Cotton Gin Expands Slavery

Cotton Gin Expands Slavery

By Sharon McNutt

Slavery Expands

​From 1790 to 1860, cotton production rose greatly. So did the number

of enslaved people in the South. Using slave labor, the South raised mil-

lions of bales of cotton each year for the textile mills of England and the American Northeast. 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.​

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Multiple Choice

Who invented the cotton gin?

• Alexander Graham Bell

• Eli Whitney

• Frederick Douglas

• Thomas Edison

After 1808, when it became illegal to import Africans for use as slaves, the trading of slaves already in the country increased.

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​More Effects

As cotton earnings rose, so did the price of slaves. A male field hand sold for $300 in the 1790s. By the late 1830s, the price had jumped to $1,000.

​Effects

Slavery Expands

Multiple Choice

True/False: The cotton gin led to the increase in both the number and size of cotton farms and plantations.

• true

• false

Only about one-third of Southern white families owned slaves in 1840. Of these slave-owning families, only about one-tenth had large plantations with 20 or more slaves.

Slavery divided white Southerners into those who held slaves and those who did not. Slaveholders with large plantations were the wealthiest and most powerful people in the South, but they were relatively few in number.

Slavery Divides the South

​Small Farmers in the South

Most white Southern farmers owned few or no slaves. Still, many

supported slavery anyway. They worked their small farms themselves

and hoped to buy slaves someday, which would allow them to raise more cotton and earn more money. For both small farmers and large planters, slavery had become necessary for increasing profits.

Why did small farm owners want to enslave people?

Multiple Choice

Why did many

white farmers in the South

without slaves still

support slavery?

• They liked the plantation owners.

• They hoped they would own slaves in the future.

Multiple Choice

What impact did the cotton gin have on GA's economy?

• it had no impact at all
• cotton farming decreased ruining the economy
• it resulted in the decline of rail line construction
• it made cotton farming profitable and boosted the state's economy

African Americans in the South

In cities, enslaved persons worked as domestic servants, skilled craftsmen, factory hands, and day laborers. Sometimes they were hired out and allowed to keep part of their earnings.

Slavery also divided black Southerners into those who were enslaved and those who were free.

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​Free African-Americans​

Though not enslaved, free blacks faced many problems. Some states made them leave once they gained their freedom. Most states did not permit them to vote or receive an education. Many employers refused to hire them. But their biggest threat was the possibility

of being captured and sold into slavery.

​Families in Slavery

Perhaps the cruelest part of slavery was the sale of family members away from one another. Although some slaveholders would not part mothers from children, many did. When enslaved people ran away, it was often to escape separation or to see family again.

When slave families could manage to be together, they took comfort

in their family life. They married, though their marriages were not legally recognized. They tried to raise children, despite interference from owners. Most slave children lived with their mothers, who tried to protect them from punishment. Parents who lived on other plantations often stole away to visit their children, even at the cost of a whipping. Frederick Douglass recalled visits from his mother, who lived 12 miles away.

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Why would a Free African-American want to stay in the South?

​- Frederick Douglass

" I do not recollect of [remember] ever seeing my mother by the light of day. She was with me in the night.

She would lie down with me, and get me to sleep, but long before I waked she was gone. " 

Resistance

Douglass’s mother resisted slavery by the simple act of visiting her

child. Douglass later rebelled by escaping to the North. Other enslaved

people rebelled in more violent ways.

Multiple Select

How did

slavery harm

family life?

• Took away parents’ authority

  over their

  children.

• It separated families.

• Did not recognize

  marriages.

• All of the above

​Rebellion

Armed rebellion was an extreme form of resistance to slavery.

• Gabriel Prosser planned an attack on Richmond, Virginia, in 1800.

• In 1822, Denmark Vesey planned a revolt in Charleston, South Carolina.

• Both plots were betrayed, and the leaders were hanged.

​- Nat Turner

" We do not go forth for the sake of blood and carnage; . . . Remember that ours is not a war for robbery, . . . it is a

struggle for freedom." 

Turner's Rebellion

Most of Turner’s men were captured when their

ammunition ran out, and 16 were killed. When Turner was caught, he was tried and hanged.

The most famous rebellion was led by Nat Turner in Virginia in 1831. On August 21, Turner and 70 followers killed 55 white men, women, and children.

​Effects of Rebellion

• Whites killed more than 200 African Americans in revenge.

• State legislatures passed harsh laws that kept free blacks and slaves from having weapons or buying liquor.

• Slaves could not hold religious services unless whites were present.

• Postmasters stopped delivering antislavery publications.

Effects of Rebellion

After Turner’s rebellion, the grip of slavery grew even

tighter in the South. Tension over slavery increased

between the South and the North, as you will see in the

next section.

Multiple Choice

Why did only a few slaves learn to read and write?

• they weren't interested to learn

• it was illegal to teach them

• they didn't have time to learn

• they couldn't afford a teacher

Multiple Choice

Nat Turner was:

• A slave who led a rebellion
• A slave owner who led a rebellion
• A slave who married his owner
• A slave who died of a cold

Multiple Choice

In retaliation, the white owners

• Gave the rebels a stern lecture
• Sentenced the rebels to prison for a year
• Took mercy on the rebels and set them free
• executed hundreds of black people