Summary Of Slave Country By Adam Rothman

Title: Slave County
Author: Adam Rothman
Publisher: Harvard University Press

With ‘Slave Country’, Adam Rothman explains how the drive for settlers to take the risk of going to the South was all centered around the expansion of territory for plantations with slave workers. With more land that was being used to expand the sugar cane and cotton plantations, settlers were willing to sell their homes in the North and move to the Deep South with their slaves and begin their journey in becoming entrepreneurs. The talk of the great amounts of land and growing demand of cotton making it a smart investment made the risk of starting new in the Deep South sound great and promising. With these promises, the Deep South was the place to be and it grew tremendously in numbers of slaves and settlers.
The biggest concepts that Adam Rothman covers and explains in ‘Slave Country’ are the cotton and sugar plantation industry and how the expansion of it attracted many settlers, the importation and expansion of slaves, and slave rebellion.
Cotton and sugar plantations began to rise in the Deep South as the best markets.
With new inventions such as the cotton gin by Eli Whitney and slaves being able to face the conditions of the south, cotton was the best market to get into. Sugar was also experiencing a boom with it being transported along the Mississippi River and it promising to reverse the decline of the indigo industry. Because these markets were such a big success, more land was in high demand. Native American lands were invaded and the Native Americans were pushed to relocate West again and again. The governments were planning on selling the land to high-status white property owning men and were able to do so. However, at times settlers would just move onto the land without paying as it was a hot
commodity.
Those that owned these plantations were white and in the Deep South, it was said that conditions were too unbearable for white people to work in it. Slaves had to be purchased to work in these plantations. Slaves were imported from Africa, Caribbean’s, and other locations as well as brought down from the North and upper South. The exact location of where the slaves came from did not matter, however slave owners preferred those from outside of the states because they would be better at taking orders and would not cause trouble. They did face the foreign diseases in the states that caused a lot of deaths and sickness. Some slave-owners began to realize they had to provide decent conditions and treat the slaves better in order for them to be willing and able to work hard all day in the plantations. At one point, the slave importation was starting to get really out of hand and so there was a ban on importation. However, that did not stop importation of slaves. As more and more slaves were imported – even when the law of no more importing came into play – the number of colored people in the south increased tremendously which caused the white population to live in constant fear of slave rebellion. Once the War of 1812 began and slaves and colored free men were able to fight in the war, the fear only grew for the white population. Colored men were now knowledgeable of using weapons and knew how to fight a war so what would stop them from turning on their slave-owners and white neighbors?
Before I began to read this book, I looked the book up and the reviews for it were astonishing. All of them mentioned how Adam Rothman includes aspects of history that most other publications ignore. After reading this book, I definitely recommend it to anyone that is interested in learning more about slavery and the early years of the development of the South. It is not a long read, but every page is flooding with information that you cannot comprehend it all quickly. Taking some time to slowly read and soak in all the information is highly recommended. This book takes an outside perspective on the growth of the South and slavery as a whole which is very interesting. Before reading this book, I did not know about how big the cotton industry was in the South and how demanding the want for slaves was. I also did not know about how slaves would escape to the British and that the British were so understanding with them. I learned plenty of new things by reading this book and I recommend it to anyone that would like to learn more about slavery and the building of the Deep South – definitely a great read for a history major.
Even though the amount of information was overwhelming at some points, I really enjoyed this book. I like history and it is intriguing and I understand that at times it could get very complicated and dense. Adam Rothman did a fantastic job with this book because even though it is overflowing with information, I was able to enjoy it and want to continue reading and learning more. The way the book is split into chapters is very organized and helps the reader process the facts better. The fact that Rothman has information in this book that other publications avoid adding is another reason I enjoyed it very much. Rothman wrote in this information in the book with such maturity and balance that it is easy to take in, understand, and want to read more.
The sources for this book were very valid, reliable, and supportive. Most of the sources were letters that were found and quotes would be taken out of them. These primary sources supported the information that was given and strengthened the validity of the book. Adam Rothman did a wonderful job with supporting all of his statements, presenting the facts, and explaining all the big aspects of the expansion of the South.
Adam Rothman’s “Slave Country” is a very well-written book that includes plenty of information about slavery, slave-owners, plantations, and how the South was built around all of that. I would recommend this book to anyone that is interested in history because of its credibility and validity.