12. the peculiar institution

week 12 - learning objectives

1. Explain how slavery shaped social and economic relations in the Old South.

2. Identify the legal and material constraints on slaves’ lives and work.

3. Explain how family, gender, religion, and values combined to create distinct slave cultures in the Old South.

4. Describe the major forms of resistance to slavery.

week 12 - questions for consideration

• How did the North and South differ from each other? How was slavery the fundamental reason for these differences? How did each region benefit from the other?

• What can the story of Celia tell us about attitudes held by white southerners toward property? Compare that attitude with the idea and practice of paternalism.

• What roles did families and religion play in the lives of slaves? What were some ways slaves were able to maintain their families, even with the constant threat of being separated for life? How were slave families able to maintain traditional gender roles?

• Although slave culture grew from a need to survive in the face of bondage, it continued after emancipation. Explain why this was.

• Think back to previous discussions about the Declaration of Independence and the writing of the Constitution. Compare the meaning the founding fathers gave to “freedom” with the meaning proslavery advocates of the Old South gave to the word. What changed?

• Slaves did not just capitulate to their situation. What were some ways slaves resisted? How did they demonstrate a sense of semi-independence or self-worth? Why did masters allow some of this behavior?

• Why was it so important for the slaveowning southerners to persuade non-slaveowners that the institution of slavery benefited them as well?

• White society reacted strongly to Nat Turner’s Rebellion. What were their reactions, and what can those reactions tell us about the stability of the peculiar institution in the South?

• Explain and differentiate between Calhoun and Douglas.