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Understanding Slavery in Antebellum Georgia

Mar 25, 2025

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.

Image: Carrying Cotton to the Gin

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.

Image: Punishment

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.

Image: Slave Cabins

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.

Image: Emancipation