The Meaning Of Power On The Sliver Bluff Plantation

In Drew Gilpin Faust journal, “Culture, Conflict, and Community: The Meaning of Power on an Ante-Bellum Plantation,” he explains how bondsman, on the Sliver Bluff Plantation, was able to preserve their autonomy and maintain a sense of communalism through enslavement that continued will after being emancipated . Faust argued that the delegation of power did not solely rest in the hands of the plantation’s owner, James Henry Hammond, but that enslaves determination to preserve their cultural independence and communalism provided them, to some degree, power and dominance over their oppressor. Faust also points out that Hammond constant attempt to coerce his subordinates in accepting his ways only further resulted in their rebellion, and inventible
Among many challenges Hammond experience during his time on the Sliver Bluff Plantation, one of the biggest and irrefutable was his attempt to dismantle the “systems” that were in place by the enslave upon his arrival. On the Sliver Bluff plantation, enslaves had grown custom to the autonomy and freedom their current situation provided to them, hence is why it was necessary for them to challenge the authority of Hammond. For example, in their quest to regain back their leisure time and to defy the system of gang work the enslaves at “Sliver Bluff performed badly in a calculated effort to restore the task system,” Faust quoted Hammond saying, “ Negroes dissatisfied to work in gang [and] doing badly (p. 86). ” By deliberately performing poorly in Hammond established system of gang labor, was enslaves outward expression of rebellion against their oppressor. Their ability to manipulate the system enforced upon them by Hammond did not end there; in Hammond attempt to offer up incentives to his laborers, “ The salves were more than just passive recipients of these sporadic benefits; they in turn manipulated their master for those payments and privileges they had come to see as their due (p. 86).” In this instance, enslaves took advantage of the opportunity to reap some type of retribution for their