The Growth of Cotton

1. The Growth of Cotton The Internet, iPODs, and cell phones are just a few things that have changed our lives today. The growth of cotton in the 1800s changed the face of America.

2. While the South was getting deeper into slavery, the North was becoming increasingly bitter towards the idea • Massachusetts’ attorneys argued for and obtained the freedom for several slaves that had been abused

3. Mum Bett • When Ashley’s wife struck at her sister with a hot kitchen shovel, Mum Bett successfully blocked the blow with her arm, but remained scarred for life. When she left the Ashley household and refused to return, John Ashley went to court to claim his property. • Having heard a reading of the Declaration of Independence and discussions of the new Massachusetts Constitution and the Bill of Rights, Mum Bett went to attorney Theodore Sedgwick to obtain the equality promised in those documents and to claim her liberty under the law. At the conclusion of the 1781 trial of Brom & Bett v. J. Ashley Esq., the jury in the Great Barrington Court of Common Pleas set Elizabeth Freeman free and ordered Ashley to pay her thirty shillings and court costs.

4. Eli Whitney • In seventeen ninety-three, approximately one hundred and eighty thousand pounds of cotton was harvested in the United States. Two years later, that harvest grew to more than six million pounds; by eighteen ten, an astounding ninety three million pounds was brought to harvest.

5. More cotton, More slaves • Whitney’s cotton gin, with the help of a few men, or mules, cleaned more cotton in a matter of minutes than a team of men could do in an entire day. • Larger and larger fields of cotton were needed to keep up with demand; along with the increased production of the crop was the need for laborers to glean it.

8. Cotton belt of 1830s • Southern states producing 2/3 of all U.S. cotton • More than ½ of US exports • Stronger cotton mean more money • More cotton and less food being grown

9. Today, cotton is grown in 17 states in the U.S. with Texas being the largest cotton producing state.

10. Section 2 • Southern Economy: How did trade affect the southern economy? • Why were crops other than cotton important to the southern economy? • What kinds of factories were located in the South?

11. England is again restored as most valuable trader with cotton Factors act as brokers finding buyers for the cotton And helping farmers invest their earnings Moving the crops was easier with the invention of the steamboat The crops would move up and down the Mississippi river to major port cities

12. Don’t put your eggs in one basket Farmers did not need to rely solely on the sell of cotton They needed to diversify and raise other crops to keep the soil healthy Corn, rice, sweet potatoes, sugarcane, and wheat Continued to be important crops in the south Louisiana focused on sugarcane. Jean Etienne Bore invented a process for Refining sugar Hemp and Flax where also crown in the south

13. Hemp and flax were used to make rope and burlap bags

14. Tredegar Iron Works Was the only factory in the South that produced iron. During the Civil War, this factory is very valuable to the Confederacy

15. Section 3 The majority population of the southern states DID NOT own Hundreds of slaves. Instead the majority were considered to be Yeomen. These men worked beside their slaves. Yeomen made up the majority but they did not hold the political power.

16. Plantation owners did not Make up the majority of the Population but they controlled The government. The men in the house worked to keep the sell of their crops up while the women worked to oversee the household expenditures, children and household slaves. The slave owners used their religion and political power to justify their beliefs in slavery.

17. Slavery argument Southern pro-slavery theorists felt that this class of landless poor was inherently transient and easily manipulated, and as such often destabilized society as a whole. Thus, the greatest threat to democracy was seen as coming from class warfare that destabilized a nation's economy, society, government, and threatened the peaceful and harmonious implementation of laws. With this in mind, any efforts for class or racial equality that ran counter to the theory, would inevitably run counter to civilization itself. Southern pro-slavery theorists asserted that slavery eliminated this problem by: elevating all free people to the status of "citizen", and removing the landless poor class of society -"the mudsill"- from the political process entirely by means of enslavement. Thus, those who would most threaten economic stability and political harmony were not allowed to undermine a democratic society because they were not allowed to participate in it. So, in the mindset of Southern pro-slaverites, slavery was all a part of protecting the common good of the slaves, the masters, and society as a whole.

18. Mark Twain Now all southerners felt like they were protecting society by keeping the Lower class enslaved. Samuel Clemens, better known by his pen name, Mark Twain, wrote to inform the general public of how barbaric the southern slave system truly was.

19. City life in the south City life in the South was not much different in the South. Cities had public schools, town halls held governments, but much of the work done in the factories of the south were done by slaves and not immigrants. Some business owners owned slaves to work their mills while other city dwellers owned slaves and rented them out to the factory owners. Some slaves were allowed to work at jobs when they were not required to be producing on the plantation or fulfilling their duties in the factories. They could then use the money they earned to purchase their freedom.

20. How free was an African American in the south? Not very!!!!!! The freed slaves continued to face discrimination and their movement was extremely limited. They were not allowed to remain in some areas after they acquired their freedom. In some areas, slaves could not gather together, own weapons, or carry on business dealings without the assistance of a white. The church was where they found social freedom.

22. Section 4 • Most slaves performed the hard labor in the fields • From the age of 10, hard labor was expected • The overseer, the driver, was a trusted slave • Some slaves worked in domestic areas or even skilled labor • Skilled labor allowed some of the slaves to work off the plantation and save money to purchase their freedom

23. Slave life • Lack of food • Lack of clothing • Poor shelter • Some slaves felt the need to rebel against the odds • Nat Turner