In the antebellum period of South Carolina, cotton took complete control. Both Inland and Island farmers farmers relied on cotton thanks to the textile industry. After the invention named the cotton gin was invented, the cotton industry was changed forever. This new era had a good effect on the trade between other countries/states and the South. However, these new advancements ended up affecting the majority of the population, the slaves, the worst. More and more plantations showed up, defining this plantation life as a whole new culture for the South. Overall, thanks to trade between plantations and textile mills, the¨king¨ (cotton) spread over half the world's population, affecting them as well. Firstly, cotton began to gain popularity …show more content…
The cotton gin not only completely transformed cotton exports, it also affected farms. At first, there were only a small amount farms with handful of slaves. After the spread of the cotton gin, thousands of slaves were used to picked cotton on a large about farms (which were also significantly bigger than before).“69,000 pounds” of cotton were produced in South Carolina in the year 1790 (South Carolina Journey, 119). Farmers didn’t stop there. In the year 1810, South Carolina was documented to have produced 50 million pounds of cotton. Soon, something called the ¨planter ideal” was created to express the farmerś new status and wealth gained from planting cotton (South Carolina Journey, 119). The planter ideal helped bring the upcountry and the lowcountry together due to the need for slaves in the upcountry. They began to share an opinion of slavery, and now the lowcountry had no need to worry about the compromise of 1808 and the reapportioning of upcountry representatives in the General Assembly getting rid of …show more content…
This system allowed slaves to plant crops of their own compact plot, help other slaves, or to relax once they finished their daily work. Most upcountry plantations had a system called the ¨gang system¨ (South Carolina Journey, 123). This system had slaves under supervision at all times with no breaks. Due to the constant work, slaves became mechanics, boatman, artisans, and carpenters. This meant certain jobs had certain freedoms. For example, slaves had limited supervision if they worked on the Savannah river as a boatman. If talented enough at these professions, some slave owners would allow their slaves to work jobs in exchange for money. This is how very few slaves became free. They paid their way off of the plantation and could even pay to free their family. Slaves used their quarters to create a little community between them. They would play music, told stories, and taught younger slaves things such as how to stay out of trouble. They would also have ceremonies where they would pray for freedom and ceremonies where the slaves could jump over a broom together to signify a marriage. Slaves would also try forms of resistance such as faking illnesses and working slower than their bodies allow them to. There were even slaves that either tried to start a rebellion or tried to run away. With this new threat of of rebellion, slave owners
In the Deep South, plantation owners grew cotton, sugar, and rice. Cotton could be profitable, but there was a very limited area where long stable cotton could be grown. Short staple cotton could be grown inland. However, the seeds had to be separated by hand. Slaves were used to do all the hard labor which meant picking the cotton and separating the seeds from the cotton.
The southern colonies during this era developed a strong agriculture economy. The initial money making crops for the southern colonies were cotton, rice, sugar and tobacco. Cotton eventually became the big money making crop and major export to England, due to the ideal environmental conditions and large amount of land that was available after the Indians were relocated. Because of the large quantities of cotton that could be produced, the south had to expand its labor
According to Eric Foner is his book, Give Me Liberty!, even though the market revolution and westward expansion occurred simultaneously in the North and the South, their combined effects heightened the nation’s sectional divisions. In some way, the most dynamic feature of the American economy wins the first thirty years of the nineteenth century was the rise of the Cotton Kingdom. It all started during the industrial revolution, which centered on factories producing cotton textiles with water-powered spinning and weaving machinery. All of these factories produced a massive demand for cotton.
1. The southern planter elite played an important role in southern society and politics. These slave owners had made substantial profits from rice, cotton, sugar and other agricultural commodities that allowed them to expand their workforce and purchase more land and luxury items. With these privileges also came great responsibilities. Men largely dealt with directing the slaves who worked on the plantation and other business affairs.
In the beginning or Antebellum Period, the south and north were recovering from the American Revolution and they both went their separate ways. The northern colonies became industrialized building mills & factories along the rivers, while the southern colonies, began to grow cotton, as a result of indigo’s downfall. In the north, Two types of cotton were grown, black seed and short staple. Black seed cotton was grown better on the coastal islands of North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. Short staple was grown better on inland farms, but the seeds were harder to pick and it barely made a profit.
Slaves in the South had endured cruel treatment and were put into full time work such as working on the plantation in the fields, or cooking and cleaning the homes of their
By 1811 cotton had spread across many states including South Carolina, Georgia and Virginia. During the territorial expansion there was a huge increase in the number of African American Slaves This occurred in the region spanning from the Atlantic coast to Texas. 75 percent of the south’s slave population consisted of agricultural laborers. Tobacco was an important crop in the 1800’sespecially in states like Virginia, Maryland and Kentucky.
Slaves were treated poorly. They only got fed peas corn and some meats. Slaves would mostly work outside in the barn or in fields as field hands. If they did,they did all the farming and cleaning. If they were a house slave
In 1860, there were several million slaves in America. Most of them were African American. They were exploited labor through working about twelve to sixteen hours a day with low wages, even women and children were also exploited labor with lower wages than a normal slaves. The slaves were enslaved in plantation, factories, in the fields, farm, and others. With a strict management regime of the white slaveholders, the slaves had to live with shortages in all aspects such as food, clothing, housing, and illiteracy.
The 19th century was an era of dramatic change in the lives of African Americans. By the early 1800s, cotton was the most profitable cash crop, and slave owners focused on clearing lands and securing laborers to proliferate cotton production. The lack of available, fertile land in coastal areas compelled the move into the southern interior, sparking a massive westward migration of planters and slaves. The demands and rewards of the "King Cotton" economy resulted in a fivefold population increase during the first six decades of the 19th century, but it kept the South an unsophisticated agricultural economy.
If a slave dare to escape, they were usually looked for until captured and brought back to face their punishment sometimes this meant being beaten in front of a crowd of other slave owners, put in jail or sometimes even put up for sale again. Slaves families where often separated when sold unless they were the lucky few to be bough together. Slaves were treated very unjustly and where even denied any leftovers that where cooked by them. Their masters would go out of their way to purposely sabotage perfectly good food or bread to avoid being eaten by their slaves. Often bread or certain foods where even counted to avoid being eaten by them as well.
Nat Turner Rebellion Stacey Cofield Florida State College at Jacksonville Nat Turner Rebellion The primary source that I have chosen is Nat Turner Explains His Rebellion, 1831. More than fifty white men, women and children were led to their untimely demised at the hands of Nat Turner. Leading a revolt that was comprised of Black men, some freed and others enslaved, Turner felt his actions were an act of God.
That divided the nation. Most slaves lived and worked on small plantation farms. On plantations they enforced the “Gang system” which was used to involve a continuous day of work. Slaves have jobs like Carpenters, Coopers,
Slaves were a main part of the South, and now that the Cotton Gin was in effect more slaves could not be freed. In fact, plantation owners began to move to larger plantations where they would need even more slaves. Southern farmers did not want to have to go out in the field and do the work that they could buy slaves to do for them. However, the Cotton Gin was a success in the South because it increased the population, and helped the production of Cotton become stronger. The US Economy became better in both the North and the South with this
How did slavery shape social and economic relations in the Old South? The existence of the Cotton Kingdom was completely reliant on slavery, and the Cotton Kingdom would come to be known as the Slave South. The Outlawing of the Atlantic Slave Trade in 1809 led the roles of the Southern states to change immensely, because the deep Southern states could not buy their slaves from overseas. Therefore, the Upper South states of Virginia, Kentucky, North Carolina, and Tennessee would sell slaves to the Deep South, beginning what was known as the Domestic Slave Trade.