APUSH 4.12 - The Cotton Kingdom

During the early 19th century, as what revolution transformed the economy of the North and West, the South was undergoing a different transformation?

Market Revolution

Eli Whitney invented what in 1793?

Cotton Gin

What of New England and Great Britain demanded cotton, and the American South supplied it?

Textile Mills

By 1850, the states of the Deep South had become what vast expanse of cotton plantations that extended from the South Carolina low country to East Texas?

Cotton Kingdom

Why did slavery expand in the nineteenth century instead of dying out, as some Americans had predicted after the Revolution?

• The Cotton Gin and the Cotton Kingdom: Eli Whitney's invention of the cotton gin in 1793 made large-scale cotton cultivation profitable

• Domestic Slave Trade: Although the transatlantic slave trade was outlawed in 1808, the domestic slave trade grew significantly to meet the demand for labor in the expanding cotton and sugar plantations

How did the South's focus on cotton cultivation separate it from the North? How did cotton unite the two regions?

• Economic structure: The Southern economy became a one-crop, agricultural system dominated by cotton production; in contrast, the Northern economy was more diverse

• Economic interdependence: Despite their differences, the regions were economically linked through cotton