Lesson 11.2 – Cotton and the Plantation System

Lesson 11.2 – Cotton and the Plantation System Today we will explain the relationship between the cotton boom and slavery.

Vocabulary • explain – give reasons for • relationship – how things are connected or linked • boom – rapid growth in value or popularity

What We Already Know By introducing the use of inter–changeable parts, Eli Whitney revolutionized the manufacturing process in the North.

What We Already Know Slaves were used to grow cash crops in the South.

What We Already Know Cleaning the cotton fibers by hand was a tedious, even painful process for slaves.

Why is it important to understand the connection between the cotton boom and slavery? • The cotton boom caused slavery to spread in the South. • The spread of slavery led to tension between Americans. • This tension will be an important cause of the Civil War.

The Cotton Boom Textile mills in Britain and New England had created a huge demand for cotton, but much of the cotton that grew in the South was hard to clean by hand.

Long-fiber cotton is easier and quicker to clean than short-fiber cotton, but it only grows in the cooler areas of the South along the coast. All cotton must be cleaned, which means separating the seeds from the fibers.

Short-fiber cotton could be grown in most parts of the South, but it was hard to clean by hand. • A worker could clean just one pound of this cotton in a day. • To clean it in large quantities required the use of many slaves, making cotton very expensive.

The Cotton Boom In 1793, Eli Whitney invented a machine for cleaning cotton after visiting a Georgia plantation. Whitney’s cotton gin (short for “engine”) made the cotton-cleaning process far more efficient.

With the new machine, one worker could now clean as much as 50 pounds of cotton a day.

The cotton gin made it economically possible to grow cotton as a cash crop.

The cotton gin changed Southern life in four important ways.

1. It triggered a vast move westward, beyond the Atlantic coastal states where only long-fibered cotton could grow.

2. Planters grew more cotton instead of other crops, and cotton exports increased.

3. Native Americans were driven off their land as plantations took it over.

4. Slavery grew, because cotton cultivation required a large work force.

Slavery Expands • From 1790 to 1860, cotton production rose greatly. • As cotton cultivation grew, so did the number of enslaved people in the South.

Millions of bales of Southern cotton went to the textile mills of Britain and New England each year.

Slavery Expands • In 1820, the South earned $22 million from cotton exports. • By the late 1830s, earnings from cotton exports were nearly ten times greater, close to $200 million.

As cotton earnings rose, so did the price of slaves, tripling by the late 1830s.

Slavery Expands • The expansion of slavery had a major impact on the South’s economy. • But its effect on the people living there was even greater, as you will learn in our next lesson.

Lesson 11.2 – Cotton and the Plantation System