11.2 Plantations & Slavery Spread

Invented in 1793, this machine made the process of cleaning cotton far more efficient.

• steel plow

• cotton gin

• cotton shear

• mechanical reaper

Who invented the cotton gin in 1793?

• Ben Franklin

• John Calhoun

• Andrew Jackson

• Eli Whitney

In what ways did the cotton gin change Southern life? (Choose 3)

• Triggered westward expansion; needed more land for plantations

• Slavery continued to be an important source of labor

• More railroads were constructed in the South to speed up transportation of cotton

• Cotton exports increased in the South

By the late 1830s, earnings from cotton exports rose to $___________.

• $1 million

• $100 million

• $200 million

• $1 billion

By 1840, ______ of white families owned enslaved people.

• one-half

• one-third

• three-fourths

• one-quarter

True of False: Most white Southerners owned few or no enslaved people, but most whites supported the slavery system anyway.

• True

• False

Enslaved African Americans totaled about ______ of the South's population in 1840.

• 33%

• 50%

• 10%

• 75%

In 1840, ___% of African Americans living in the South were free.

• 5

• 8

• 25

• 10