1. Supply, Demand, and Slavery The Role of Slavery in Economics in the South

2. Rotten Cotton In the South, cotton was the cash crop. Cotton was difficult to clean and could only be cleaned by hand. Slaves could clean only one pound per day. The textile factories in the North needed cotton for their cloth mills.

3. Winds of Change In 1793, one hundred and eighty thousand pounds of cotton were harvested in the United States. In 1795, six million pounds were harvested. By 1810, ninety three million pounds were brought to market! What caused this drastic change?

4. Eli Whitney and The Cotton Gin Eli Whitneys invention of the cotton gin allowed slaves to clean up to fifty pounds of cotton per day. This changed the Souths economy in a major way. The supply of cotton could be increased.

5. Cotton as King If more cotton could be cleaned and sold, what impact would this have on future sizes of crops? If too much cotton was produced, what result would this have on prices? What impact would the increase in demand for cotton have on slavery?

6. Credits http://hitchcock.itc.virginia.edu/Slavery/condi tions.php http://hitchcock.itc.virginia.edu/Slavery/condi tions.php etc.usf.edu