Week 11 Lecture 1: The Institution of Slavery

Introduction

• Recent focus on the romantic and transcendentalist movement.
• Upcoming weeks:
  • This week: Slavery as an institution.
  • Next week: Crisis of the union and conflicts over slavery.

Abolitionist Literature

• Abolitionist Pamphlets: Spread factual, persuasive accounts of slavery.
• Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe:
  • Inspired by abolitionist pamphlets.
  • Published in 1852, sold 300,000 copies in the first year.
  • Depicts brutality of slavery.
  • Harriet Beecher Stowe supported the Underground Railroad.

Brutality of Slavery

• Accounts of forced breeding among slaves.
• Details of slave auctions and family separations.

Financial Debate on Slavery

• Recent debates on the profitability of slavery.
• Thomas Jefferson's debt: Misinterpreted as due to slavery.
• Slavery's profitability:
  • 10% annual return per slave.
  • Enslaved women averaged a child every two years.

Plantations vs. Farms

• Distinctions between plantations and farms:
  • Plantation: Owned 20+ slaves.
  • Farm: Owned fewer than 20 slaves.
• Plantation owners set the social and political tone.
• Statistics on slave ownership:
  • 75% of white families owned no slaves.
  • Only a few thousand planters owned significant numbers of slaves.

Demographics and Power Dynamics

• Slave demographics:
  • High mortality rate among infants.
  • Low life expectancy.
• Power held by older white masters over young slaves.

Societal Impacts

• Economic motivation for non-slave-owning whites to support slavery:
  • Avoid competition from freed slaves.
  • Maintain social hierarchy.

Free Blacks in America

• Existence of free Blacks with uncertain legal status.
• Free Blacks sometimes owned slaves for humanitarian purposes.
• Risks involved in free Blacks owning slaves.
  • Legal complications could result in loved ones being re-enslaved upon the owner’s death.

Conclusion

• Break for now with an upcoming continuation of this topic in the next lecture.

Students are encouraged to clarify notes and prepare for the next video lecture.