The Slave Economy Page 479

Views on Slavery Slavery had been a part of American life since colonial days. Some people thought slavery was wrong. Most Northerners once thought that all Southerners owned slaves.

The Slave Economy Southern Slaveholders in 1860: –75% owned no slaves –5% owned 1 slave –13% owned 2-9 slaves –4% owned slaves –3% owned 20 or more slaves

The Slave Economy Most southern families could not make money using enslaved workers. The cost of feeding, clothing, and housing slaves was too great. In 1860 only one white Southern family in four owned slaves. Wealthy plantation owners owned more than half the slaves in the South.

What Did Slaves Do? Miners Carpenters Factory Workers Skilled Workers House Servants Field Slaves

Growing Cotton Cotton was a difficult crop to grow. Once the cotton was harvested, workers had to remove small seeds from the white cotton fibers. This was a slow, tiring job that took much time. Many plantation owners chose to grow crops that required less time.

Eli Whitney’s Cotton Gin In 1793 Eli Whitney invented a machine called the cotton engine. The cotton gin (as it was called) removed the seeds from the cotton fibers much faster that workers could. This one change in technology led to many other changes.

Eli Whitney’s Cotton Gin

King Cotton With the cotton gin, cotton could be cleaned and prepared for market in less time. Planters could grow and sell more cotton and make more money. Southern planters sold the cotton to textile mills in the North and in Europe.

Worldwide Demand for Cotton Demand for cotton made Southern planters and Northern textile-mill owners rich. It also created more demand for slaves. Planters needed slaves to plant the seeds, weed the fields, pick the cotton, and run the cotton gins. Without slaves, the end of all things would soon come.