Slavery: The Slave South

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The Slave South In the early to mid 1800s, Slavery was a controversial practice. Dubbed the “Peculiar Institution”, slavery exploded from 1820 to 1860, with the number of slaves growing from 1.5 million to almost 4 million. While many Americans were staunchly opposed to the institution of slavery, many like South Carolina planter, politician, and slaveholder James Henry Hammond took stances that defended the practice of slavery. While Hammond may have been correct on some points, the institution of slavery as a whole was a disgraceful and deplorable practice, and his statement was not an accurate representation of slaveholders and slavery in general. In an 1873 interview with Madison Hemings, the enslaved son of former United States president …show more content…
She describes slaves not receiving proper medical attention, being forced to work when they are not physically able, and the many children lost by the mothers working in the fields every day. “Among others, a poor woman named Mie, who could hardly stand for pain and swelling in her limbs; she had fifteen children and two miscarriages, nine of her children had died; for the last three years she had become almost a cripple with chronic rheumatism, yet she is driven every day to work in the field... Another of my visitors had a still more dismal story to tell; her name was Die; she had sixteen children, fourteen of whom were dead; she had had four miscarriages, one had been caused by falling down with a very heavy burthen on her head, and one from having her arms tied up; she said her hands were first tied together, sometimes by the wrists, and sometimes, which was worse, by the thumbs, and they were then drawn up to a tree or post, so as almost to swing them off the ground, and then their clothes rolled round their waist, and a man with a cowhide stands and stripes them. I give you the woman’s words; she did not speak of this as anything strange, unusual, or especially horrid and abominable; and when I said ‘Did they do that to you when you were with child?’ she simply said ‘Yes, missis.’ ” This shows not only the horrid
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