THE COTTON GIN

1. THE COTTON GIN • Cotton was a profitable crop but was not grown on a large scale because of the slow and difficult process of removing seeds from cotton bolls in order to produce a usable fiber • Invention of cotton gin by Eli Whitney in 1793 changed this situation • Gin could easily and quickly remove seeds • Caused a fantastic explosion in southern cotton production

2. KING COTTON • 3000 bales in 1790 • 178,000 bales in 1810 • 732,000 bales in 1830 • 4.5 million bales in 1860 • South became the world’s leading producer of cotton by 1842 • Produced 2/3s world output and 65% of all American exports • Cotton mills in north depended on southern cotton • Prosperity in South caused by cotton made it a major market for northern manufactured products • Cotton was an important part of American prosperity and economic well-being

3. POPULATION SHIFT Land in upper south was worn out after years of tobacco growing and would not support cotton cultivation Caused mass migration into Lower South Population in region increased from 500,000 in 1800 to 5 million by 1860 Cotton cultivation therefore moved westward and southward into the Lower South

4. COTTON AND SLAVERY • Slavery spread with spread of cotton cultivation • Type of crop that kept slaves busy all year long • Historians once thought slave cotton economy was basically backward, inefficient, and stagnant system • Made large planters rich but did little to improve economic well-being of the majority of white southerners • Slavery was evil but it wasn’t necessarily inefficient that perpetuated poverty among most white southerners • Personal income in South was 15% higher than personal income in the Midwest at the time • If the South had been an independent country in 1860, it would have ranked as the 4th richest country in the world

5. THE OTHER SIDE • Slave economy of the South expanded rapidly but it did not grow in a way that stimulated other sectors of the economy • In England and the Midwest, improvements in agricultural productivity triggered urbanization and industrialization which laid the foundation for sustained economic growth • This did not happen in the South • Cotton culture did not stimulate urban growth • Remained overwhelmingly rural region • Cotton culture did not stimulate industry • Only 15% of American factories located in the South in 1860 • And they tended to be less productive and smaller than northern ones • Cotton production did not help spark the growth of cities or modern industry • Even though it was expanding and generating a great deal of revenue that trickled down to all levels of white southern society • Doomed region to poverty and underdevelopment after the Civil War

6. SLAVERY • No improvement in status of slaves • Nor in the way they were treated or in their working conditions • Mixture of Anglo and American cultural elements by slaves continued • Producing unique African-American culture • Example was birth of Negro spiritual

7. SLAVE REVOLTS • Slave revolts continued to occasionally erupt • Most serious was Nat Turner Revolt of 1831 • Southampton County, Virginia • Nat Turner was a self-educated slave preacher • Led 40-50 others in an uprising which killed 57 whites before state militia put it down

8. RUNNING AWAY • Underground Railroad • Powerful myth of system set up by white abolitionists to help slaves escape to Canada • But there never was an organized coordinated network to held slaves escape bondage • Slaves who ran away headed generally for southern cities • Most of the help came from black people • Not for the North or Canada • Incidence of running away from 1800-1860 but never took place on a large or organized enough scale to seriously damage the institution • No way slavery would wither away or be subverted from within • It would take a bloody civil war to get rid of it Harriet Tubman

9. PLANTER ELITE • White social structure in South was simpler, more rigid, and more hierarchical than that in the North • At the top were the large planters • Approximately 16,000 families (1% of population) • All had at least 1000 acres, at least 40 slaves, and a net worth of $100,000 Robert Carter, member of southern planter elite

10. SLAVE OWNERSHIP • Other social categories separated from each other on the basis of how many slaves they owned • But 75% of white families owned no slaves • Even though most were farmers • Slave ownership concentrated only in the upper echelons of white society

11. LAND OWNERSHIP • Land ownership not equally distributed • Most of best land owned by large planter elite • Slaveless 75% generally had less desirable tracts of land in the backcountry • In 1860, less 10% of whites in Lower South owned 66% of the farmland • Slave system not only denied equality to blacks, it also prompted inequality among free whites

12. BIG QUESTION • If most southern farmers did not own slaves and had to settle for small, marginal plots of land, why did they not hold a great deal of animosity towards the planter elite? • Planters, in fact, dominated southern society • Occupied every important elected office • A tiny, privileged minority, but they absolutely controlled southern society • Why? William Byrd, member of the planter elite

13. REASONS I • Racial Fear • Most southerners did not own slaves, but that did not mean they were against slavery • They did not own slaves because they could not afford to—not because they did not want to • Could see no alternative to slavery • Found prospect of freeing slaves terrifying

14. REASONS II • Undeveloped and undemocratic character of southern educational system • Perpetuated ignorance and apathy • Public education movement passed the South by • Planter elite received good educations in private schools • Children of poor white farmers did not go to school • Majority of southern whites were uneducated and 50% were illiterate • Planters therefore had monopoly on knowledge and means of communication

15. REASONS III • Lack of ethnic diversity • There were Anglo-Saxon whites and blacks • Few European immigrants went to the South • Most stayed in the North where there better job opportunities • Those who wanted to farm went to the Midwest • The complex ethnic mosaic that was taking shape in the North did not develop in the South • Became more and more inbred and hostile to anything new or different

16. REASONS IV • Lack of religious diversity • 95% of South was Protestant and 90% of them were either Methodists or Baptists • Many Baptist and Methodist preachers were uneducated and self-appointed • Preached simple, emotional creed which concentrated on individual conversions • Stayed clear of politics and reform movements • Did not criticize slavery • Southern religion did not challenge the status quo • Did not lead way for reform and improvement of society • Defended the status quo Southern Baptist preacher

17. SUMMARY • Increasingly dominated by cotton, the southern economy was expanding, its population was growing, and per capita wealth was on the rise • But there were also several serious weaknesses • Failure to urbanize and industrialize • An unequal social structure in which large planters dominated all aspects of the region’s society and polity • Lack of ethnic and religious diversity • Caused region to become increasingly inbred, narrow-minded, and intolerant • And the entire system rested on black slavery • An institution that was at odds with any definition of civilization but which all white southerners were ready to defend to last dying breath