Growth of the Cotton Industry

Eli Whitney

inventor of the cotton gin

Spirituals

Emotional Christian songs that blended African and European music

On Secret Religious Meetings

"A Negro preacher delivered sermons on the plantation. Services being held in the church used by whites after their services on Sunday. The preacher must always act as a peacemaker and mouthpiece for the master, so they were told to be subservient to their masters in order to enter the Kingdom of God. But the slaves held secret meetings and had praying grounds where they met a few at a time to pray for better things." "[The plantation owner] would not permit them to hold religious meetings or any other kinds of meetings, but they frequently met in secret to conduct religious services. When they were caught, the 'instigators'—known or suspected—were severely flogged. Charlotte recalls how her oldest brother was whipped to death for taking part in one of the religious ceremonies. This cruel act halted the secret religious services."

Nat Turner

A Virginia slave who believed God had told him to end slavery

Gang labor system

A system in which all field hands worked on the same task at the same time, with no break for lunch

Nat Turner's Rebellion

A violent slave revolt led by Turner in 1831 that led to a tightening of slave codes

Southern Planter Class

About 1/3 of southern whites were slaveowners Planters were the wealthiest members of society Owners of large plantations with from 20 - several hundred slaves Politically powerful - elected to government offices Males concerned with crops and slave laborers Planters' wives raised children, ran households, and saw to social duties. Marriages were often arranged

Cotton Brought High Profits

Demand for American cotton grew rapidly with the rise of British textile mills. Planters—large-scale farmers—soon adopted the cotton gin and were able to process tons of cotton much faster than hand processing. A healthy cotton crop could now guarantee financial success. Cotton became so profitable that southern farmers abandoned other crops

Slave culture centered around family, community, and religion.

Family was the most important aspect of slave communities. Slave parents passed down family histories and African cultures and traditions. Slaves told folktales to teach lessons about how to survive under slavery.

Cotton Trade

Southern cotton was used to make cloth in England and the North. Great Britain became the South's most valued foreign trading partner. There were few major roads or railroads in the South. Cotton was transported by river boats Cotton transport led to the growth of port cities, including Charleston, Savannah, and New Orleans. Crop brokers, called factors, managed the cotton trade.

Not all Southern African-Americans were enslaved

More than 250,000 free African Americans lived in the South in 1860. About 1 out of every 50 southern blacks was free. Slaves could become free in a variety of ways: By earning their freedom through paid labor As a reward for a special service done for their former master As the children of slaves freed during the American Revolution Some Free African-Americans were the mixed-race descendants of slave-owners

Slaves worked at a variety of jobs on plantations.

Most enslaved African Americans lived in rural areas and worked on farms and plantations. Most worked in the cotton fields, where plantation owners used the gang-labor system. All field hands worked on the same task at the same time. Men, women, and children older than 10 were forced to do the same work from sunup to sundown with little concern for sickness and poor weather.

Religion in the South

Most white southerners shared similar religious beliefs. Rural white families were isolated on their farms; they often saw neighbors only at church events. Wealthy white southerners thought that Christianity justified their place in society and the institution of slavery. They believed God had created some men to be masters and others to be slaves.

Free African-Americans

Most worked as paid laborers on farms; those in cities worked a variety of jobs, including highly skilled labor. Free African-Americans faced constant discrimination. Many white southerners argued that African Americans did not have the ability to take care of themselves. The existence of successful free blacks threatened the institution of slavery.

Nat Turner's Rebellion

Nat Turner's Rebellion was one of the most violent slave revolts. In 1831 Nat Turner, a slave, led a group of slaves in a plan to kill all slaveholders in the county, killing about 60 white people. More than 100 innocent slaves were killed in an attempt to stop the rebellion. Turner was captured and executed.

Free African- Americans Faced Discrimination

Southern states passed laws limiting their rights. Free African-Americans could not vote, travel freely, or hold certain jobs. Some states required that African Americans have a white person represent them in business transactions. In the years preceding the Civil War, many states outlawed the freeing of slaves or required them to move out of the state.

Slave codes

Strict laws used to control slaves' behavior

The invention of the cotton gin revived the economy of the South.

Prices for major southern crops—tobacco, rice, and indigo—fell after the American Revolution. Therefore, the demand for slaves dropped as well. Cotton was not profitable, because of the difficulty of removing seeds. Eli Whitney patented the cotton gin, a machine to remove seeds from cotton, in 1793.

Slave Religion

Religion played an important part in slave culture. By the early 1800s many slaves were Christians. They believed they were like the Hebrew slaves in ancient Egypt and would someday have freedom. Some slaves sang spirituals to express religious beliefs.

The cotton gin created a cotton boom; soon farmers grew little else.

Removal of Native Americans opened up more land for cotton farmers in Southeast Development of new types of cotton helped spread production throughout South, from South Carolina as far west as Texas. United States produced more than half the cotton grown in the world by 1840

Methods of Rebellion

Slaves attempted to rebel in many ways, including holding their own religious beliefs, slowing down work, and planning escapes.

Slave Codes

Slaves codes were used to control slave behavior. Some prohibited travel and education. In some states, anyone teaching a slave to read and write could be fined and whipped.

Methods of Control

Some planters offered incentives to encourage obedience, but most relied on punishment. They used irons and chains, stocks, and whips to punish slaves They also passed strict slave codes to prohibit movement.

Other Types of Work Done by Slaves

Some slaves worked as butlers, cooks, or nurses in planter's house. They often had better food, clothing, and shelter than field hands, but usually had to work longer hours. Some worked skilled jobs, such as blacksmithing or carpentry. Some urban slaveholders let their slaves sell their labor to other people. Some slaves earned enough money this way to buy their freedom.

The Big Idea

The invention of the cotton gin made the South a one-crop economy and increased the need for slave labor.

Main Ideas

The invention of the cotton gin revived the economy of the South. The cotton gin created a cotton boom in which farmers grew little else. Some people encouraged southerners to focus on other crops and industries.

The Cotton Belt

The slave population of the United States increased from 698,000 to 3,954,000 between 1790 and 1860, and 75 percent of these enslaved people worked as agricultural laborers growing cotton, sugar, rice, tobacco, and hemp. The majority of these, moreover, worked in cotton. About 15 percent of southern slaves were classified as domestic servants, and approximately 10 percent worked in commerce, trades, and industry--principally in towns and cities.

The Urban Life

There were few southern cities and most on the coast and served as shipping centers for agriculture. City governments built water systems and maintained streets. Some provided public education. Slaves did much of the work in southern cities. White laborers could not compete with unpaid slave labor, so most emigrated to the North.

Slave with Iron Muzzle

When persons being held as slaves were accused by their masters of insubordination, or of eating more than their allotment of food, they might expect to be fitted with an iron muzzle. In his autobiography, Olaudah Equiano described his first encounter with such a device in the mid-1700s. ."I had seen a black woman slave as I came through the house, who was cooking the dinner, and the poor creature was cruelly loaded with various kinds of iron machines; she had one particularly on her head, which locked her mouth so fast that she could scarcely speak, and could not eat or drink. I [was] much astonished and shocked at this contrivance, which I afterwards learned was called the iron muzzle."

Slave uprisings led to stricter slave codes in many states.

White southerners lived in fear of slave revolts, although they were relatively rare. After Turner's Rebellion, many states strengthened their slave codes, placing stricter controls on the slave population.

cotton gin

a machine used to remove small seeds from short-staple cotton; it revolutionized the cotton industry

Cotton Belt

a region stretching from South Carolina to east Texas where most U.S. cotton was produced during the mid-1800s.

King Cotton

an expression meaning that cotton production dominated the southern economy

Planters

large-scale farmers who held more than 20 slaves

Tredegar Iron Works

located in Richmond, VA, this factory was one of the most productive iron works in the nation