Way Down Yonder in the Land of Cotton Chapter 7 Section 3

Cotton in King South still depended on cashcrops Rice, indigo, tobacco Increasingly cotton Picking & cleaning cotton tedious process Eli Whitney invents the cotton gin 1793 This coincided w/the rise in demand, textile mills Explosion in cotton sales, 2/3s of total US exports Made planters rich & also entrenched slavery

Industry Lags Stays agricultural with exception of 3 cities Baltimore, Charleston, New Orleans Did have some industry Coal, salt, iron, copper works, textile mills, ironworks Relied heavily on imports Accounted for only 16% of nations manufacturing total

Society Planters, ½ of 1% population, dominated economy, politics, etc. 20 or more slaves Yeoman Farmers , majority, 4 to no slaves Rural poor, scratched by, 10% pop. African-Americans, 93% enslaved, 37% total population Small urban class of professionals, even these owned farms

Slavery 2 systems Slave codes, no property, permission to leave Small farms, Task System, tasks to complete Gang Labor, worked from sunup to sundown Driver – supervisor, often enslaved Frederick Douglass, freed slave Slave codes, no property, permission to leave Status of free blacks was ambiguous Mostly lived in cities in upper South, some bought land or even slaves, business owners etc. Still suffered prejudice in the South and the North

African American Culture Songs to pass the long work day or even secret messages Religion, many Christian w/some African traditions, centered around prayer Resistance Slowdowns, broke tools, set fires, ran away Rebellion Denmark Vessy, free black accused of rebellion Nat Turner, enslaved minister, killed 50 people VESSY TURNER