Friday's Notes: 5th Period

IMPACT OF SLAVERY & COTTON
-They are trying to justify slavery
-Cotton is a good cash crop in the south
Some people devote their entire farms to cotton
Souther plantations are some of the most internationally commercialized
They have a big labor supply problem solved by slavery

-After 1820 they go back to the gang system. Slavery changes & becomes more humane with planters paying close attention to discipline but at the same time somehow paternalistic
-The economy changes with cotton:
Planters with bigger farms have more slaves and are tremendously profitable and more efficient. This leads to a dual or 2-stage economy. 1. Large, very profitable plantations 2. Small farms
-Small farms: land is not as good. They're having to go to the higher ground (up-country). Society is isolated & they use the old neighbor system (bartering).
YEOMAN: a small farm holder. They are living like northern farmers did prior to the revolution. Many souther farmers staying out of the market almost entirely. Most small farmers in the south own their land, but don't own their slaves. Instead, they have big familys where the children do the job.
Only a very few of the largest planters in the south (2-3%) own half of all slaves.
-This split in the souht creates a split in souther society.
Northern factory owners aren't sending goods to the south. The North is in market economy, but the South hasn't gotten in it as much. Fancy clothing in the north. Planters buy most of their stuff from Europe. This causes a weakness for the south.
-The Market Revolution lead to commercialized agriculture in the north and new technological changes. The South just produces more slave labor for the cotton growers.
YANKEE MIDDLE CLASS: northern middle class are christian protestants, merchants, and manufacturers. Most of these people were from New England and fairly commercialized by the 1830's they get away from the neighborly tradition. They have a "mother-centered" life and reform to a yankee protestantism. On Sundays they go to church and reafirm their original puritan beliefs. However, while they go to church on Sunday, in their daily lives they ignore that because of their hard-work. It's changing ethic. The organizing principle according to Charles Finney is different from original Puritan beliefs: "God had made man a moral freagant and neither the social order or the troubles of the world or spiritual state of individuals... were ordained. Finney believed people would make the world better by chosing right over wrong. Their experiences in shifting into the market economy is reflectin into their religion.
-ROLES OF MEN & WOMEN: The public world outside the home is home to the men. Inside the home it was the women. Now the mother is replacing fathers as principle child rearers. The mother enforces discipline.
-Separate Spheres" change in roles. Early 1800's men's responsiblities ouside the home and women inside the home. Women maintain the home and raise good children. Men have to get good jobs and make neough money to support the family.
-Improvements in Printing
This leads to more publishing companies and the wealthy Northerners had more books than the South because the South only had the Bible.
Sentimental Novels are published: The Scarlett Letter and Uncle Tom's Cabin
Fine Arts/Painting:
Americans who had money were buying European works but now in the 1800's they form their own style of American Art.
A school of art called the Hudson River School of Art made landscapes.
1820's Travel:
Wealthy Americans begin to travel to look at the scenery.
They have b etter transportation, more time, and more money so they can travel.
They enjoy visiting Niagra Falls.

Study your notes for the Timed write on Monday!