1. CH. 7-4 THE LAND OF COTTON AMERICAN HISTORY

2. “KING COTTON”  The “cotton gin” was a simple machine. Many people copied Eli Whitney’s design  The demand for cotton was increasing at home and abroad  The North needed the cotton to fuel its booming textile mills  Overseas, Great Britain had the greatest demand.  COTTON BELT—A nearly uninterrupted band of cotton farms stretched across the South, from Virginia in the East to Texas in the West.  Growing cotton was a way to get rich relatively quick.

3. THE SPREAD OF SLAVERY  Farming was a labor-intensive enterprise.  The first farms were small and didn’t use any slaves  Wealthier farmers bought huge tracks of land that used many slaves to raise and pick cotton.  Growth of cotton farming directly led to the demand for slaves.  1808—Importation of slaves was banned  Slaves were routinely smuggled into southern ports like Charleston, SC and New Orleans, LA  Slaves were cruelly bought and sold by slave traders

4.  1810—About 1,000,000 slaves in the USA  Most lived in VA, NC, SC, and TN  1840—number of slaves had increased to nearly 2,500,000  Slavery spread as cotton farming spread  About ¼ of white families in the South owned slaves  The more slaves used increased the amount of cotton produced.  Powerful economic incentive to maintain slavery in the South.

5. DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE NORTH AND SOUTH  Cotton was king in the south but it wasn’t the only crop.  Sugarcane, sugar beets, tobacco, rice  By 1840 South was a thoroughly agricultural region.  North’s economy was mainly industrial although there was some farming.  DIFFERENT WORLDS  North and South were different worlds  Trade and Industry in the North led to urbanization  There was relatively little progress in the use of technology.

6.  North—urban dwellers were exposed to many different types of people and a constantly changing landscape  They viewed change as progress  South—the landscape was less prone to change and the population was less diverse  People placed a higher value on tradition  Another difference between the North and South was physical distance.  Few Southerners had the means or motivation to travel to the North.

7.  DIFFERENCES OVER SLAVERY  The greatest difference between North and South was slavery  South-slavery was legal and an absolutely vital part of the economy  Few people realized that the differences of slavery would eventually lead the two regions to fight each other.  THE END