CHAPTER XXVIII

UNDER THE OLD REGIME-KIND TREATMENT OF SLAVES A RULE TO WHICH THERE WERE FEW EXCEPTIONS-BISHOP JAMES O. ANDREW STANDS AS THE REPRESENTATIVE OF A LARGE CLASS OF SLAVE-HOLDERS-BEFORE THE ABOLITION CRUSADE BEGAN, HOWEVER, THE BULK OF OUR PEOPLE CONSIDERED SLAVERY AN EVIL-HOW TO ERADICATE IT A PROBLEM-EFFECT OF SLAVERY IN UPLIFTING AFRICAN SAVAGES— HISTORY CONTAINS NO PARALLEL TO THIS RECORD THE CONTROLLING FACTOR AND THE CHARACTERISTIC FEATURE OF SOUTHERN LIFE IN ANTE-BELLUM DAYS IS THE PLANTATION-PLANTERS VERSUS SMALL FARMERS-SOME OF THE PLANTATIONS MAGNIFICENT IN ExTENT FORMED LITTLE EMPIRES THE PLANTER DOMINATES BOTH SOCIAL AND POLITICAL LIFE AT THE SOUTH-OPULENT STYLE OF LIVING MAINTAINED BY THE WEALTHY PLANTERS-NOT A FEW FINE OLD MANSIONS REMINISCENT OF THIS PERIOD STILL TO BE FOUND-LIFE ON A TYPICAL GEORGIA PLANTATION-THE NEGRO QUARTERS-THE OLD BLACK MAMMY-TENDER RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MASTER AND SLAVE DELIGHTFUL GLIMPSES OF SOUTHERN LIFE FURNISHED BY LAWTON B. EVANS-ECONOMIC ASPECTS OF SLAVERY DISCUSSED-ON THE WHOLE AN EXPENSIVE SYSTEM-BEAUTIFUL PHASES OF AN INSTITUTION WHICH WAS DESTINED TO REND A CONTINENT IN TWAIN— UNCLE TOM'S CABIN.

NOTE: WHO INVENTED THE SEWING MACHINE?

Bishop James O. Andrew, in refusing to manumit his slaves, at the dictate of a majority faction in the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Baltimore, in 1844, was not governed by sinister or sordid motives. He represented a large class of humane and thoughtful slave-holders at the South. These, while considering slavery an evil, saw no way in which to abandon the system without complicating an already difficult problem. Free negroes had always been an element of discord and a menace to society; and to liberate all at once the entire body of negro slaves was not only to entail upon the South a train of disasters but incidentally to work a grievous hardship upon the negroes themselves. This reasoning was well grounded in the philosophy of Shakespeare, which constrains us rather to "endure the ills we have than fly to others that we know not of." As we have already seen, it was by a second marriage to a lady of wealth that Bishop Andrew became the owner of property in slaves; and because of his refusal, in a most emphatic manner, to relinquish this property, he was asked to resign his office as bishop. He did so; but when he left the conference he carried with him the whole of Southern Methodism.

*

In answering the charges brought against him by his Northern brethren, Bishop Andrew made this statement. Said he: "Strange as it may seem to you, brethren, I am a slave-holder for conscience's sake. I have no doubt that my wife would without a moment's hesitation consent to the manumission of those slaves, if I thought proper to ask her to do so. But how am I to free them? Some are too old to work, are actually an expense to me, and some are little children. Where shall I send them? But perhaps I shall be permitted to keep these helpless ones. I believe the providence of God has placed these creatures in my hand."

Before the abolition crusade began, the bulk of our people considered slavery an evil; but how to eradicate this evil was a problem. It is needless to inquire by whom African slaves were first brought to America or from what ports the vessels sailed in which these unhappy savages were transported. Suffice it to say that for economic reasons, into which the cotton gin, a balmy climate, and a rich soil largely entered, the institution of slavery became riveted upon the South; that, in the last analysis, it wrought far greater injury to the South than it did to the negro race; that, while it retarded the growth of manufactures in this section, committing the South almost exclusively to agriculture, under a most pernicious one-crop system, it was in many respects a blessing and a boon to the negro himself.

Arguments to support this statement are numerous. The negro was brought to us a savage. When freed in 1863 by President Lincoln's edict of emancipation he was deemed sufficiently well advanced to be given the ballot at once. Without further tutelage, he was clothed with rights to secure which Anglo-Saxons had struggled for a thousand years. God's chosen people-redeemed from slavery to the Egyptians—were given no such privilege, though as slaves in Egypt they had come in contact with the greatest civilization of antiquity. Forty years of wandering in the wilderness was the road by which they entered Palestine. But what the culture of Egypt could not do for the Israelites, the training of the South did for the negro. It so tutored him that when his fetters were removed no special preparation, no peculiar discipline, no further probation was required. The negro was brought to us a pagan. Through slavery, he became a follower of the Nazarene, nor was he impressed like Simon into bearing the cross. He became a willing, an humble disciple, though like Peter he often stumbled. The negro came to us with hands unskilled. But in servitude he acquired a knowledge of mechanics, formed habits of industry and became, if not a mastercraftsman, at least a useful laborer. History contains no parallel to this record. Since time began no people on earth has ever emerged in so short a time and at so light a cost from a state of barbarism into a heritage of fortune, finding themselves all at once by a sudden change of circumstances possessed of all the civilization for which men have labored and all the freedom for which martyrs have died.

But the controlling factor and the characteristic feature of Southern life, under the old regime of slavery, was the plantation. To be included

"Life of Bishop Andrew," George G. Smith.

in the planter class, it was necessary for one to own at least twenty slaves. Those who owned less belonged to a class known as small farmers; but there were, of course, many families living in town whose ownership of slave property was limited to only one negro. As a rule, slaves could not be operated with any degree of success, in small numbers. This is one reason why the institution did not thrive in New England, where the farms were small and usually sterile. Another reason is that the rigorous climate of the far Northern latitudes was too severe for a race of people transplanted from the burning tropics. Only in large numbers and on wide tracts of land, where there was much labor required, of a simple character, could slaves be utilized with profit. Consequently, we are not surprised to find that a great bulk of the slaves were owned by a comparatively few men.* These gradually enlarged their domains by acquiring new lands from the small farmer; and at the same time they increased their holdings in slave property until the negro quarters around them became in time populous villages.

Most of the wealthy people of Georgia before the war owned plantations on which they lived in a semi-regal style; and some of these plantations were in fact little empires, large enough to require the services of a dozen overseers and to possess both foreign and domestic policies. Usually, the rich planter, in addition to his palatial country home, owned an elegant mansion in town, where he resided during a part of each year, to educate his children or to give his family social diversions. The predominant style of architecture found among the homes of these wealthy land-owners was classic. Both the town house and the country house conformed to this pattern, but usually the town house was the more artistic. These mansions were nearly all white, square, and massive, surrounded by majestic colonnades, approached by handsome walks and driveways, bordered with evergreens, and embowered in a grove of magnificent trees. The control of great bodies of men on vast landed estates developed a sense of responsibility and fostered a genius for leadership; and to this superb discipline furnished by the institution of slavery is due in large measure the South's commanding power in the nation for a period of more than sixty years.

To quote a well known writer who has made an exhaustive study of this subject, especially in its sociological aspects: "Slavery was distinctly a patriarchal institution. Except in the sea-coast swamps and a few other malarial regions, the master lived throughout the year in the "big house" on his plantation, with the negro cabins grouped in

* SLAVEHOLDING AND NON-SLAVEHOLDING FAMILIES.-The total white population of Georgia in 1860 was 591,550, or about 118,000 families; and of these families, 41,084 were slaveholders. At least 77,000 families, therefore, were in the nonslaveholding class. But all the slaveholders were not farmers: 6,713 families possessed only one slave each; 4,355, two each; 3,482, three each. These owners of a few slaves were usually residents of towns and kept their slaves as household servants. About twenty slaves was the number that could be most profitably managed by one overseer; and we may take the possession of that number as the minimum which would place the farmer in the planter class. Of such slaveholders there were in Georgia 6,363 in 1860. The massing of the bulk of slaves in so few hands indicates the system of agriculture that dominated the state in ante-bellum times, namely, the plantation.-R. P. Brooks in "History of Georgia," p. 226.

"Georgia and State Rights," U. B. Phillips, p. 154.

"quarters" only a few yards away. The field hands were usually under their owner's personal supervision, while the house servants were directed by their mistress. The slaves were governed by harsh overseers only in very rare cases. Great numbers of slaveholders owned a very small number of slaves, and labored with them in the fields. The cabins of the negroes were frequently as good as those of the poor whites. The fact that they were not always clean was due to the habits of the occupants. It was of course to the interest of the master that his slaves should remain in the best possible condition. The Southern gentleman was widely known for his generosity and his inate kindness. The children of the two races were brought up as playmates, the mother of the pickaninnies frequently being the "mammy" of the master's children; and friendships enduring through life were contracted in early youth between the master and his hereditary servants. The law did not recognize family relations among slaves, but public opinion condemned the separation of husband and wife, or parent and child. Where such separation occurred through the division of estates or otherwise it was not unusual for one of the owners to buy the members of the family which he did not already possess. Free persons of color were not generally held in high repute by the people of the South. In Georgia they usually numbered somewhat less than 1 per cent of the colored population. As a class, they were considered lazy, trifling, and thievish, and were suspected of corrupting the slaves. There were a few brilliant exceptions in the state, but by no means enough to affect the general sentiment.*

Delightful glimpses of southern life in ante-bellum days have been given us by Mr. Lawton B. Evans, in his splendid epitome of Georgia history; and we cannot do better than reproduce in this chapter a descriptive paragraph from the pen of this writer. Says Mr. Evans: † "Eighty years ago there were no large cities in Georgia. Most of the people lived on farms, or in small towns. The wealthier people lived. on large plantations. Their houses, usually white, were spacious and elegant, with green window blinds, and, in the front, wide porticoes with handsome columns. They were generally surrounded by groves of oak and other trees and were so situated as to overlook the plantations. Not only in Georgia, but all over the South, the homes of the planters were abodes of culture and luxury. Their sons and daughters were educated in the best schools of the country, and music, painting, art, and literature made the home life refined. The men wore ruffled shirts of the finest linen, and coats of rich velvet. Their wives and daughters dressed in imported silks and satins. The family of the planter lived in profusion and comfort. They were attended by a number of servants, and driven to church or to town in the family carriage. Their hospitality was unbounded. Several neighboring families would often gather at one house and spend a week or more in a social party; and hospitality was shown not only to friends, but to strangers. No traveler in distress was ever refused a meal or a night's lodging, and the respectable traveler, poor or rich, was always welcome as a guest as long as he pleased to stay.

* Austin Denny, in Gilmer's "Georgians," p. 22; Wilkes Flagg, in "Federal Union, June 11 and July 23, 1861.

"History of Georgia," L. B. Evans, pp. 187-196.

"But all the people of Georgia were not rich planters. A great many of our best men were plain people. Their houses were simple buildings, situated generally near the high roads or on the banks of rivers. These people did all their own work. Their clothes were made of cloth manufactured by themselves. The women carded the cotton or wool with hand-carders, into small rolls. These rolls they spun on spinning wheels into thread, which they dyed whatever colors they desired, and they wove the thread into cloth on home-made looms." We have already discussed in a former chapter, some of the customs, sports and pastimes of ante-bellum days.

But what of slavery as an economic system? This topic has been ably discussed by one who has made it a philosophic study, with unusual opportunities for exhaustive research. Says Mr. R. P. Brooks: * "It was a one crop system. There were some wise planters who produced nearly everything they used, but a majority did not; and all during the ante-bellum period Georgia was a heavy buyer of western corn, wheat, and forage. Another unfortunate result of the dominance of King Cotton was that the increased demand for slaves sent prices soaring. The African slave trade was abolished in 1808, so that the planters had to depend upon natural increase for slaves. Competition for laborers became very keen. In 1800 a prime field hand was worth $300. By 1860 the price had advanced to $1,800. At the same time the constant tendency was for the price of cotton to fall. In 1800 it brought 24c; in 1830, 17c; in 1850, 12.3c; in 1860 11c. Hence the planter who would keep up his accustomed standard of life had to be always increasing his acreage and his force of hands in order to obtain the same income. The result was that every available dollar went into cotton lands and negroes, and little was left for investment in manufacturing and other industries. It is not to be inferred that there were no manufacturing enterprises in the South. But in comparison with the industries of the northern states these establishments were insignificant in size and number. The South did not take a leading part in the great economic revolution which, during the first half of the nineteenth century, transformed England, France, Germany, and the Northern United States from agricultural to manufacturing communities.

"Of the slavery system in general, it may be said that slave labor cost the South more than free labor would have cost, had it been available. A noted. traveler, Sir Charles Lyell, was interested in Louisiana to find that it took three negroes to cut and bind two cords of wood in a day, whereas in New York one white man prepared three cords daily. He was also told that where negro and white laborers were worked together the negro was required to do only two-thirds as much work as a white laborer. Another reason why slave labor was so expensive was that the negro was stubbornly opposed to new ideas. It was found impossible to introduce improved methods of tillage. At a time when Northern and Western farmers were using the drill, the horse-shoe, the reaper, and was threshing by machinery, the bulk of work on Southern plantations was done with an ordinary hoe. Planters tried to use labor saving machinery, but the negroes invariably broke the tools or were

"History of Georgia," R. P. Brooks, pp. 227-234.