The South’s Market Revolution

Cotton, Slavery, and the Old South

Pre-1820’s Southern

Agriculture Virginia, Maryland,

N. Carolina Tobacco

S. Carolina, Georgia, Florida Rice

Gulf Coast states Sugar

Decline of Staple

Crops 1820-1850 saw a decline in

staple crops Tobacco

Notoriously unstable Price fluctuations Exhausted the land Became to expensive

Rice Lots of irrigations Long growing period (9 months) Relatively small area of growing

Sugar Very hard work Long growing seasons

Rise of “King Cotton”

Short-Staple Cotton Courser than long-

staple Could grow in a

variety of climates Harder to process

because of seeds though 1793 problem

solved with the invention of the Cotton gin

The New Market

Too meet demand of labor for new cotton market, northern slaves sent south Creates a new market

system Transportation Storage Sells Labor

Slavery expected to end by 1830 now saw with this new market the expansion of slavery

The Slave Market

Major centers were New Orleans and Atlanta

Step one: Transportation Slaves would be

sold to middle-men in Chesapeake state

Travel by wagon or foot to the markets

Slave Market Con’t

Step 2: Storage Slaves brought to

centers Put into holding

pens Prospective buyers

could view the merchandise

Slave Market Con’t

Step 3: Selling merchandise Auctions would be

held Slaves sold based

on appearance and sex

Most tried, but usually failed to keep families together

Slave Market Con’t

Step 4: Labor Sold Slaves would be either

sent to plantations or work in or around the markets

Division of labor Women

House slaves Wet Nurses Or field work

Men Sent to field Trained in trades

Black smiths, wranglers, etc Also made overseers

Market Resistance

Slaves were not docile lemmings Feigned sickness or

injury so as not to be sold to someone they disliked Opposite for those

they did like Labor resistance

Feigning sickness Breaking equipment Running away

What it Means

Historians have argued that there was no “Market Revolution” in the south True: There was no industrial

growth like the north False: The new slave/cotton

markets brought about a revolution in the south Expansion of slavery King Cotton South a economic and thus a

political power Will use that power to hold

onto slavery

White Society in the

South Only a small minority

owned slaves 1860: 383,000 owned

slaves out of a population of 8 mil.

Planter Aristocracy Owned 40-50 slaves Owned 800+ acres Dominated economic,

political, and social life in the south