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The Old South was the central place for slavery development in the US. By 1830, slavery was mostly located in this region, and it was expressed in different forms. Enslaved black people were working hard in various industries, in the fields, and in homes, in towns and cities, on large plantations and small farms. Slaves were perceived as property, and they lived in terrible conditions. Nonetheless, the image of the South where all white people had slaves is wrong. Only the elite were able to to afford slaves, while most of the population had either several slaves or no slaves at all. Still, slavery was promoted by all parts of the society due to the economic benefits it brought. The South had one of the wealthiest economies at that time due to cotton growing that was based on using slave labor. Therefore, with time, slaves became the good investment in the economy in the South. The economic development determined the social situation and slaves were the part of it. Nonetheless, the harsh treatment of the black people provoked their resistance. The most famous cases were rebellions of Denmark Vesey and Nat Turner. Even though they were not successful, they aroused fear and panic among white masters, which led to the harsh repressions toward black people and increased the tension between the South and the North. All these events were partly the reasons that led to the Civil War between two parts of the state. Therefore, slavery in the Old South was the critical part of the US history that caused a conflict between two opposite powers in the US and provoked the change of priorities and interests, putting emphasis on freedom, justice, and equality.

Importance of Slavery to the Economy of Old South

The Old South economy was based on slavery. In the antebellum South, the agricultural life was predominating in the society with cotton being the critical source of income in the South. Tobacco, rice, sugar, and corn were also grown, but the cotton had the priority and more labor force was concentrated on cotton fields. The South was the largest cotton producer in the world, and from 1815 to 1860, it represented over half of the US exports (Genovese, 1989). Hence, the Southern economy was mostly based on agriculture with little diversification being seen in the industry and on slavery with more than 75% of slaves being used in farming (Genovese, 1989). Such slaves became highly profitable, and the revenue earned in the slave trade also rose. In twenty years preceding the Civil War, the economy of the South grew faster in comparison to the North. The personal income in the 1860s was fifteen percent higher in the South than in the Northwest (Genovese, 1989). If the South was an independent nation, then in 1860 it would have been considered as one of the richest states in the world.

The main reason for a fast economic growth was the cotton gin that was developed by Eli Whitney in 1793, due to which, machine planters got an ability to grow various types of cotton. With this invention, people moved westward to grow cotton in fertile and fresh lands (Genovese, 1989). Nonetheless, with time, the constant land use for growing cotton provoked the exhaustion of the land. The South ignored industrialization and completely focused on cotton growing (Genovese, 1989). The internal slave trade from Virginia to the Old Southwest became the industry with a great financial income. The external slave trade was officially ended by the Congress act in 1808. However, despite the formal end of the slave trade, the slave smuggling was common practice.

Therefore, the slave distribution represented the nature of Southern economy and society with the region being agricultural and rural and demonstrating the low level of urbanization and industrialization in comparison to the North. Slavery was highly profitable and the cost of feeding, clothing, and housing slaves was significantly less for planters in comparison to the value they produced (Genovese, 1989). Profitability kept rising in the first half of the 19th century, while the cost of keeping slaves was the same. In this way, slaves became the prospective investment. The cotton production expanded, and the need for slaves rose, just as their price (Genovese, 1989). The enterprising slave owners usually bought and sold slaves for the additional income. Hence, slavery had a significant impact on the economic development of the Old South.

Society in the Old South

Slavery was not only the economic system but also the social system. At its top was the planter aristocracy. In general, planters were the critical part of the society. The image of the South as of the place where the entire white population owned slaves was not correct. For instance, lifestyle, social position and wealth distinguished a planter from a farmer who usually owned only several slaves and worked with them in the fields. Nonetheless, the main goals of many small slaveholding farmers were to buy more slaves and land in order to become the planters. At the same time, the wives of southern planters also played a critical role in the household since they had many people to control. They guided the work of domestic slaves, looked after the slave quarters upkeep, served as the seamstresses and nurses and were keeping the household accounts. At the same time, southern women were expected to be the appropriate role models, while men were free from such obligation (Smith, 1998). It was a common situation when men raped black slaves and the household consisted of many mulattoes.

Another important group in the Southern society was the yeoman farmers. They grew sweet potatoes, corn and raised livestock for own consumption and tried to produce at least some tobacco or cotton supply. The yeoman farmers were the South backbone (Smith, 1998). In general, most of white people in the South did not own slaves, and they were scattered throughout the South and tended to be in the country rather than cities. The group that had lower social position than yeoman farmers was the poor white people of the South that comprised around ten percent of the population (Smith, 1998). Such people lived on the poorest lands and due to bad living conditions and the lack of appropriate diet, they often had such disorders as malaria and hookworm.

The life of slaves was challenging. Their diet consisted of pork and cornmeal and was very monotonous. Sometimes, the diet was improved by some masters or slaves were allowed to grow their own small garden. Slaves had to work for fourteen hours per day in summer and ten hours per day in winter (Stone, 2006). The suffocating heat, poor diet and humidity negatively influenced the stamina of many slaves to do such hard work. Usually, black people were organized in the groups to work on the task system. Such groups included from twenty to twenty-five workers doing their task under the control of the overseer with the whip (Stone, 2006). Household slaves had easier tasks, but they also experienced difficult times. They were under strict control and were closely watched. Another difficulty for slaves was the health issues that were often serious. The poor diet provoked many disorders. Moreover, there were problems with epidemic disorders. Whipping was the most frequent form of punishment, and it only worsened the poor physical condition of the slaves. The other punishment forms were castration, burning, branding, salting lash wounds, muzzling, chains, isolation and confinement in jails and stocks during the leisure hours.

Most slaves married other slaves from their plantation or sometimes those from other plantations. Southern courts did not legally admit such marriages, and it was not uncommon for masters to split the family and sell spouses separately. Moreover, many black women experienced the problem of sexual abuse (Stone, 2006). They were encouraged to bear the children regardless of whether they were married or not because it would increase the master’s wealth. Nonetheless, in spite of harsh conditions, slaves maintained strong family connections, even in case of separation. In such difficult circumstances, the religion became one of the most powerful motivations in the lives of slaves (Stone, 2006). While they had nothing to hope for, they believed in the afterlife without sufferings. The largest faiths of black people were Baptist and African Methodist Episcopal. It was common practice to forbid the religious gatherings except when white observers were present (Stone, 2006). Besides faith, slaves could find consolidation in music, which played a critical role in their culture. The lyrics of the songs expressed their burden, and difficult life due to the punishments and separation from families, as well as their hopes to be free from slavery.

The political influence, social prestige, and economic mobility were identified by the slave ownership. Hence, white people supported slavery even if they did not have slaves. What is more, slavery was supported due to the feeling of the superiority over slaves masters had. There were many arguments aimed at justifying slavery in the South (Finkelman, 2003). Thus, there were sociological, scientific, constitutional, historical and biblical positions that tried to promote and maintain slavery in the society. In terms of the Bible, proponents of slavery referred to the New and Old Testaments, according to which slaves had to obey their masters (Finkelman, 2003). From the historical perspective, slavery had the historical basis. All great civilizations were developed due to the slave labor. Specifically, Egypt, Greece, and Rome used slaves. The main point is that with the presence of slave labor, the educated elite was free from manual labor and could be focused on government, law, arts and military glory. From the legal perspective, the US Constitution did not reject slavery and overseas slave importation was allowed until 1808. Furthermore, the Constitution had provisions demanding return of the runaway slaves (Finkelman, 2003). Moreover, black people were perceived as different beings or as grown children that had to be governed and directed. After 1830, several factors caused the South to encourage slavery even more. While earlier slavery was perceived as the necessary evil, with time, it was represented as the good for the society. White masters insisted that black slaves were happy and provided with everything they needed. Slavery encouragement was provoked by the growing abolitionist sentiment, increased concentration on cotton for export and the fact that the loss of slaves would provoke the huge financial losses (Finkelman, 2003). Another issue was that among southern society the racist views were predominating. The superiority over black people had deep roots in this region. White masters viewed black people as the property or pets, and all ideas regarding equality were not accepted. Therefore, the social structure was also based on the slavery perspective.

Slave Rebellions

During the slavery period, more than 250 slave revolts were organized in the US, and thousands more happened in the Caribbean and in South and Central America. The leaders of slave revolts were often represented as the nurses by white people. Nonetheless, among slaves, they were heroes who fought for the freedom and justice. Slaves tried to resist white masters and gain their freedom. Mostly, they tried to escape, but they were caught (Lofton & Hoffer, 2013). Another resistance act was rebellions. The most famous attempts of revolt were connected with Nat Turner and Denmark Vesey. Specifically, Denmark Vesey from South Caroline planned the revolt in the church basement, but he was betrayed by another slave who informed white people (Lofton & Hoffer, 2013). Another famous attempt to organize a revolt was made by Nat Turner from Virginia who tried to kill all white people in 1832. He and the band of fellow slaves killed the family of the master and around sixty other men, women, and children. It provoked serious repression of black people.

In 1822, the slave rebellion shocked Charleston, South Carolina. The wave of executions that followed that event was extremely brutal (Lofton & Hoffer, 2013). Denmark Vesey was one of the black slaves who lived in Charleston, but he managed to buy his own freedom after winning the East Bay Street Lottery. He reached relative personal freedom and continued to fight against slavery injustice and tried to acknowledge the unacceptability of such condition. He was bought by Joseph Vesey, the vessel captain, in 1781. At that time, he eventually came to be named Telemaque and gained preferential treatment from the captain (Lofton & Hoffer, 2013). Nonetheless, he was sold as the labor on the sugar plantation. He pretended to have epilepsy, and Joseph Vesey repurchased him. Telemaque was brought to Charleston and he got the chance to develop his own skills. Through the use of native intelligence, languages skills and literacy, he became a good helper to Joseph Vesey. He was called Denmark (Lofton & Hoffer, 2013). Denmark Vesey was lucky to win the lottery and purchase his own freedom. Nonetheless, he failed to buy the freedom of his wife and children. What is more, Vesey realized that he did not have actual freedom or equality.

Therefore, he decided to fight slavery and poor treatment of black people through different ways. He personally tried to set the example by refusing the interaction with white people in a subservient way. He decided to dress in good clothing. Moreover, Vesey was working with the African Methodist Episcopal Church (Lofton & Hoffer, 2013). When the local authorities started to behave aggressively, including the prevention of the Methodist Episcopal Church from the meeting, Vesey began to use the Bible study meeting organized at his house to plan the slave rebellion. Vesey wanted the group of rebels armed with spears to take the white residents by surprise and gain the control over the state arsenal (Lofton & Hoffer, 2013). The next phase presupposed engaging thousands of slaves to support him. Nonetheless, the Vesey’s plan was ruined when one of the slaves who participated in meeting disclosed the information about the future revolt to the owner, and in the end, the government discovered the plans of Vesey. The plan failed and the series of arrests began. After the trials that lasted for two weeks, thirty-five conspirators were executed and thirty-seven were deported from the US. The plan of Denmark Vesey and its aftermaths were quite challenging for the society (Lofton & Hoffer, 2013). The readiness of conspirators to kill their own masters made the relations between masters and slaves even more difficult.

One more attempt of slave rebellion was led by Nat Turner. It happened in Virginia. Turner was raised with the belief that he had to lead people to obtain freedom; besides, from his childhood, he had strong Christian beliefs, which played significant role in the rebellion (Turner & Gray, 1831). Turner waited for the sign from the God to begin the rebellion, and he believed that such sign was the solar eclipse in 1831. Slaves planned to start the revolt and kill their masters regardless of sex or age of the person. Seventy slaves participated in the rebellion. By the morning, 57 children, women and men were killed (Turner & Gray, 1831). The group was stopped by the band of armed white men. Thousands of soldiers killed any black person suspected of being involved in the uprising. Turner managed to escape, but he was captured shortly and hanged. This event played a critical role in aggravating relations between races. Moreover, this revolt led to tenser relations between South and North. While Turner did not succeed in organizing the widespread rebellion, he contributed to the increased sense of alert that existed in the white peoples' minds. This sense led to the encouraged persecution of free black people and slaves and led to the death of many of them.

Conclusion

Overall, the Old South became the center of the slavery development, and the economy of the region was based on it. This Old South gained significant profits from growing cotton; however, it demanded a great amount of labor. Hence, the slave trade was at the peak at that time, even after the official act forbidding the foreign slave trade was passed. Similarly, the society was formed from the slavery perspective. The South was rural and agricultural and its main social groups were planters, yeoman farmers, poor white people, and slaves. The life of black people was extremely difficult and involved a great amount of violence. White masters could be sadistic in their punishments, trying to destroy any sign of resistance or disagreement. Southern society did not accept any idea about the freedom or slavery abolishment. Moreover, due to the economic benefits, slavery was promoted and encouraged. There were many types of justification for slavery. Specifically, white masters referred to the Christianity, science, and history in order to represent slavery as not only an acceptable but even positive phenomenon. Nonetheless, the harsh treatment of slaves and the superior attitude toward them as property provoked the great resistance to white masters. One of the most famous events were rebellions of Denmark Vesey and Nat Turner. They were not successful and did not provoke the large-scale resistance, but they aroused fear among white masters. It led to the great repressions and the establishment of laws that were even more oppressive to slaves. However, these rebellions initiated other movements against slavery. These events were critical because indirectly, they caused a clash between such two opposite sides as South and North with different views on slavery and race. It was a part of the US history that in the end led to the development of freedom, justice, and equality. In case these two rebellions did not happen, the development of such critical principles might be undermined, and the US history might be different. Therefore, the position of Old South regarding slavery became a great part of the US history and the fight for equality and freedom.