Transcript The Plantation South - Our Lady of the Snows School

TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas.
Slavery and African American Life
TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas.
Objectives
• Explain the significance of cotton and the cotton
gin to the South.
• Describe what life was like for free and enslaved
African Americans in the South.
TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas.
Terms and People
• cotton gin – a machine that used a spiked
cylinder to remove seeds from cotton fibers
• slave code – laws that controlled every aspect
of the lives of enslaved African Americans
• spiritual – a religious folk song that blended
biblical themes with the realities of slavery
• Nat Turner – a slave who led a famous slave
revolt in 1831
TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas.
How did cotton affect the social and
economic life of the South?
A boom in textiles caused by the Industrial
Revolution created a huge demand for
cotton.
The South’s economy became dependent
on cotton, and cotton plantations became
dependent on slave labor.
TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas.
In the North,
the Industrial
Revolution
caused
industry,
immigration,
and cities to
grow.
The South remained largely
rural as its plantations
grew wealthy from the
cotton trade.
TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas.
Before the introduction of the cotton gin, laborers
had to pick seeds out of the cotton by hand,
which was a very slow process.
In 1793, Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin.
The cotton gin greatly sped up the
processing of cotton and made it much more
profitable.
TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas.
Cotton became the greatest source of wealth
for the United States, enriching:
Northern bankers and ship owners
Southern planters
TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas.
To keep up with the
demand for cotton
and the new ability
to process it
quickly, planters
used more slave
labor.
From 1790 to
1860, both the
demand for and the
price of slaves
increased
dramatically.
TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas.
Enslaved African Americans had no rights at all,
and their lives were controlled by slave codes.
TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas.
Lives of Enslaved
African Americans in the South
Tasks
• Some enslaved African Americans worked in
their owners’ homes.
• Most did heavy farm labor.
Working
conditions
• Some slaveholders worked slaves almost to
death and whipped them as punishment for
many offenses.
• Most owners saw their slaves as valuable
property and tried to keep them healthy so
they would be productive.
Families
• Owners often broke apart slave families by
selling family members.
TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas.
Enslaved African Americans passed on African
customs, music, and dance to their children.
Many African Americans found messages of hope
in the Bible, and they composed spirituals.
TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas.
Many enslaved African Americans resisted slaveholders
by working slowly, breaking equipment, fleeing to
freedom in the north, and rebelling.
In 1831, Nat Turner said he had a vision telling
him to kill whites. He led a famous but doomed
slave revolt.
Whites retaliated by killing many innocent African
Americans.
TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas.
After 1808, it was illegal to import enslaved
Africans to the United States.
By the 1830s, some northerners were
pushing for slavery to be banned.
TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas.
Supporters of
slavery said
that it was
more humane
than the free
labor system of
the North.
Critics of
slavery said
that slaves
suffered abuse
from white
owners.
TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas.
Most southern whites accepted the system of
slavery, fearing violent uprisings would follow if
control over slaves was weakened.
TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas.
About 6 percent of the 4 million African
Americans in the South were free.
Many of the free African Americans made valuable
contributions to southern life:
• Norbert Rillieux improved sugar refining.
• Henry Blair invented a seed-planting device.
TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas.
Obstacles Faced by Free
African Americans in the South
Jobs
• Free African Americans were given only the
most menial jobs.
Travel
• They were discouraged from traveling.
Education
• Their children could not attend public
schools.
Political
Rights
• They could not vote, serve on juries, or
testify against white defendants in court.
Liberty
• Slave catchers often kidnapped them and
sold them into slavery.
TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas.
In the southern “Cotton Kingdom,” society was
dominated by a small group of wealthy plantation
owners.
But more than half of all southern farmers
did not have slaves.
Instead of growing cotton, these people often
grew corn and raised hogs and chickens.