Jackie Cho, Brian Hou, Kristyn Karmazyn, Rebekah Liang, Jake Otterbein, Jae Song, Anthony Tuckman

Chapter 11: COTTON, SLAVERY, AND THE OLD SOUTH

Q #1DQ #3: To what extent did agriculture create a stable Southern Economy between 1820 and 1860?

I.  Unstable Cash Crop

A.  Tobacco Economy Decline

·  Upper South’s tobacco market was unstable à prices fluctuated often, experienced period of depression from 1820-1850s

·  Difficult to grow tobacco à exhausted lands à growers could not keep business in one place

·  Rice cultivation à need long growing season à restricted to small area, inefficient profit to fuel Southern economy

·  Sugar cultivation à intensive labor and long growing town à Southern planters competed w/ Caribbean sugar plantations

·  Decline of tobacco economy & limited cash crop àunstable Southern economy due to decline in agricultural growth

II.  Cotton Production

A.  Rapid Production

·  The decline of tobacco economy à New and rapid short-staple cotton production

·  Eli Whitney’s cotton gin- made cotton production fast and efficient- cotton became a profitable business

·  Cotton production spread across South (westward)- by 1850s, cotton production dominated Southern agriculture and economy

B.  Cotton Demand

·  1820-1830s textile industry in Britain & Northern factories à increased cotton demand from South

·  As demand grew à planters moved to establish new cotton-growing regions à cotton plantations and production spread through lower Southern regions

·  South became increasingly dependent on plantation agriculture àSouthern plantations generated 75% of the world’s cotton supply

o  Due to the international and high demands for cotton à Southern economy thrived with its new cash crop

·  Northern and Southern economy grew hand in hand à as textile industry and the need for raw cotton grew -> cotton demand grew and South produced more cottons to meet the demands

·  Periodic fluctuation of cotton prices resulted from massive incline in production à however Southern economy continued to expand

o  By 1860, cotton provided 2/3s of total export trade of United States à 100x more profit compared to its previous annual production of rice crop

·  Cotton production created a stable and thriving Southern economy

III.  Slave Expansion

A.  Plantation Slavery

·  Short-staple cotton required hard labor to clean and separate the seeds à slaves became main source of laborers for cotton industry

·  As cotton productions increased àpopulation of slaves increased à from 41,000 to 435,000 in Alabama b/t 1820-1860

·  Slaves were also sold from the Southàbecame important Southern economic activity à helped planters in upper South compensate for declining value of their crop

·  South grew more dependent on plantation slavery à lacking factories and industrial jobs, South remained heavily agricultural à profits earned from land and slave expansion

·  Slavery - essential to agricultural economies of South à demands for slaves increase à farmers& planters expand westward for cotton plantations à create stable economy in South

CONCLUSION: In the South between 1820 and 1860, the advancement in plantation agriculture continued to affect the Southern economy in many ways. Starting in the 1820s, the tobacco market experienced a heavy decline in its price, resulting in the depression of the tobacco economy. Agriculture can negatively affect the Southern economy, as Evident in the instability of the tobacco economy and the limitation of different cash crops. However, the production of short-staple cotton provided restoration from the previous failing market of crops. Cotton demand extended from the Industrial North to Britain and soon, the Southern economy soon became dominated by cotton production. The Southern economy also depended on slavery and the selling of slaves. As cotton production increased the demands for slaves also increased and expanded westward along with the cotton plantations. Although agriculture negatively impacted the Southern economy due to fluctuations and price depressions of the crop price, it also help create a stable and thriving Southern economy with the77787 extensive cotton production and the increasing demand for slaves throughout the Southern region.

Works Cited

"Cotton in the South." Boundless. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Mar. 2014.

"Slavery in the United States." Boundless. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Mar. 2014.