HIS315K Part V: 03 Slavery and the Cotton Empire

By 1830, what percent of US exports are cotton?

>50%

From 1790 to 1860, how does the number of enslaved people change?

It grows from 700,000 to 4 million

What drove the demand for cotton?

British textile mills (manchester mills?)

What action do the US and Britain take on slavery in 1808?

They ban the slave TRADE (not slavery itself). Britain enforces this through naval patrols

How does westward expansion relate to slavery?

Plantations require land and labor. So, as settlers move west, more plantations spring up and more enslaved people are needed.

What was the biggest crop before cotton? Its pros and cons?

Tobacco was the main crop.

Pros were that people love tobacco

Cons were that it exhausted soil quickly, hurting profitability

Before cotton gets big, what is cotton like?

• Inland (aka where most land is), only short staple cotton can be grown. This kind of cotton is difficult to process

• On the coast, long-staple cotton can be grown. However, there’s very little land available to plant this cotton.

• Overall, there’s just not much incentive to migrate west for cotton purposes.

Before cotton gets big, what’s slavery like?

• As soil gets exhausted from tobacco, enslavement becomes less and less profitable.

• The future looks uncertain for the slave trade

What is the cotton gin’s impact?

• Makes cotton processing far easier, meaning larger quantities can be processed

• Makes short-staple cotton viable to grow

Overall, people start expanding west for cotton purposes, and

What occurs in britain that increases demand for cotton?

The newly industrialized textile milling industry is expanding rapidly, and requires lots of cotton

How does US production of cotton increase from 1815 to 1859?

The US goes from exporting 150,000 bales to 4.5 million bales

How is the north linked to the southern production of cotton?

The north provides

• insurance for farmers

• demand (they have their own mills)

• help with shipping cotton

What do the Britain and US do in 1808? Name of the act in Britain?

They ban the slave TRADE

“Slave Trade Act of 1807”

What do the British do after passing the slave trade act?

They send naval patrols in West African coast to enforce it. These patrols intercept slave trading ships, making the trade much riskier.

What is the impact of the ban on the slavery in the US?

Now that external supply has been cut off, focus shifts to the internal market

From 1790-1860, what is the movement of enslaved people like? Why?

During this period, ~1 million are moved from the upper south (chesapeake) to the lower south (mississippi valley)

It’s because tobacco (grown in the upper south) is declining in profitability while cotton (grown int he lower south) is rising, so the enslaved population is being forcibly relocated

What is the internal slave trade like (volume relative to atlantic trade, how families were treated, prices)

Volume quickly matched that of the Atlantic slave trade

Families were routinely separated

Prices of enslaved people rose as the demand for cotton grew

Progression of expansion of the “cotton frontier”

• 1803 Louisiana purchase opens up land

• Mississippi and Alabama quickly gain statehood from the influx of settlers

• By 1830, a cotton boom occurs in the Black Belt

What region becomes the center of cotton production? What drives expansion?

The lower south becomes the center

Expansion is driven by:

• enslaved labor

• access to lots of land

What 5 groups did the Indian Removal Act target?

Cherokee, Creek, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Seminole

What was the result of the Indian Removal Act?

• Trail of Tears

• Previously occupied land is opened up for settlement

• Cotton expands even more (and with it, slavery)

What did the Adams Onis Treaty do?

Transfers Florida from Spain to the US

Why was the First Seminole War fought?

It was fought in Florida, for the US to assert dominance over the region. (1817-1818)

It targeted the Seminole peoples in Florida as well as former enslaved people who lived among them

Why was the second seminole war fought?

Fought 17 years later, it was much larger and more costly.

Now that Florida had been fully transferred to the US, Jackson could exercise the Indian Removal Act against them and forcefully remove the Seminole peoples.

However, they resisted, using their knowledge of the land to avoid large confrontations.

By the end of the Second Seminole War, there were at least 2,000 US casualties and at least 1,000 for the Seminole. Not all Seminole peoples were removed, and the conflict shows that theres challenges to expansion and removal

How many slaves do most slaveowners own?

Most own less than 10

Where are the huge plantations located?

The lower south

What system organizes enslaved labor?

The gang labor system, where groups labor together under supervision.

Violence is used to discipline and drive output

Who are the highest class individuals in southern social hierarchy?

Slave owning is a sign of status. The highest individuals are whites who own many slaves. They dominate both politics and the economy.

How do white people who own no slaves see the social hierarchy?

Even though they don’t benefit from slavery, they still see the ownership of slaves as an indicator of high social standing.

What are 2 characteristics of southern society as a whole?

• Honor system: Reputation, independence, etc. are highly valued. People are very keen to defend these traits.

• Violence: violence between white settlers (duels to settle disputes) and towards enslaved laborers is very common

How has the national economy changed and what dominates it now? How are the different areas of the US linked to it?

The national economy has evolved into a more materialistic one (mass-production/standardization). Cotton now dominates the national economy.

The north depends on southern cotton to make textiles

How do labor ideologies contrast between North and South?

Wage/free labor dominates the north, while slave labor dominates the south

What tensions are caused by the free labor and slave labor?

Class tensions grow in the north, between working class laborers and the elite.

Furthermore, wage laborers in the north fear losing their jobs as slavery expands further west

What is the missouri crisis (what happened?)

In 1819, Missouri applies for statehood as a slave state. However, there are already 11 free and 11 slave states, and missouri’s addition would tip votes in the house/senate towards slave states.

What is done in response to the missouri crisis?

The Missouri Compromise is created.

• Missouri will enter as a slave state, while Maine will enter as a free state to balance it out.

• 36°30’ line created to divide further slave/free states

When does the Second Great Awakening occur?

Late 1700s - 1830s

What religious groups expand during the second great awakening?

Methodists, Baptists

What differentiates the preaching this time from the first time around?

The preaching is deeply emotional and less formal than previously, making it more accessible to people. Many of these preachers are traveling ones.

What sort of movements does the Second Great Awakening lead to?

• Temperance (self-restraint)

• Education

• Abolitionism (preachers speak against slavery as a sin)

Who is John Wesley?

British revival preacher. in britain.

Who is charles grandison finney?

American revival preacher who held large-scale "revival meetings”

How does the abolitionism movement show up?

Through evangelical reform ideals

What does britain do that influences US debates on abolition?

They abolish slavery in 1833

When did organized abolitionism expand in the US

In the 1830s, lead by figures like Frederick Douglass and Willian Lloyd Garrison

How did the south respond to growing abolitionism?

The intellectual defense of slavery intensified, with figures like John C. Calhoun and Fitzhugh calling it a “positive good”