- Underground RR hindered by white slave patrols
" Free blacks: feared due to slave conspiracies and insurrections, most lived in poverty & had difficulty finding jobs

Culture of slavery
" language ("pidgin") drew from English and African dialects
" sang spirituals and attached much importance to voices, song, and dance
" many blended Christianity with voodoo or polytheistic religions
" due to the lack of legal marriage and frequent separation of family members, the "nuclear family" and extended kinship networks were important