What About the Slaves?

1. Were the Slaves "American"?
   1. No--Slaves as Alienated From "White" America
      
   2. Yes--Slaves as the Truest Americans
2. The Nature of Slavery
   1. Slave Status--"Chattels Personal"
      1. Unrestricted Property Rights for the Slaveholder
      2. Complete Denial of Legal Rights to the Slave
   2. Slave Life
      1. Varied, but Primarily . . .
      2. Plantation Life--Cogs in a "Factory in the Field"
         1. Regimented Labor
         2. Harsh Discipline
         3. Dependence on Master for Personal Needs
            1. Theory--Planters as Protectors
            2. Reality--Planters as Cost Minimizers
         4. Hopelessness
            1. Vulnerability of Family Life
            2. Impossibility of Self-Improvement
   3. The Limits of Resistance--No "Right to Revolution"
      1. Runaways
      2. Organized Revolt--Nat Turner (1831)
3. A Means of Protection, and Empowerment--Slave Culture
   1. Slave Culture as African
      1. Origins--The African-American "Melting Pot"
      2. White Response
         1. Toleration
         2. Interaction--Blacks and Whites Create Southern Culture
   2. Slave Culture as Creative Mix of African and European--Two Cases
      1. Revolutionary Values
      2. Religion--Christianity
         1. Initial Resistance to Christianity
         2. The Turning Point--Evangelicals and Slaves
         3. The Slaves Make Christianity Their Own
            1. Conversion as "Spiritual Possession"
            2. Slaves as the "True Christians"--"Spirit-Filled" Worship
            3. White American Under God's Judgment--The African-American Prophetic Tradition