The Cotton Boom and the Expansion of Slavery

1. Chapter 11 Section 2 Plantations and Slavery Spread

2. The Cotton Boom

3. The Cotton Boom • Effects of the Cotton Gin • Triggered a vast movement westward where cotton farming was more difficult. • Value of cotton rose so planters grew more. This led to an increase in cotton exports. • More Native American groups driven off Southern land as plantations grew. • Demand for slaves increased.

4. Slavery Expands From 1790 to 1860, the amount of cotton the South sent to textile mills in England and the northeastern United States rose DRAMATICALLY:

5. Slavery Expands Now compare the price of a male field hand….

6. Slavery Expands The U.S. government banned the importation of slaves from Africa in 1808 so the trading of slaves already in the country increased. See map on p. 334

7. Slavery Divides the South Slaveholders with large plantations were the wealthiest and most powerful people in the South. Only about 1/3 of white families owned slaves. Of the families who owned slaves, only about 1/10 had large plantations with 20 or more slaves. The majority of Southern farmers did not own slaves but supported the idea of slavery.

8. African Americans in the South Enslaved Africans made up one-third of the South’s population in 1840. Half worked on plantations with white overseers. Read primary source.

9. African Americans in the South • Slaves who were not field hands on plantations may have worked as: • Domestic servants • Skilled craftsmen • Factory hands • Day laborers • Free slaves: • Born free • Freed by owner • Bought their own freedom • Lived in cities

10. African Americans in the South • Though not enslaved, free slaves faced many problems, such as: • Not permitted to live in certain states. • Unable to receive an education. • Difficulty in finding work. • Possibility of being captured and sold into slavery.

11. Finding Strength in Religion • African-American culture began on plantations in the early 1800s: • Strong religious convictions • Close personal bonds • Abundance of music

12. Finding Strength in Religion Slaveholders used religion to make slaves ACCEPT their treatment and obey their masters. Slaves used religion to hold onto hope. Slaves expressed beliefs through spirituals, or religious folk songs. Spirituals often contained coded messages. These songs later influenced blues, jazz, and other forms of American music.

13. Wayfaring Stranger

14. Families Under Slavery Many slave children were parted from their mothers. Slaves often married but their unions were not legally recognized. Parents who lived on other plantations often snuck away to visit their children. “I do not recollect of ever seeing my mother by the light of day. She was with me in the night. She would lie down with me, and get me to sleep, but long before I waked she was gone.” Fredrick Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass

15. Slave Rebellion Nat Turner Nat Turner led a slave revolt in Virginia in 1831 where they killed 55 white men, women, and children. Nat was quoted as saying, “We do not go forth for the sake of blood and carnage…Remember that ours is not a war for robbery…it is a struggle for freedom.”

16. Effects of the Turner Rebellion Whites killed more than 200 African Americans in revenge. Laws were passed that kept free blacks and slaves from having weapons or buying liquor. Slaves could not hold religious services unless whites were present. Postmasters stopped delivering antislavery publications.