Sec. 3: Cotton Becomes King

4 Key Questions (see handout)

1. How did the cotton gin affect the growth of slavery?

2. Why did cotton planters move westward?3. What was the main difference between the

North and the South?4. How do you think southerners in the 1800s

would have reacted if someone would have threatened the cotton industry?

The Cotton Gin

• Cotton plantations—and the slave system they depended on—shaped the way of life in the south.– But slaves had NO RIGHTS!

• Eli Whitney– A worker w/ cotton gin = 50 people by hand– Plan to reduce workload, but it backfired!– It increased slavery!!!

Click to play

The Cotton Boom

• Post War of 1812– Soil wore out if planted on year after year…– Movement westward began…search for better land.

• As the Cotton Kingdom grew, so did slavery.– It’s a “vicious cycle”• Planters = profits, + land, + slaves.

• US declares slave trade illegal after 1807.– Many families were sold within US and split up.

How much did productio

n increase between 1800 and

1860?

No Place for Industry

• Slaves rather than factories– Cotton biggest cash crop

• Livestock 2nd biggest money-maker• Tobacco, rice, and sugar cane too

– Rich planters invested their $ in land and slaves, not factories.

• Dependent upon the North– One southerner described a burial to show how the

South depended on the North for many goods in the 1850s:

To what areas did cotton growing spread between 1840 and 1860? What were the main products of Virginia? South Carolina? Alabama? Texas?

Conclusion

• The south supported slavery not because they hated African-Americans, but because they thought it was essential to their southern economy.

• The South was built on slavery!• The North was built on industry!– In an economic sense, are they really that different?– Whatever makes you the $$$$money$$$$, right?

&Industry-Factories Agriculture-Cotton Fields

Review 4 Key Questions:

1. How did the cotton gin affect the growth of slavery?

2. Why did cotton planters move westward?3. What was the main difference between the

North and the South?4. How do you think southerners in the 1800s

would have reacted if someone would have threatened the cotton industry?

------------slavery------------

• We will be watching a few short videos concerning slavery in the 1800s over the next two days, so these videos will take the place of section 4 - Life in the Cotton Kingdom.

• I will provide a video guide quiz to complete along with the videos.– Yes…it will be for a grade!