1. LESSON 1
Cotton Becomes King

2. Antebellum Period Antebellum is a Latin term meaning “before the war.”
Historians refer to the 50-year period prior to the start of the American Civil War as the Antebellum Period.
A civil war is a war between two or more groups of people in the same country.

3. Life in Antebellum South Carolina
South Carolina’s white population did not grow as quickly as the rest of the country.
The slave population grew much more quickly.
The economic, social, and political system of South Carolina and other southern states centered on cotton & slavery.

4. How Cotton Became King
A Production Dilemma
Demand for cotton from textile mills in the North and Great Britain soared.
Though the North did not have slavery, the Northern mills greatly benefitted from slavery as slave labor provided the raw materials for the mills.
Southern cotton planters could not meet the demand fast enough
It took one day for one slave to pick and clean one pound of cotton.

5. Eli Whitney’s Cotton Gin
How Cotton Became King
Eli Whitney’s Cotton Gin
American inventor Eli Whitney studied the problem and created a new engine, or “gin” for cleaning cotton.
Whitney’s cotton gin could clean pounds of cotton per day.
Cotton production in the South skyrocketed … cotton exports  by > 1,000%
The cotton gin gave South Carolina a new cash crop, replacing rice and indigo.
Cotton became “king” in the South.

6. Eli Whitney’s Cotton Gin
How Cotton Became King
Eli Whitney’s Cotton Gin
How did the cotton gin influence the “planter ideal” and unite upcountry and lowcountry farmers? How did the cotton gin make life more miserable for enslaved people?

7. The Cotton Kingdom
The “Planter Ideal”
Cotton farming quickly spread from the coast inland.
The upcountry was transformed from a region of small farms to one with large cotton plantations with thousands of slaves.
Small farmers achieved wealth and status by investing in cotton and slaves.
Achieving this “planter ideal” helped ease tensions within the state.

8. South Carolina’s Cotton Production
The Cotton Kingdom
South Carolina’s Cotton Production
1790 … 69,000 pounds
1800 … 20 million pounds
1810 … 50 million pounds
By what percentage did cotton production increase between 1790 and 1800? By what percentage did it grow from 1800 to 1810? By what percentage did cotton production increase overall in that 20-year period?
Nearly a 30,000% increase between 1790 and 1800.
150% increase between 1800 to 1810.
About 72,000% increase overall in the 20-year period!

9. The Compromise of 1808
Amendment to the state constitution that resulted in a reapportionment of seats in the General Assembly.
It created a balance of power between the upcountry and the Lowcountry and united the two regions politically.
Raising cotton in the Upcountry made people more likely to support slavery so the Lowcountry finally granted equal political rights to the men of the Upcountry.

10. The Cotton Kingdom
Planter Society
Although most farmers in South Carolina were subsistence farmers, the state had more slaveholders than any other state.
The majority of slaveowners in South Carolina had fewer than 10 slaves and often worked beside them in the fields.
Only the very wealthy lived on large plantations with hundreds of slaves.
The spread of slavery also impacted the political rights of South Carolinians. The law was changed so all white men over 21 were given the right to vote.

11. Slaveowners in South Carolina
Cotton and Slavery
Slaveowners in South Carolina

12. Slavery in the Upcountry—Explosive Growth
Cotton and Slavery
Slavery in the Upcountry—Explosive Growth
An example…
Greenville County
606 slaves in 1790
More than 7,000 by 1860
1,000% increase

13. Antebellum Economic Growth
Cotton and Slavery
Antebellum Economic Growth
King Cotton not only contributed to economic growth in South Carolina and other southern states, but to the entire US economy.
Eventually cotton spreads west as farmers created a problem in growing too much cotton in the same field again and again.
The soil wore out so they moved west to new land.
How did Northerners and the British benefit from the plantation economy of the South?
Why is “King Cotton” an accurate reference to the economy during this time?

14. Cotton and Slavery

15. Cotton and Slavery

16. The Plantation System
“A Cotton Plantation on the Mississippi—The Harvest” was painted by artist William A. Walker of Charleston. How does Walker’s painting idealize the southern plantation?

17. The Plantation System
Paternalism
Slaves were not viewed by their owners as human beings, but as property.
Blacks in the south lacked the basic rights held by whites
Even owners who treated their slaves relatively well practiced paternalism.
They believed slaves were incapable of caring for themselves or making their own decisions.

18. The Slave Community
Despite tremendous hardships, slaves developed a community and a sense of dignity.
Religion was very important to them.
Spirituals often provided slaves with a way to convey messages about freedom
Preachers also often voiced a desire for freedom in sermons they delivered in secret
A Slave Marriage Ceremony, called a “Broomstick Wedding.”

19. The Denmark Vesey “Plot”
Denmark Vesey was a freed slave who was accused of planning one of the biggest slave uprisings in American history.
With money he’d earned as a hired hand, Vesey purchased a lottery ticket in He won $1,500 and bought his freedom.
He opened a carpentry shop and became a respected artisan.
He soon began to speak out against slavery.
Secretly, he began to organize a slave rebellion.

20. The Denmark Vesey “Plot”
The plan was leaked to authorities and Vesey was arrested along with many of his followers.
Vesey and 22 other men were found guilty and hanged.
South Carolina’s General Assembly responded to the the event with tough measures making it much harder to free slaves. They also passed strict new slave codes.

21. Plantations Over Industry
Why didn’t South Carolina have more textile mills and factories during this time?

22. The Expansion of Industry
Some Carolinians believed the state should make its own textiles, instead of selling cotton to Europe or New England.
William Gregg opened a large New England style mill in South Carolina. To house his workers Gregg built a mill village complete with store and school.
Industry did grow within the state during this period, but South Carolina remained primarily an agricultural state and cotton would remain king.