King Cotton

What were the economic implications of the Cotton Gin and cotton on the American economy?

1. the Supply side economics, which served as the push toward the deep south. 2. the demand side economics, which served as the demand for cotton into the deep south.

Which states were the major exporters?

1760s - Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, and Massachusetts 1780s - Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia 1820s - Carolinas and Kentucky 1850s - Tennessee, Missouri, Georgia, and Alabama

What was the time period of MAJOR cotton production in America?

1793 to 1850 1820 - 1840, there was consistent increase in production, but from 1840 - 1860, the production had a sharp increase.

What was the major period of the domestic slave trade?

1808 to 1865

Explain the coffle mode of transportation.

Coffles - Captives travelled about 20 miles per day, consisting of 2,000 steps per mile and 40,000 per day. They took about 200,000 steps in a hard week traveling about 100 miles. The journey would take up to seven or eight weeks, at about 700 miles well over one million steps. Perhaps up 85 - 90% travelled via coffles on land.

What were the two types of cotton grown in the United States?

1. Long staple cotton. It came from the Bahamas; easy to remove from the seeds; the longer the better; only grew in coastal regions in South Carolina and Georgia. 2. Short staple cotton. It was difficult to remove from cotton seeds, but could grow anywhere, including in depleted soil.

What were slave demographics?

a. Men were often objectified and sold according to their manliness and strength. b. Women were equally objectified and used as sex slaves, or fancy girls. c. The children were often sold as well.

Explain what FOUR factors contributed to the financial panic of 1837?

i. Easy credit ii. Abundant land iii. Steady supply of captives. iv. Over production of cotton.

Explain the financial windfall during the early nineteenth-century?

i. Second Bank of the United States (1816 - 1836) provided funding to farmers to purchase slaves. ii. State banks offered easy credit or loans backed by human property. iii. American banks sold the debt to New York, London, and Amsterdam financiers as securities. iv. Americans and Europeans invested in those securities including institutions.

Name two factors that caused slaveholders in the north and upper south to sell their enslaved laborers (Supply Side Economics).

Depleted soil and falling tobacco prices

Who was Mary Lumpkin?

Mary Lumpkin was a colored woman and former slave. She had five children by Robert Lumpkin and took his last name. Lumpkin sent two of his mixed race children to Massachusetts for education. He later sent Mary to Philadelphia for her safety. She founded Virginia Union University.

What were the conditions and system of picking cotton?

Picking cotton was not dependent entirely on strength. It required skill and small hands because of the thorns. Women could sometimes pick more cotton than men. They also took their small children to the field. Leaving the cotton field: Bales of cotton: Deseeded cotton was packaged in bales. One bale could weigh up to 480 pounds. Bales were shipped on steamboats and packaged on railroad to send in the north to textile mills.

What was the task system?

Under this system, each slave was given a daily task. It consisted of nine or ten hours of labor. The driver assigned the tasks. The work was completed under little to no supervision. Once the assigned tasks were complete, the slaves returned to their personal requirements. This system was dominant in Georgia and South Carolina. Slaves in this region worked on rice plantations, cotton fields, and became skilled laborers, such as blacksmiths.

Which were the push states that provided the slaves for the burgeoning economy in the deep south?

(Richmond) Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, New York, Kentucky, Tennessee

Name TWO major slave revolts that took place in the nineteenth-century?

1) Nat Turner's Revolt occurred IN 1831 2) The Haitian Revolution started in 1791 and Haiti declared independence in 1804

Name at least two major events that occurred contemporaneously with the domestic slave trade?

1) The Haitian Revolution started in 1791 leading to their independence in 1804, which contributed to the (3) Louisiana Purchase in 1803 that doubled the size of the United States, opening vast western territory for economic expansion. 2) The Mexican-American War, which was a war for land expansion in the west.

Name two factors that supported the expansion of slavery in the south (Demand Side Economics).

1) The Louisiana Purchase in 1803 2) The Cotton Gin in 1793 3) International demand for cotton production

What were the SIX factors that contributed to pulling in slaves for the new cotton based economy?

1) There was an international demand for cotton. 2) There was a technological innovation that helped create an efficient market for cotton. 3) Louisiana Purchase (1803). 4) The Native American Treaties. 5) Labor shortage/ Labor intensive. 6) High prices for slaves.

Name a major port city in the upper south and a major port city in the lower south through which captives transited.

1) Wheeling, Virginia was a major slave hub in the upper south. It maintained that most of the slave arrived into the deep south from slave markets in this area. 2) New Orleans, Louisiana was a major import city, where slaves arrived through ship from Chesapeake states and the Carolinas.

What were the THREE modes of transportation for slaves during this period?

1. Coffles (by foot) - 90 -95 percent of slaves traveled into the deep south from the upper south by foot in chain gangs. 2. Railroad (smoking car) 3. Steamboat

What were the historical assumptions about slavery?

1. Slavery was fundamentally different from the rest of the modern economy and separate from it. 2. Slavery was in contradiction with the American political and economic systems of the liberal republic, and that inevitably slave labor would become free labor. 3. The worst thing about slavery was that it denied African Americans liberal (civil) rights as modern citizen. 4. As a system of labor, slave labor was an inefficient system. 5. Paternalism was a means of social control that drove the system and held it together.

What were the historical realities of slavery?

1. Slavery was not different from the modern economy; it was the engine that drove it into being. 2. It was not an inevitability that virtue would have trumped greed. 3. The worst thing about slavery was that it was deadly and debilitating both socially and economically for Blacks. 4. Slavery was efficient and became increasingly efficient over time from 1790 to 1850. 5. Paternalism did exist within the institution of enslavement - but cruelty, violence, and fear drove it and held the institution of slavery together.

What were the THREE systems of coerced labor?

1. Task system 2. Gang system 3. Pushing system

What did it mean to balance your account?

Balancing your account refers to process of meeting a daily quota in pounding for cotton. Slaves were required to pick anywhere from 30 pounds to 341 pounds of cotton per day. Those who were unable to meet their quota were whipped and forced to pick more the following day until they balanced their account. For example, if a slave was required to pick 100 pounds of cotton per day, but only picked 70 pounds, the slave would receive lashings possible at that moment and be required to pick 130 pounds the next day - in order to balance their account. There was another aspect to balancing the account, which proved to be incredibly destructive. If the slave picked 125 pounds, 25 pounds over their daily quota, 125 pounds would become the new daily quota for that particular slave. This created a precarious situation for slaves, who had to maintain rudimentary forms of measurement in terms of size to correlate with weight.

What was the system of balancing your account?

Balancing your account: Slaves sent their baskets to a stand to be weighed. Each basket was weighed and compared to the quota. Slaves with insufficient baskets were placed in debt, and paid an incredible painful price - whipping - the secret to the pushing system. Lashes instead of wages. Whippings were the main method of control: Slaves received from 30 to 200 lashings for not meeting their quota. Some were whipped to death. Drivers used two notorious types of whips, the pleated cowhide whip and knotted cow hide.

Who invented the Cotton Gin?

Eli Whitney was born in Westborough, Massachusetts. He graduated from Yale in 1792. In 1793, he designed the cotton gin (cotton engine). The cotton gin increased productivity from five pounds to fifty pounds per day.

Who were the Georgia Men?

Georgia Men were ruthless traders known as speculators. They purchased slaves in the upper south for one-third to two-thirds in value earned selling slaves in the deep south. Slave owners gave each other discounts, so traders posed as owners. Traders were responsible for getting slaves to the markets throughout the country.

What was Lumpkin's Jail?

Holding cell

What made short staple cotton an ideal cash crop in the deep South?

It could grow under depleted soil

Explain the Railroad mode of transportation.

Proved to be faster than marching in coffles. It could carry more captives. There was a city to city link. Slaves were kept in the baggage or smoking car (black car). Every train heading south had captives, about 20 or more. Trains traveled up to 10 - 15 miles per day. Perhaps five to ten percent of the slave population traveled via railroad.

Who is the father of the American System?

Samuel Slater (1768 - 1835) is considered the "Father of the American System". He was born in Derbyshire, England. He studied the work of Richard Arkwright, who invented the water power to drive machinery. He arrived in America in 1789. In 1790, he helped design the first water powered mill in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. This became known as the Rhode Island System.

What was the pushing system?

September was the harvest season for cotton. Overseers armed with rifles mounted horses and supervised daily cotton picking. The driver might assist the overseer. The captain, pace setter, set the pace for the group and everyone was expected to keep up. Men, women, children, and elderly were placed in the fields to work. Drivers gave slaves a daily quota in poundage. Slaves picked cotton from dawn until it was pitch black in the fields, which consisted of about 14 hours of work per day. From 1801 to 1840, the daily quota increased from 28 to 341 pounds.

What was the gang system?

Slave gangs were assigned specific tasks. It consisted of sun up to sun down, hard labor. The overseer assigned the tasks, but the slave driver provided constant supervision. The slaves worked across the field at their own pace. This system of labor was dominant in Maryland, Virginia, Kentucky, and North Carolina. Gangs were on tobacco plantations; they cleared forests and drainage swamps.

Describe one way that slavery has impacted this nation.

Slavery created a destructive legacy of psychological harm. In the case of white people, they have developed cognitive dissonance from centuries of propaganda, or misrepresentation of black people and slavery. Throughout history, white audiences have been bombarded with images of Sambo, Coons, Uncle Tom, Mammie Images, Zip Coon, black face, planet of the apes, King Kong, etc. The purpose of these images and narratives they represent are boundless. In the case of Uncle Tom, Sambo, and Coons, they sooth white conscious of any anxiety from slavery. After all, according to these images, slavery appeared as a positive good. In the case of Zip Coon, the white audiences are soothed with the reassurance that black people could never fully assimilate into white society. The moment white society felt threatened, America was confronted with new images of black men as dangerous, lustful threats to white society, and women in particular. In the twentieth-century, white audiences were exposed to Birth of a Nation, King Kong, and Planet of the Apes, all major blockbuster motion pictures that pervaded harmful misrepresentations of black people as a threat to white society. The implications of these images resulted in justification to terrorize black communities through the country. It also gave rise to the Civil Rights movement. On the other end of the issue, black people were thrown into an existential conundrum. Their lives became incredibly uncertain. They were confronted with the KKK throughout the south. This uncertainty contributed to the Great Migration, when hundreds of thousands of blacks fled the deep south to seek refuge in other parts of the country. The psychological impacts on black identity were equally destructive. Men struggled with the idea of manhood in a society that perceived them as an inherent threat and inferior. Women developed equally harmful ideas of their beauty. The results of such a legacy are pervaded in American society in the industrial prison complex, where black and brown men are held captive under the justification of criminal activity. Meanwhile, black women suffer immeasurable depression and seek self-medication through cosmetics, hair extensions, and fashion - all of which are used to exploit their insecurities. The result is clear: white people live their lives free untethered by any anxiety, while blacks are encapsulated in a psychological cage, enslaved and unable to fully recognize their full potential as human beings.

What state received the largest number of African Americans through the domestic slave trade?

South Carolina

Which were the pull states that received the new slaves to provide for the new economy?

South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, (New Orleans) Louisiana, and Texas.

Explain the steamboat mode of transportation.

Supported by major water network in mid-west and south. The coastal ports thrived in the deep south. It took approximately four weeks to travel from Virginia to Louisiana. The Mississippi river was a major corridor. Perhaps up to five percent of trade transportation occurred via steamboat.

What was the education of lashings?

The Education. The psychology of the slave legacy: Legacies of enslavement: work, property, leadership, the clown, personal inferiority, community division, the family, color consciousness, post traumatic slave disorder, and mass incarceration.

Who were Georgia men? And who was Robert Lumpkin?

The Georgia Men were slave speculators, who purchased and transported slaves from the upper south and sold them in the deep south. They transported slaves by foot (in coffles). Many Georgia Men purchased their slaves from Wheeling and Richmond, Virginia and transported the slaves as far south as Texas. Robert Lumpkin was a slave speculator who developed a relationship with Mary Lumpkin, a slave woman. He maintained a slave holding station, known as Lumpkin's Jail.

What were the FIVE factors that contributed to upper southern states to push for the deeper south?

The Push. 1. Depleted soil from tobacco and falling tobacco prices. 2. There was widespread fears of a slave revolt based upon a series of major revolts in 1791 (Haitian Revolution; Jean Jacques Dessaline), 1800 (Richmond Virginia; Gabriel "Blacksmith"), 1811 (German Coast), 1822 (Charleston, South Carolina; Denmark Vesey), and 1831 (Nat Turner). 3. Republican Virtue also helped. 4. 2nd Great Awakening (1790s to 1850s). 5. High prices to sell captives to Georgia men

What was the condition of the financial markets during this period?

The financial markets were based upon two important factors: 1. Financial Windfall 2. Financial Panic of 1837

What were the lessons of Lashings?

The lessons: slaves were fastened to posts, suspended in the air, tied to the ground. They were forced to flog other captives. Slaves were flogged in the presence of other captives. Women and children were flogged. Men were helpless while their wives, children, and people were flogged. They could not defend their families.

What type of labor system was used in King Cotton and what drove that system?

The pushing system was used throughout the deep south. The system that drove the slave labor into complete efficiency was "lashings". Slaves were forced to achieve a daily quota. The quota would increase - never decrease. Records indicate a noticeable increase from 30 to 341 pounds per day. The system was maintained by a pace setter, a slave captain responsible for setting the pace. Those who could not keep up with the daily quota would pay a brutal penalty. They received lashings, anywhere from 30 to 300 lashings. Sometimes, slaves died in the process. Overseers whipped slaves with two notorious types of whips, both made from cowhide. The system of coercive punishment produced pathological results that pervade today - in the form of slave psychology or mentality.

Explain how enslavement boosted financial markets and fueled the U.S. economy.

Unfree labor provided the engine for the American System. The Second National Bank (1816 - 1836) provided loans to farmers to purchase slaves. The states backed the loans with slave property. The loans were converted into securities and sold to financiers in New York, London, and Amsterdam. Meanwhile, the produce in the form of cotton, rice, indigo, tobacco, and sugarcane to a lesser extent were sold to European markets and the Caribbean. In the case of cotton, the cotton was produced in the deep south. Merchants transported it via steamboat north along the Mississippi river to factories. Throughout the mid-west and north, factories manufactured cotton into textiles. The textiles were then sold to merchants, who produced clothing. The bulk of the cotton went to London, however. In the end, slaves were doubly exploited. First, they were the currency on which loans were speculated. Second, they produced raw material that would feed, cloth, and enrich white people around the country.

which states produced cotton?

Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas.