Condition of the South

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They could be searched at any time. They could not buy or sell things without a permit. They could not own livestock. They were subject to a curfew every night. Marriage among slaves had no legal standing and always required the approval of the master. Generally, slaves could marry others living at their plantation, or at neighboring ones.

Solomon Northup discovered the following rules during his enslavement in Louisiana:. Either party can have as many husbands or wives as the owner will permit, and either is at liberty to discard the other at pleasure. The law in relation to divorce, or to bigamy, and so forth, is not applicable to property, of course.

If the wife does not belong on the same plantation with the husband, the latter is permitted to visit her on Saturday nights, if the distance is not too far. The painful cries and shrieks of the tortured Patsey, mingling with the loud and angry curses of Epps [the slave master whipping her] loaded the air. She was terribly lacerated — I may say, without exaggeration, literally flayed. The lash was wet with blood Neither slavery not involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.

Reconstruction - HISTORY

Some like Nat Turner rebelled. In , he led a slave revolt that left nearly 60 white persons dead in Virginia. Such insurrections were relatively rare in the South. White people outnumbered slaves in most places, possessed firearms, and could call on the power of the government to suppress rebellions. Nevertheless, slaves everywhere found other ways to resist their bondage. The most effective way that a slave could retaliate against an owner was to run away.

It is estimated that 60, black people fled slavery before the Civil War. When Solomon Northup wrote the narrative of his experiences in , he left little doubt about his feelings toward slave owners: University Press of Kentucky, In this activity and based on the reading, the class will create narratives of six slaves who have run away from different southern plantations in After forming small groups, assign each group one of the following profiles.

Each should work cooperatively to write a narrative of one of the following runaway slaves:. They may have been poor, but they were not slaves, and they were not black.

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They gained a sense of power simply by being white. In the lower South the majority of slaves lived and worked on cotton plantations.

Most of these plantations had fifty or fewer slaves, although the largest plantations have several hundred. Cotton was by far the leading cash crop, but slaves also raised rice, corn, sugarcane, and tobacco. Many plantations raised several different kinds of crops. Besides planting and harvesting, there were numerous other types of labor required on plantations and farms.

Reconstruction

Enslaved people had to clear new land, dig ditches, cut and haul wood, slaughter livestock, and make repairs to buildings and tools. In many instances, they worked as mechanics, blacksmiths, drivers, carpenters, and in other skilled trades. Black women carried the additional burden of caring for their families by cooking and taking care of the children, as well as spinning, weaving, and sewing. Some slaves worked as domestics, providing services for the master's or overseer's families.

These people were designated as "house servants," and though their work appeared to be easier than that of the "field slaves," in some ways it was not. They were constantly under the scrutiny of their masters and mistresses, and could be called on for service at any time. They had far less privacy than those who worked the fields. Because they lived and worked in such close proximity, house servants and their owners tended to form more complex relationships.

Black and white children were especially in a position to form bonds with each other. In most situations, young children of both races played together on farms and plantations. Black children might also become attached to white caretakers, such as the mistress, and white children to their black nannies. Because they were so young, they would have no understanding of the system they were born into. But as they grew older they would learn to adjust to it in whatever ways they could. The diets of enslaved people were inadequate or barely adequate to meet the demands of their heavy workload.

They lived in crude quarters that left them vulnerable to bad weather and disease. Their clothing and bedding were minimal as well. Slaves who worked as domestics sometimes fared better, getting the castoff clothing of their masters or having easier access to food stores. The heat and humidity of the South created health problems for everyone living there. However, the health of plantation slaves was far worse than that of whites.

Unsanitary conditions, inadequate nutrition and unrelenting hard labor made slaves highly susceptible to disease. Illnesses were generally not treated adequately, and slaves were often forced to work even when sick. The rice plantations were the most deadly. Black people had to stand in water for hours at a time in the sweltering sun. One of the worst conditions that enslaved people had to live under was the constant threat of sale.

Road conditions in south Iceland

Even if their master was "benevolent," slaves knew that a financial loss or another personal crisis could lead them to the auction block. Also, slaves were sometimes sold as a form of punishment. And although popular sentiment as well as the economic self-interest on the part of the owners encouraged keeping mothers and children and sometimes fathers together, these norms were not always followed. Immediate families were often separated.

If they were kept together, they were almost always sold away from their extended families.

13th Amendment (1865)

Grandparents, sisters, brothers, and cousins could all find themselves forcibly scattered, never to see each other again. Even if they or their loved ones were never sold, slaves had to live with the constant threat that they could be. African American women had to endure the threat and the practice of sexual exploitation. In exchange for certification of his election, he acknowledged Democratic control of the entire South. A century later, the legacy of Reconstruction would be revived during the civil rights movement of the s, as African Americans fought for the political, economic and social equality that had long been denied them.

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But if you see something that doesn't look right, contact us! Subscribe for fascinating stories connecting the past to the present. One of the most important aspects of Reconstruction was the active participation of African Americans including thousands of former slaves in the political, economic and social life of the South. The era was to a great extent defined by their quest for autonomy and equal On this day in , President Abraham Lincoln offers his conciliatory plan for reunification of theUnited Stateswith his Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction.

By this point in the Civil War, it was clear that Lincoln needed to make some preliminary plans for postwar During and immediately after the Civil War, many northerners headed to the southern states, driven by hopes of economic gain, a desire to work on behalf of the newly emancipated slaves or a combination of both. The election of Abraham Lincoln in caused seven southern states to secede and form the Confederate The Confederate States of America was a collection of 11 states that seceded from the United States in following the election of President Abraham Lincoln.

Led by Jefferson Davis and existing from to , the Confederacy struggled for legitimacy and was never William Seward was a politician who served as governor of New York, as a U. Seward spent his early career as a lawyer before winning a seat in the New York State Senate in

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