Southern Cotton Kingdom:Chapter 9, Section 1

Geography shapes the physical, economic, and political challenges a region faces. Cotton was

vital to the economy of the South.

Rise of the Cotton Kingdom• Main Idea: Unlike

North, Southern economy remained mainly agrarian.

• Cotton: Not the ONLY crop grown in the South, but the crop that fueled the economy

Upper South vs. Deep South• Most Southerners lived along

the coast…Maryland, Tennessee, North Carolina (UPPER SOUTH)

• By 1850, people started moving inland…Georgia, South Carolina, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Florida, Arkansas, Texas (DEEP SOUTH)

Cotton Rules the Deep South• In colonial times, rice, indigo,

and tobacco were main crops, but demand decreased after Revolution

• Cotton became new crop/high in demand, but was difficult to produce (Hard to separate seeds from fibers)

Eli Whitney’s Cotton Gin• Machine that removed seeds

from cotton fiber • Combined work of 50 men• The term gin which is an

abbreviation for the word engine, literally means machine. A cotton gin combines a wire mesh with wire hooks used to pull the cotton fibers through the mesh to prevent the seeds to come along with the cotton fiber. Some of the earliest versions which can be traced way back in the first century AD, made the use of stone or wood and consisted of a single roller.

Cotton Gin 1. Cotton bolls are dumped into the hopper

2. Hand crank turns a cylinder with wire teeth. The teeth pull the cotton past a grate

3. Slots in the grate allow the cotton, but not seeds, to pass through

4. A second cylinder with brushes pulls cotton off toothed cylinder and sends it out of the gin

Cotton Gin • Invention of cotton gin created a demand for more enslaved people…WHY?

• Farmers processed more cotton, more quickly

• Needed the extra hands to keep up

Deep South vs. Upper South

• By 1860 the two economies differed…

• Upper South: tobacco, hemp, wheat, vegetables

• Deep South: cotton, rice, sugarcane

1. What effect did the cotton gin have on the South’s economy?a. What were some of the positive and negative effects of its

invention?

Industry in the South• Main Idea: For many

reasons, industry developed slowly in the South.

• Industry in North booming, South remaining rural

• The WHOLE South combined produced fewer manufactured goods than JUST the state of Massachusetts.

Barriers to South• What were reasons for

little industry?– Boom in cotton sales– Committed to farming, not

starting new businesses– Lack of CAPITAL– Unwilling to sell slaves to

raise money for factories– The market was smaller

than in the North– Didn’t want it

• “As long as we have our rice, sugar, our tobacco and our cotton, we can command wealth to purchase all we want.”

Southern Factories• Not all were confident

about future of cotton farming industry

• Some wanted to develop industry

• Uncomfortable with dependency on North for manufactured goods

• Upper South wanted to make $ from factories

Southern Factories• Not much industry in South,

except...• William Gregg = merchant from

Charleston, SC. Opened textile factory after touring New England’s

• Joseph Reid Anderson = took over Tredegar Iron Works in the 1840s, made it one of nation’s leading producers of iron (later helped with Civil War weaponry)

• Three largest cities: Baltimore, Charleston, New Orleans. The rest was pretty rural

Cotton Production Moves West • To keep up with demands,

cotton plantations moved westward

• Fertile soil “black belt” of Mississippi and Alabama, along Mississippi River

• Waterways provided transportation of goods in South

• Also built railroads, but to lesser extent than in North, short/local didn’t connect much

1. What could result from the South’s decision to build up the cotton’s economy while discouraging industry?

2. What role did geography play in the spread of cotton? Would cotton growing necessarily spread to all areas? Why/why not?

3. What is capital? Why is it important for economic growth?4. What were the major crops in the Deep South (other than cotton)?5. Why did the invention of the cotton gin increase the demand for

enslaved people?6. How might the banning of slavery have affected the South’s

economy?