King Cotton

1
King Cotton

• Chapter 12 Section 3
• Call to Freedom

2
What three important products was Southern
agriculture based on

• tobacco
• rice
• indigo
• Slave labor was used to grow and harvest the
  products
• Played an important role in Southern economy
• When the demand for crops decreased so to did the
  demand and price for slaves.

3
What effect did the cotton gin have on the South.

• With the invention of the cotton gin, planters in
  the south depended more on cotton as a cash crop
  which increased the need for slaves.

4
Why did Eli Whitney invent the cotton gin?

• Eli Whitney visited a friend in Georgia and saw
  how a machine removed seeds from long-staple
  cotton but the machine ground the seeds into the
  fiber of short-staple cotton.
• He felt he could build a machine to remove seeds
  from the short-staple cotton which grew well in
  the south.

5
What were some advantages to growing cotton?

• Cotton
• was easy to grow
• did not spoil
• was easy to transport
• When crossbred with some Mexican varieties,
  stronger types of cotton could be produced
• (page 374)

6
What was scientific agriculture?

• Scientific agriculture is the use of scientific
  methods to improve crop production.

7
What area was referred to as the cotton belt?

• South Carolina to east Texas

8
How was the use of scientific agriculture applied
to cotton production?

• recommended crop rotation
• suggested more research

9
How did the law of 1808 influence the slave trade?

• The law of 1808 outlawed the importation of slave
  trade.
• Trading within the United States was still legal.

10
How was cotton transported?

• Port cities
• Charleston, SC
• Savannah, GA
• New Orleans, LA
• Navigable rivers
• Steamboats on the Mississippi, Ohio, and smaller
  rivers
• Overland trade was difficult

11
Discuss industrial activity in the south?

• Cotton and agriculture was dominant thus
  industrial activity was discouraged.
• Lumber and sugar cane was mechanized in the mid
  1800s
• Joseph R. Anderson owned Tredegar Iron Works.
• Tredegar Iron Works became the nations most
  productive iron works.

12
What factors led to the cotton boon in the South,
and what was the result?

• The invention of the cotton gin and development
  of stronger breeds of cotton, slavery expanded
  and the South became an agricultural center and
  did not industrialize.

13
Discuss white southerners?

• 1/3 of white southerners owned slaves.
• Planters
• served as political leaders
• had economic power
• Focused on raising and selling crops
• Wives
• managed the household
• educated children
• supervised the slaves who worked in the main
  house
• Childrens marriages were arranged

14
Describe white southerners (continued)

• Yeomen
• Majority of white southerners
• worked long days
• had many tasks
• had few slaves and worked along side slaves in
  the fields
• Poor whites
• Lived on land that could not be farmed
• Depended on fishing, hunting, raising small
  gardens, and working at odd jobs

15
Describe the life of African Americans in
Antebellum America

• Most were enslaved
• By 1800 250,000 were free
• Ran away
• Freed
• Bought their freedom

16
Describe the life of free African Americans

• Rural
• Worked on plantations
• Urban
• Skilled artisans
• loose social and economic ties
• Churches were center of life
• Faced discrimination by white southerners

17
Describe examples of discrimination against
African Americans

• Limited the rights to vote
• Could not travel freely
• Could not hold certain jobs
• Must be represented by a white person in their
  business dealings

18
Works Cited

• Cotton Belt Map
• http//docsouth.unc.edu/nc/king/king312a.jpg
• 3/16/2008
• King Cotton, Stuckey, Sterling, Salvucci, Linda
  Kerrigan. Call to Freedom. Holt, Rinehart, and
  Winston 2003