Rearing Wolves to Our Own Destruction: Slavery in Richmond Virginia, 1782–1865 (27 page)

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Authors: Midori Takagi

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BOOK: Rearing Wolves to Our Own Destruction: Slavery in Richmond Virginia, 1782–1865
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confusion, slave workers found room to work in their interests, push their demands, and help define the urban slave system. Their participation not only brought them more privileges and more "control" over their lives but allowed them to launch their greatest challenge to the slave system: the establishment of a strong, independent community.
 
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Four
Maturation of the Urban Industrial Slave System, 1840-1860
Between 1840 and 1860 urban industrialization and the city slave system reached a peak. During these years industries achieved their greatest output and their highest profit levels. By 1860 Richmond was home to fifty-nine tobacco manufactories, eight flour and corn mills, eleven iron and brass foundries, four soap and candle factories, and a variety of other plants producing machines, nails, iron and steel, saddles and harnesses, bottles, and boots. In fact, the city's industrial capabilities inspired a local newspaper to describe Richmond in somewhat exaggerated terms as "perhaps the most extensive manufacturing town south of Philadelphia."
1
As in the past, Richmond's industries, particularly tobacco manufactories, were highly dependent on slave labor. About 80 percent of the tobacco workforce consisted of bondmen, and slave workers could be found in virtually all major segments of the economy. On the eve of the Civil War, slaves made up half of all adult male workers in Richmond.
2
Industrial slave labor demands had a tremendous impact on the slave population; by the late antebellum period Richmond's slave community achieved a size and complexity unimaginable in rural areas. The population increased 56 percent, from 7,509 in 1840 to 11,700 by 1860, and consisted of thousands of workers united by strong kinship ties, independent churches, segregated neighborhoods, and secret fraternal and financial organizations.
3
Urban industry and urban slavery appeared healthier and more suc-
 
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cessful than ever. But even as slavery ushered in a new era of prosperity, it began to encounter serious problems as a result of its interaction with the urban industrial economy. Industrialists' efforts to boost productivity combined with city living conditions generally proved antagonistic to a strong, tightly controlled slave system. The unusual labor practices and use of incentives to boost productivity, for example, encouraged slave workers to participate in the market economy, weakened bonds between slave and master, and made it easier for slaves to escape. The combination of these factors altered the slave system so dramatically that eventually it only loosely resembled the one that existed on plantations.
The implications of a less-than-traditional slave system did not escape the attention of white Richmond residents, for whom increasing incidents of slave resistance became clear signs of diminished control. In response, state and local authorities stepped up their efforts to fortify the system and reestablish control. And once again they attempted to eliminate slave privileges. But their efforts proved ineffective for several reasons. Officials severely underestimated the importance of the privileges to industries and businesses and found themselves in a divisive six-year battle against tobacco manufacturers over the practice of slave workers living apart. Local authorities also misjudged the relationship between slave workers and small merchants and threatened to cripple businesses by frequently arresting both customers and proprietors. But the most important reason authorities failed to assert total control was that Richmond slaves had become too "independent." Skills and knowledge acquired through jobs, churches, and social, political, and financial organizations allowed slaves to flagrantly disregard the laws and challenge the ideological foundations of racial slavery.
"All the Work in Richmond is Done by Slaves"
During the late antebellum era, Richmond reached a level of industrial development and growth few southern cities could match. From the look of the spacious new factories, the countless numbers of billowing smokestacks, and the hundreds of workers going to and from work, it appeared that the captains of industry now resided in Virginia's capital. And based on various financial and manufacturing records, such an assumption was not so far-fetched. During the 1850s Richmond was the nation's largest manufacturer of tobacco and ranked second in flour milling.
4
Not surprisingly, much of the city's economic prosperity was based on Richmond's tobacco industry, which was enjoying a high level of success. Between 1840 and 1860 the number of manufactories earning more than $500 in profits jumped from thirty to fifty-two firms, including three new firms that produced smoking tobacco.
5
Expansion in production
 
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triggered an increase in workers as well: between 1850 and 1860 the number of tobacco laborers leaped 58 percent, from 2,062 to 3,254. And on the eve of the Civil War, tobacco production values totaling more than $4 million exceeded the combined products of the flour and iron industries during 1860 (table 10).
The city's economic strength did not come from tobacco alone, however. Other industries also posted impressive gains. Between 1850 and 1860 the number of iron, copper, and brass manufactories increased from eighteen to thirty-five with a nearly 400 percent increase in the number of workers (413 to 1,601). Although statistics are available only for larger industries, it is clear that many smaller shops emerged and prospered as well. The manufacturing census returns during this period indicate the number of small workshops with annual products worth more than $500 increased 37 percent, from 191 to 261.
6
Richmond's industries grew larger in size as well as in number. By the 1850s manufactories the size of city blocks replaced the one-room workshops that had predominated only a decade or two earlier. William H. Grant's factory, constructed in 1852, is a good example of this new industrial architectural style. Hailed by the
Daily Dispatch
as the city's largest
Table 10. Richmond tobacco, flour, and iron industries, 184060
Product
Year
No. of firms
No. of workers
Capital invested
Annual product
Tobacco
1850
a
30
2,062
$370,471
$2,826,487
1860
b
52
3,254
$1,019,025
$4,583,495
Flour
1850
c
2
80
$320,000
$1,090,000

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