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In the 19th century, whites went over to Africa and brought slaves back to America, mainly to the south. The slaves dominated
the south, working on plantation fields, farms, etc. Basically, many were used in Agricultural production. There were also
small slaveholders who only owned 25 slaves or less. Then there were people who didn't own any slaves at all.
The upper tier wasn't as successful as the lower tier because the crops depleted the soil. The lower tier made it possible
to raise crops more naturally. They also had underground railroads that helped blacks escape to the North( who didn't believe
in Slavery).
Important Facts-
~Old South- the term refers to the slave holding states between 1830 and 1860. Slave labor and cotton production dominated
the economies of the Southern States. This period is also known as the "antebellum" era.
~African Methodist Episcopal(AME) Church- Richard Allen founded the African Methodist Episcopal Church in 1816, as the
first black independent black-run Protestant church in U.S.
~Vesey Plan- a plot to burn Charleston, South Carolina, and thereby initiate a general slave revolt, led by a free African-American,
Denmark Vesey in 1822.
~Underground Railroad- a network of safe houses organized by abolitionists(usually free blacks) to aid slaves in their
attempts to escape to Canada.
~Yeomen- southern small landholders who owned no slaves and who lived primarily in the foothills of the Appalachian and
Ozark mountains.
~Cotton Gin- invented by Eli Whitney in 1793, was used for separating the seeds from the fibers of short-staple cotton.
It enabled a slave to clean 50x more cotton as by hand, which reduced production cost and gave new life to slavery in the
South.
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