NAME:______Date:______
Assignment #______
Chapter 14:
Web Activity
Nat Turner, The Cotton Gin, Economy of the North and South
Prior to the Civil War
Follow the directions on the Web page as well as this work sheet to find out more information about Nat Turner, The Cotton Gin and Eli Whitney, and the economy of the North and South before the Civil War.
1.Go to , scroll down to “Favorite Sites” and click on “North and South: Cotton Gin, Nat Turner, and the Economy”. After clicking you will be on the Web Activity site.
2.Now go to “Nat Turner” and click on the first link and answer the questions below.
Where was Nat Turner Born?
When was Nat Turner born?
Was he a slave or free black?
What “gift” or special thing could Nat do as a young boy?
What did Nat do in 1821?
Scroll down to where it says, “In February, 1831…”
Then, in February, 1831, there was an eclipse of the ______. Turner took this to be the sign he had been promised and confided his plan to the ______men he trusted the most, Henry, Hark, Nelson, and Sam. They decided to hold the ______on the 4th of July and began planning a strategy. However, they had to postpone action because Turner became ______.
On August 13, there was an atmospheric ______in which the sun appeared ______-______. This was the final sign, and a week later, on August ______, Turner and ______of his men met in the woods to eat a dinner and make their plans. At ______that morning, they set out to the ______household, where they killed the entire ______as they lay sleeping. They continued on, from ______to ______, killing all of the ______people they encountered. Turner's force eventually consisted of more than ______slaves, most on horseback.
By about mid-day on August ______, Turner decided to march toward ______, the closest town. By then word of the rebellion had gotten out to the ______; confronted by a group of ______, the______scattered, and Turner's force became disorganized. After spending the night near some slave cabins, Turner and his men attempted to attack another house, but were repulsed. Several of the ______were captured. The remaining force then met the ______and ______troops in final skirmish, in which one ______was killed and many escaped, including Turner. In the end, the rebels had stabbed, shot and clubbed at least ______white people to death.
Nat Turner hid in several different places near the Travis farm, but on October 30 was discovered and captured. His "Confession," dictated to physician Thomas R. Gray, was taken while he was imprisoned in the County Jail. On November ______, Nat Turner was tried in the Southampton County Court and sentenced to execution. He was ______, and then ______, on November ______.
In total, the state executed ______people, banished many more, and acquitted a few. The state reimbursed the ______for their slaves. But in the hysterical climate that followed the ______, close to ______black people, many of whom had nothing to do with the rebellion, were murdered by ______mobs. In addition, slaves as far away as ______were accused of having a connection with the insurrection, and were subsequently tried and executed.
The state legislature of ______considered abolishing slavery, but in a close vote decided to retain slavery and to support a repressive policy against black people, ______and ______.
3.Next, go back to the Web Activity page and go to the link for “Eli Whitney and the Cotton Gin”.
4.Click on “The Cotton Gin” and answer the questions below.
When did Eli Whitney leave new England and head South?
Where did he graduate college from?
What state he leave?
What state did Whitney move to?
There Whitney quickly learned that ______planters were in ______need of a way to make the growing of ______profitable. Long-______cotton, which was easy to separate from its seeds, could be grown only along the ______. The one variety that grew inland had sticky ______seeds that were time-consuming to ______out of the fluffy white ______bolls. Whitney was encouraged to find a solution to this problem by his employer, Catherine ______, whose support, both moral and ______were critical to this effort. At stake was the success of ______planting throughout the South, especially important at a time when ______was declining in profit due to over-supply and soil ______.
Whitney knew that if he could invent such a machine, he could apply to the federal ______for a ______. If granted, he would have exclusive rights to his invention for ______years (today it is ______years), and he could hope to reap a handsome ______from it.
In Article ___, Section ___, Clause ____ , the ______empowers Congress "To promote the progress of ______and useful arts by securing for ______times to authors and ______the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries." Patent law must carefully balance the rights of the ______to ______from his or her invention (through the grant of a temporary monopoly) against the needs of society at large to benefit from new ideas.
The patent bill of ______enabled the government to patent "any useful art, manufacture, engine, ______, or device, or any instrument thereon not before known or used." The patent act of ______gave the secretary of state the power to issue a patent to anyone who presented working drawings, a written description, a model, and paid an application fee. Over time the requirements and procedures have changed. Today the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office is under the auspices of the Commerce Department.
- Did Whitney and his partner Miller make a profit from the Cotton Gin?
What happened?
5. Nextgo to the “Effects of the Cotton Gin”. Fill in the blanks below.
After the invention of the ______, the yield of raw cotton ______each decade after ______. Demand was fueled by other inventions of the ______, such as the machines to spin and weave it and the ______to transport it. By ______America was growing ______-______of the world's supply of cotton, most of it shipped to ______or ______where it was manufactured into ______. During this time ______fell in value, ______exports at best stayed steady, and ______began to thrive, but only in ______. At midcentury the ______provided ______-______of America's exports -- most of it in cotton.
However, like many inventors, ______(who died in 1825) could not have foreseen the ways in which his invention would change society for the______. The most significant of these was the growth of ______. While it was true that the cotton gin reduced the ______of removing seeds, it did not ______the need for slaves to ______and ______the cotton. In fact, the opposite occurred. Cotton growing became so ______for the planters that it greatly increased their demand for both ______and ______labor. In ______there were ______slave states; in ______there were ______. From ______until Congress banned the importation of slaves from Africa in ______, Southerners imported ______Africans. By 1860 approximately ______in ______Southerners was a ______.
Because of the cotton gin, slaves now labored on ever-larger ______where work was more regimented and relentless. As large plantations spread into the ______, the ______of slaves and land inhibited the growth of ______and ______. In the ______seven-eighths of all immigrants settled in the North, where they found ______of the nation's manufacturing capacity. The growth of the "peculiar institution" was affecting many aspects of Southern life.
While Eli Whitney is best remembered as the inventor of the ______, it is often forgotten that he was also the father of the ______method. In ______he figured out how to manufacture muskets by machine so that the parts were ______. It was as a manufacturer of muskets that Whitney finally became rich. If his genius led ______to triumph in the ______, it also created the technology with which the ______won the ______.
Did Eli Whitney invent interchangeable parts before or after he invented the cotton gin?