1. The Land of Cotton Essential Questions: Do Now: Homework:
How did the Southern economy become dependent upon cotton and slavery?
What words best describe Southern society in the early nineteenth century?
How did enslaved African American cope with their working conditions?
Do Now:
Pg. 151 Cotton Production # 1 and 2
Pg. 152 Slavery in the South # 1 and 2
Homework:
Growing Sectionalism pg. 155

2. The Southern Economy
Cotton played the greatest role in the South’s fortunes
grown from inland South Carolina through Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi, and into eastern Texas.
Cotton Becomes King
Eli Whitney built a simple cotton gin that quickly and efficiently combed the seeds out of cotton bolls.
The cotton gin increased cotton production and strengthened the institution of slavery.
Industry Lags
The South did not industrialize as quickly as the North
Remained mostly a rural region that relied heavily on agriculture.

3. Society in the South
The South’s economy resulted in a society with a rigid and clearly defined class structure.
Top = Planter Elite
Bottom = African Americans.
Yeoman farmers
people who owned and cultivated a small farm
made up the vast majority of the white population.

4. Slavery
Enslaved people had few legal rights with state slave codes prohibiting ownership of property, learning to read and write, or leaving a slaveholder’s premises without permission.
Farms and small plantations operated on the task system in which enslaved people were given a specific set of jobs to accomplish every day.
Large plantations operated on the gang system in which enslaved people worked in groups that labored from sunup to sundown.
Some enslaved people staged work slowdowns, broke tools, set fire to houses and barns, or ran away.

5. Slave Labor Slavery used on plantations growing cash crops
Cotton, tobacco, rice
Slave driver forced slaves to work
Whippings and beatings were used
Slave owners feared revolts
Led to brutal repression of slaves

6. Slave Life Slaves maintained culture, religious, family ties
Spirituals – songs celebrating religion and deliverance
Brer Rabbit tales – stories of resistance
Created unique African-American culture

7. Effect of Slavery on White South
75% of white southerners did not own slaves
Most supported slavery
Believed whites superior to blacks
Wages were lower in South because of competition from slaves
Money was spent on slaves instead of industry
Forced South to an agriculture economy
South was dependent on northern industry
South begin to believe government favored North