Slavery in Antebellum Georgia

Colonial and Revolutionary Era

• Georgia Trustees initially banned slavery in the 1730s to avoid a plantation economy.
• By the American Revolution (1775-83), slavery was legal, with enslaved Africans constituting nearly half of Georgia's population.
• Georgia delegates, during the drafting of the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution, ensured protections for slavery.

Cotton and the Growth of Slavery

• Eighteenth-century economy dominated by rice; cotton became significant post-Revolution.
• Eli Whitney's invention of the cotton gin in 1793 revolutionized cotton processing.
• Expansion of cotton plantations led to a dramatic increase in the enslaved population.
• Despite the ban on importing Africans in 1808, the enslaved population continued to grow through natural increase and movement from other states.
• By 1860, enslaved people made up 44% of Georgia's population.

Slaveholders in Georgia

• Less than one-third of Georgia's white males owned slaves; only a fraction owned more than 20.
• Slaveholders, though a minority, held significant economic and political power.
• Political system dominated by slaveholders, who often swayed nonslaveholding whites.

Legal Framework and Punishment

• Legal system denied rights to African Americans and reinforced slavery.
• Stringent laws against abolitionist materials and education for the enslaved.
• Punishments were often severe, including physical abuse and family separation.

Cultural and Religious Justifications

• Slavery rationalized as beneficial and morally justified by white Georgians.
• Religion used to propagate the belief in slavery as a morally upright institution.

Life for the Enslaved

• Enslaved people experienced varied conditions depending on location and owners.
• Many lived in communities that helped mitigate the hardships of enslavement.
• Family, religion, and small economic activities provided some autonomy.
• Resistance included escapes, destruction of property, and inefficient work.

Secession, Civil War, and Emancipation

• Fear of abolitionists led to Georgia's secession in 1861.
• Ironically, secession and the Civil War led to the end of slavery.
• Sherman's March to the Sea in 1864 marked the collapse of the plantation system.
• Post-war, former slaveholders lamented their losses, while freedpeople celebrated emancipation.