Growth of the Cotton Industry

1
Growth of the Cotton Industry

• Before the American Revolution, three crops
  dominated southern agriculture tobacco, rice
  and indigo
• These crops, produced mainly by enslaved African
  Americans
• Before cotton could be spun into thread for
  weaving cloth, the seeds had to be removed from
  the cotton fibers

2
Eli Whitney

• With the increasing need for cloth and growth of
  textile factories, American cotton was in high
  demand
• Eli Whitney invented the Cotton Gin, a machine
  that removes seeds from short-staple cotton
• Planters large scale farmers who held more than
  20 slaves

3
The Cotton Boom

• From the South of the United States as far west
  as Texas was considered the Cotton Belt, where
  Cotton was grown
• The south also grew corn, rice, sweet potatoes,
  wheat and sugarcane.
• Textile Mills in Great Britain were the largest
  foreign buyers of southern cotton

4
Southern Society

• During the first half of the 1800s, only about
  one-third of white southern families had slaves
• Despite their small numbers, these planters had a
  powerful influence over the south. Many served as
  political leaders.
• Most white southerners were Yeoman, owners of
  small farms
• Yeoman owned few slaves if any at all.

5
Assessment Questions

• Page 419, Questions 1a, 2a, 2b, 3a, 3b
• Page 423, Questions 1a, 1b, 2a, 2b,
• Questions and answers