Bell Ringers 1. Who became president after James Madison? 2. What future U.S. President attacked Florida? 3. What was the “iron horse”? 4. When talking about labor, what is a strike? 5. Who invented the cotton engine? 6. What were slave codes?

The South Land of Cotton

It’s an Ag thing The South’s economy was based on a few major cash crops : Maryland, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia grew tobacco South Carolina and Georgia grew rice Louisiana and Texas grew sugar cane But everybody grew cotton

Thanks Eli! In 1793, Eli Whitney noticed that it took a worker a whole day to pick the seeds out of 1 pound of cotton. The total U.S. output was 6000 bales of cotton per year. A bale was about 6 feet long, 3 feet wide, and 500 lbs.

Thanks Eli! Thanks to Eli Whitney’s cotton engine (or gin for short) in 1801 the U.S. put out 100,000 bales of cotton. Said one southern official, “The whole interior of the south was languishing before the gin. Now, individuals who were depressed with poverty and sunken with idleness have suddenly risen to wealth and respectability. Our debts have been paid off, our capital increased, and our land tripled in value.”

Thanks Eli! By 1860, the output had risen to 4 million bales a year. 2/3 of all of the exports from the U.S. was cotton. 2/3!!! During this time, the number of enslaved people in the south rose 400% to around 4 million.

Industry in the South If agriculture is the way to wealth, why bother with factories and industry? The south had only 16% of the nations industry. The South remained very rural with only 3 major cities – Baltimore, Charlestown, and New Orleans

Southern Society At the top were wealthy planters. A planter was defined as someone with 20 or more slaves. In 1850 there were just over 6 million whites in the South. 347,725 were slave owners (0.06%). 37,000 were planters (0.006%) 8000 planters had 50 or more slaves (0.0013%)

Southern Society These rich planters dominated society by controlling the wealth. The vast majority were yeoman farmers who owned smaller properties and farmed the land themselves. If they had a slave, they worked side by side with the slave. The bottom 10% of white society were poor rural farmers barely making a living.

Southern Society There were nearly 4 million African Americans by 1850 or 37% of the total population. Of these, 93% were slaves. 7% were free.

Slavery Field slaves used 2 basic systems of labor: the task system and the gang system Task system – Slaves were given a specific set of tasks to do. Once they finished they were on their own to plant their own garden, sell stuff, whatever. Gang system - large numbers were put in work gangs where they labored from sunup to sundown.

Slavery In the gang system, the driver directed the gang. This man was often chosen by the slaves themselves. He kept order and people on task

Slave Codes Law forbid slaves to own property or leave their masters land without permission. Slaves could not own firearms, testify in court, or learn to read and write. Society viewed them as simply property, like a smart animal.

Free Blacks By 1850, there were 225,000 free blacks in the south. Some descended from early indentured servants and were set free. Some fought in the Revolutionary War. Some were half-white, still others bought their freedom with money earned during free time.

Reading time!!! Wahoo! Page 255 Left hand column 3 rd paragraph Starts with, “Another 196,000 free African Americans…”