The Land of Cotton

The Southern Economy The South thrived on the production of cash crops The upper Southern states grew tobacco Louisiana and parts of Texas grew sugarcane No crop was a predominant or influential as cotton, which grew in the Southern part of the South

Cotton Becomes King By the late 1840s, Southerners produced more than 2 million bales of cotton By 1860 production reached almost 4 million bales In 1860, southern cotton sold for $191 million Southerners proclaimed “Cotton is King!”

Cotton Becomes King The cotton gin makes production of cotton cheaper and easier Even with the technology, labor was still very important to cotton production Because of this, the demand for slave labor was increasing at a significant rate

Industry Lags The South becomes very prosperous in agriculture during this time, but never manages to industrialize like the North The South relied heavily on the North for a wide variety of products that they could not produce themselves

Society in the South The economy of the South resulted in a rigid class structure emerging There were several distinct classes that were seen in the South

Society in the South The class at the top was the planter elite They were the people who owned the large plantations The majority of enslaved people were owned by this class They were the wealthiest people in the South

Society in the South Yeoman Farmers were the next step down They owned smaller farms Most did not own slaves They worked the farms themselves This group made up the majority of the white population in the South

Society in the South Near the bottom were the white, rural poor They lived on land that was not commercially farmable They lived off hunting, fishing, and trapping Relied on subsistence farming

Society in the South At the bottom were African Americans 3.6 million African Americans lived in the South 93 percent were enslaved They made up 37 percent of the South’s population

Society in the South There was also a small urban class Comprised of doctors, lawyers, merchants, and other professionals Even the Urban class was geared toward the agricultural economy of the South

Slavery There were generally two systems enslaved people worked in Task System: Workers were given daily tasks to complete, when the work was finished for the day they were allowed to do what they wanted Most farms and small plantations worked under this system

Slavery Gang System: Workers were organized into gangs and worked from sunup to sundown A driver acted as the director of a work gang The gang system was far harsher and more degrading than the task system

Slavery Enslaved women did not have it easier than the men Many worked in the fields along side the men Some worked in the plantation houses as maids or nannies, less physical work, but they received much more scrutiny

Slavery Enslaved children were often times allowed to play, often with the plantation owner’s children Once the children were able to perform manual labor, they were put to work