US History
Fort Burrows
14.2 -- Cotton Kingdom in the South-- Cottonocracy
Cotton was the leading crop in the agricultural economy of the South.
Cotton became even more important to the South in the years after Hall’s visit. It was profitable, Southerners did not even feel a need to invest in factories. Even though southerners grew other crops, cotton remained the regions leading export. Cotton plantations -- and the slave system on which they depended--shaped the way of life in the South.
Cotton Gin, Cotton Boom
Industrial Revolution EXPLODES the demand for Southern COTTON!!!
Northern and Great Britain’s textile millswanted cleaner, seed-free, cotton
Removing seed by hand was a very slow process
Eli Whitney’s Invention
1793 Eli Whitney, Connecticut school teacher, went to Georgia to tutor on a cotton plantation
Whitney heard about the planter’s problems regarding seeds
Ten days later came up with a model for the cotton gin; an engine with two rollers and thin wire teeth
The cotton gin had an enormous effect on the South, 1:50 people ratio of cotton produced
This increase in production greatly increased plantation owners PROFIT
ELI WHITNEY’S COTTON GIN
Cotton Gin Patent. It shows sawtooth gin blades, which were not part of Whitney's original patent. /
Cotton Kingdom and Slavery
Cotton Gin led to increase in production; more production led to the need of more land; more landled to increased slavery
Cottonplanters needed new land cultivate, so they started moving West
Cotton plantations spread across the Cotton Kingdom; South Carolina through Alabama and Mississippi into Texas
Ascotton grew and spread, so did slavery BAD NEWS FOR SLAVES
Cotton still had to be ‘picked by hand’
More profit meant more landmeant more slavesmeant more profit
¿¿ How did the cotton gin change the Southern economy ?
1.______
2.______
3.______.
An Agricultural Economy
Cotton most profitable ‘cash-crop’
Rice, sugar cane, tobacco were also major crops of the South
Livestock – hogs, oxen, horses, mules, and beef cattle
*** What is a Mule ? ______
Growing rice and sugar cane required a lot of water; irrigation
Sugar cane required expensive machinery to process into sugar
Plantations dominated production of sugar, rice, and cotton
Tobacco was planted in Virginia, North Carolina, and Kentucky
Land unsuitable for growing crops was used to raise livestock
Kentucky developed an economy breeding horses
Limited Industry
During this time, most of the South practiced subsistence farming; to meet the needs of the local community
Factories produced agricultural goods; cotton gins, planters, plows, hoes, hemp bags for holding cotton, and ‘cheap’ cotton clothing for slaves
William Gregg modeled his South Carolina cotton mills after the Lowell Mills
Gregg built homes with gardens and schools around his factories
In Virginia, the Tredegar Iron Works produced railroad equipment and cannons
Gristmills were also a Southern Industry
Far less manufacturing as compared to the North
Southerns’ invested in ‘land’ and ‘slaves’
Workers in the North earned money $$ to buy manufactured goods
Millions of slaves did not earn money and therefore could not be ‘customers’
Manufactured goods was not in as great of need or demand in the South as compared to the North
¿¿ Compare the role of manufacturing in the Southern economy with the role of manufacturing in the Northern economy ?
Southern - ______
______.
Northern - ______
______.
Southern Cities
The majority of the Southern population was rural
Major cities of the South;
New Orleans, LA, Charleston, SC, and Richmond, VA
Poor housing and poor sanitation existed in Northern and Southern cities
Free African Americans mostly lived in towns and cities
Economically Dependent
The South often took loans from the North to expand and grow plantations and to buy other goods
Southerns depended on most manufactured goods from the North and Europe
Furniture, farming tools, and machinery
Many Southerns resented being dependent on the North
Pride in the ‘booming’ cotton industry made them confident in their future
Cotton Production Growth of Slavery
180057,000 Bales of Cotton / 512,000 African-American slaves
1820
425,000 Bales of Cotton / 974,000 African-American slaves
1840
1,397,000 Bales of Cotton / 1,498,000 African-American slaves
1860
3,836,000 Bales of Cotton / 2,356,000 African-American slaves
2016
16,500,000 Bales of Cotton
Life in the South
Most white southerners were not plantation owners; however, the plantation system and slavery were at the center of southern life. STATES’ RIGHTS
cottonocracy - name for the wealthy planters who made their money from cotton
in the mid-1800s
slave codes - laws that controlled the lives of enslaved African Americans and denied them basic
rights
extended family - family group that includes grandparents, parents, children, aunts, uncles, and
cousins
White Southerners
╔ A few lived in the Grand Ole Plantations
╔ Most white Southerns owned no slaves and were not wealthy
8%Owners of 5 or more slaves8% Owned 1 to 4 slaves
50 % Whites owned no slaves
2 % Free African Americans
32% Enslaved African Americans
╠ The “Cottonocracy”
╔A ‘planter’ was someone who owned at least 20 slaves
╔In1860, only one white southerner in 30 belonged to a planter family
╔An even smaller number - less than 1 percent - owned 50 or more slaves
╔These wealthy families were called the cottonocracy
╔Their views of life dominated the South
╔They owned the elegant plantation homes and dressed and behaved like
European nobility
╔They devoted themselves to running the politics of the day
╔Overseers actually ran the day-to-day operations; the crops and the slaves
╠ Small Farmers
╔3 out of 4 Southern whites were farmers; they owned some land
╔They might own one or two slaves
╔They worked the fields along side of a slave
╔They helped each other, “…people who lived miles apart counted themselves as
neighbors… in case of sorrow or sickness, there was no limit to the service neighbors provided.” Quote from a Mississippi farmer
╠ Poor Whites
╔Most did not own the land, they rented the land and made payment with a portion of
their crops: SHARE CROPPERS
╔They lived in the hilly wooded areas of the South; growing corn, potatoes, and other
vegetables ; some raised livestock like cattle and pigs
╔Even though they were poor, they enjoyed rights
╔Rights were denied to ALL African Americans; enslaved or free
African American Southerners
╔ Free and enslaved African Americans lived in the South
╔ Free African Americans faced harsh discriminations
╔ Enslaved African Americans had no rights at all
╠ Free African Americans
╔Most free African Americans were descendants of slaves freed during and after the American Revolution; some bought their freedom
╔1860, over 200,000 free blacks lived in the South
╔Slave owners feared free African Americans; afraid they would encourage slaves to rebel
╔Slavery was justified because whites claimed ‘they could not care for themselves’
╔Southern states passed harsh laws against African Americans voting or traveling
╔Free blacks in the South had to move out of the state or submit to slavery
¿¿ What was life like for African Americans in the South ?
______
Enslaved African Americans
╔By 1860, enslaved African Americans were 1/3 of the South’s population
╔Adult men and women cleared the land, planted, and harvested the crops
╔Children worked hard also; pulled weeds, collected firewood, hauled water
╔Teenage blacks worked 12 to 14 hour days in the fields
╔A few became ‘skilled workers’ – carpenters and blacksmiths, but the earnings
belonged to their owners
Life without Freedom
╔ Enslaved African Americans lived by the laws of individual owners
╔ Some owners cared for their slaves; clean cabins, food and clothing
╔ Some owners spent as little money as possible on their slaves;
“you die and I’ll just buy another to replace you”
╠ Slave Codes
╔Slave Codes were written to keep slaves from running away or rebelling
╔Slave Codes forbid gathering in groups larger than 3 slaves, leaving the master’s
property without a written pass or permission
(which never was given), or to own a gun
╔Learning to read or write was illegal; motto – ‘keep them uneducated’
╔Owners believed this would keep them from being able to use maps or
read train schedules and escape to the North
╔Slaves could not testify in court; this kept them from complaining about the master’s
unfair or cruel treatment
╔Slave Codes ensured African Americans remained a piece of property
╔ Even the kindest owners insisted their slaves work long, hard days
╔Slaves worked from dawn till dusk, up to 16 hours a day
╔ Frederick Douglas escaped slavery…
“We were worked in all weathers. It was never too hot or too cold; it could never rain, blow, hail, or snow too hard for us to work in the fields. Work, work, work… The longest days were too short and the shortest nights were too long for him.”
Frederick Douglas,Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglas, An American Slave
¿¿ How did Southern laws restrict the lives of enslaved African Americans ?
______
╠ Family Life
╔Very hard for enslaved African Americans to keep their families together; Southern
laws did not recognize slave marriages or slave families
╔Owners could sell a husband and wife to different buyers
╔Children were often taken from their parents and sold
╔In rare cases, grandparents, parents, children, aunts, uncles, andcousins
formed close-knit groups called extended family
╔Parents taught traditional African stories and songs;
folk tales to pass on African history and moral beliefs
╠ Religion Offers Hope
╔By the 1800s, many enslaved African Americans were devoted Christians
╔Planters often allowed white ministers to preach to their slaves
╔African Americans also had their own preachers and beliefs
╔Religion helped African Americans cope with the harshness of slave life
╔Bible stories about how the Hebrews had escaped slavery inspired a new type of
religious song called a spiritual
╔They sang these songs waiting, longing for their day of freedom
esistance against Slavery
╔ Enslaved African Americans struck back against the system that denied them both freedom and
wages; breaking tools, destroying crops, and stealing food
╔ Many enslaved African Americans tried to escape to the North
╔ The journey was so long and dangerous, very few made it to freedom
╔ Every county had slave patrols and sheriffs ready to question an unknown black person
╔ A few African Americans used violence to resist the brutal slave system;
╔ Denmark Vesey was one of them; he was betrayed, caught, and then tried; at his trial it was
proclaimed, “He then read in the Bible where GOD commanded, that all shall be cut off, both men and women, children, and he said, it was no sin for us to do so, for the LORD had commanded us to do so.” Testimony of Rolla, belonging to Thomas Bennett, recorded in the Trial Record of The Denmark Vesey Slave Conspiracy of 1822; eventually he was executed by hanging
╔ In 1831, an African American preacher named Nat Turner led a major revolt
╔ He was a slave in Virginia and wanted to take revenge on plantation owners
╔ He and his followers killed about 57 whites in about a two month rampage
╔ He was caught and hanged
╔ Revolts were rare
╔ Whites were cautious and well armed, a revolt by African Americans had almost no chance of
success
1. How did the cotton gin improve cotton production in the South?
______
2. How did the South become an agricultural economy?
a.______
b.______
3. In what ways was the South dependent on the North?
______
4. Which group most likely received the greatest benefit from the invention of the
cotton gin ?
A. textile workersB. plantation owners
C. German immigrantsD. factory workers
5. Which group of whites made up Southern society ?
a.______
b.______
c.______
6. What laws restricted the freedoms of African Americans ? ______.
7. How did African Americans resist slavery ?
______.
1 of PRINTER COPY 14.2 FEB 2018