Chapter 12 Section 1: Growth of the Cotton Industry

Steamboat

A boat that moves by the power of a steam engine, made it easier and quicker to travel goods

Slave Religion

A distinctive version of Christianity adopted by slaves in the face of hardship. A blend of African traditions and Christian belief, slave religion was practiced in secret nighttime meetings on plantations and in ''praise meetings.''

Cotton Gin

A machine that removes seeds from short-staple cotton.

Slavery

A system of enforced servitude in which some people are owned by other people.

Mill System

Between 1807 and 1815, the total number of cotton spindles increased more than fifteenfold. The many mills which were built in this time period were built alongside rivers and streams. As they dropped waste into the adjacent waterways, these mills contributed heavily to water pollution

Factors

Crop Brokers

Slave Working Conditions

During work and outside of it, slaves suffered physical abuse, since the government allowed it. Treatment was usually harsher on large plantations, which were often managed by overseers and owned by absentee slaveholders. Small slaveholders worked together with their slaves and sometimes treated them more humanely.

Farming advancements

Horsepower, 3-Field System

Need for raw materials

Industrialism affected imperialism by creating. Many different nations including our own needed cotton for life.

Planters

Large-scale farmers who held more than 20 slaves.

Tredegar Iron Works

Located in Richmond, Virginia, it was one of the most productive iron works in the nation.

Slave Families

Most were separated and many families ripped apart. The men would be sold as well as women, but the child would stay w the woman and be sold together.

Railroads

Networks of iron (later steel) rails on which steam (later electric or diesel) locomotives pulled long trains at high speeds. The first were built in England in the 1830s. Success caused the construction of these to boom lasting into the 20th Century

What other crops and industries were encouraged in the south?

Other crops encouraged in the south were hemp, flax, corn, tobacco, and more.

mass production

Process of making large quantities of a product quickly and cheaply

Why had slavery been on the decline before the invention of the cotton gin?

Slavery had been on the decline before the invention of the cotton gin because the profitability of crops grown with slave labor, such as rice, tobacco, indigo and cotton was steadily decreasing. Some slaveholders began freeing their slaves in response.

Slave Living Conditions

Slaves were punished by whipping, shackling, beating, mutilation, branding and/or imprisonment. Punishment was most often meted out in response to disobedience or perceived infractions, but masters or overseers sometimes abused slaves to assert dominance.

Cotton Belt

Southern region in US where most of the cotton is grown.

How did cotton lead to the introduction of other cash crops?

The South depended, relied, and focused on the production of cotton for quite some time. Most of the agricultural investments being made were dedicated to cotton production. This inspired several leaders to worry if the South depended on the crop too much. They encouraged southerners to expand to more of a variety of cash crops and investments. The cotton boom also made the South a major player for world trade, encouraging them to expand their cash crop varieties. An example of cash crops introduced by cotton were hemp and flax. Their fibers were required to make rope and sackcloth. Farmers used the rope and sackcloth to bundle cotton into bales.

How did slavery change as a result of the cotton gin?

There was a mass production causing a boost in slaves that they needed to work the cotton gin.As a result of the cotton gin, cotton growing became so profitable for the planters that it greatly increased their demand for both land and slave labor. It was also legalized in 1808 to bring slaves into the U.S. This caused a rapid increase in slavery.

Slave Resistance

When an owner's slaves rebel against the owner, in the form of running away, boycotting work, etc

Slave communities

allowed slaves to grow own food and have sense of individualism. secretly taught reading and writing