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cotton slavery and the old south quizlet
america's industrial and economical revolution in the 19th century
an essay of the cotton economy
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In the South, cotton became a profitable cash crop and by the mid-19th century had become America’s leading export (History.com Staff, 2010). Cotton was an ideal crop in many ways, however cotton plants contained seeds that were difficult and labor intensive to separate. In 1794, Eli Whitney invented a machine that would greatly speed up the process of removing the seeds from cotton fibers. The cotton “gin” effectively and efficiently removed the seeds from cotton plants, enabling operators to produce fifty times more cotton that workers could by hand (Tindall, 20121109). Agricultural developments alongside interconnected railroad infrastructure increased productivity and volume, however, technology changed the economic direction in even more profound ways engendering the factory system.
Work performed on a large scale, in mass production from a single location became known as the factory system. Factories sprouted up throughout the North, increasing the number of Americans engaged in manufacturing eightfold between 1820 and 1840 (Tindall, 20121109). Greater volumes and varieties of goods were achieved through factories, raising the standard of living for many middle and upper class Americans, however life for the poorer classes presented low wages, dangerous working conditions and little job security (History.com
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New often took weeks to travel along the Atlantic seaboard and even longer to the Pacific Northwest and Europe. By 1830, the express mail system was devised, providing fresh horses for riders at relay stations, although the states west of the Appalachian Mountains still experienced delays, but by 1832, the telegraph was invented triggering even more transformation for Americans. In less than 10 years, telegraph lines connected all major cities, additionally confirming America’s position as a modern and emerging national
Before the American civil war, the Southerner’s economy had almost entirely been constructed on slave and cash crop agriculture. The cotton gin was invented by Eli Whitney. The cotton gin was a contraption that transmogrified the fabrication of cotton by significantly making the task of removing seeds from the cotton fiber faster. The invention benefitted the slaves because it saved the slaves
As technologies like steam developed industrialization was able to make use of the geography of the country. There was plenty of cheap land for farming so "American skilled workers tended to be both scarce and expensive" (Cowan 90) and it was necessary for people to create more efficient ways to work. Inventors created machines and methods that would require fewer people or people with fewer skills to compensate for the reduced labor force. This land rich environment lead to a working class that was for the most part transient. Men worked for a short time to make money to start up farms or businesses of their own. Women worked in factories to earn money to send home before they married and raised families. The American worker did not think of themselves as a permanent fixture in the factories, only as transient participant to earn what they need to move on to the next stages of their lives.
America’s economies and regions were becoming more connected than ever, which also contributed to a resulting better economy. However, the dependence on agriculture and slavery in the South resulted in further sectionalism and isolating ties to England. Though the connection between the Midwest and the North was strong due to numerous railroads, canals, and paved roads, the South was not as included in the new Market Revolution that was taking place. In addition to this, the South barely traded with any of the other regions. In fact, the South exported most of its cotton to England, and imported foreign goods more than any other region. Only connected to England, the South cut off a substantial amount of ties with its American sister regions. Slavery also contributed to the economy of the South. The only region that relied on slaves, the South was the minority when it came to favoring the peculiar institution. The invention of Eli Whitney’s Cotton Gin revived the need for slavery in the South which made the picking and production of cotton faster and more profitable that it was before. In the South, “Cotton was King,” and because of this, the
the early American economy was described by littler, nearby markets, revolved around huge urban communities. The boundless extension of the railways in the late 1800s changed this, entwining the nation into one national business sector, in which merchandise could be transported available to be purchased the nation over. The railways likewise gave a gigantic force to financial development since they themselves gave such an enormous business sector to products steel and timber, for instance. In the late nineteenth century the railways spoke to the primary "enormous business." The railroad business was the biggest single boss of work in the U.S., and institutionalized America financially, socially, and socially.
In the north, machines, interchangeable parts, and mass production were fast becoming a way of life. Northerners began building factories for mass production. These first factories were used for making textiles and later evolved to manufacturing a wide variety of goods. This created several opportunities for jobs. And with immigrants flooding in from Europe, finding employment was no problem. The factory system was efficient and inexpensive for the north to employ a large work force.
Cotton, once a very difficult and complicated crop to grow due to its many seeds stuck to its fibers, became a smooth, factory like performance with the aid of the cotton gin. Cotton was so important it made up two thirds of all 200 million dollars. The cotton gin, thanks to Eli Whitney helped remove the seeds faster, and not as painstakingly as before, this resulted in faster and greater production. A greater product wield means that the larger the workforce needed to grow in conjunction with the labor force, in this case reffered to as “King Cotton”. The greater workforce was slaves, and the invention of the cotton gin led to greatly expanding the amount of slavery in the South. The more slaves brought in to cultivate the cotton the more involucrate the Southern planters had become with agriculture, this strong attachment and dependency for cotton led to the South’s poor establishment of Industry. The total value of textiles from the South for example, made about 4.5 million dollars in the 1860’s, that may sound impressive but it is r...
Secondly, the demand for cotton grew tremendously as cotton became an important raw material for the then developing cotton industries in the North and Britain. The growing of cotton revived the Southern economy and the plantations spread across the south, and by 1850 the southern U.S produced more than 80% of cotton all over the world. As this cotton based economy of the south grew so did the slave labor to work in these large scale plantations since they were more labor-intensive...
The Cotton Gin was an invention that allowed the mass production of cotton. Cotton was previously a very difficult crop to profit from, because of the long hours required to separate cotton seeds from the actual cotton fibers. This all changed when Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin in 1793, a machine that sped up the process, thereby making cotton farming a profitable industry for the Southern States. With large areas of prime land ready for crops the Southern states bought and transported slaves in record numbers in order to work on their cotton farms. Although there are no definitive statistics approximately 1,000,000 slaves were moved west from the 'old Southern states' to the new ones; i.e. Maryland, Virginia and the Carolinas to Georgia, Tennessee and Alabama. The new ease of cotton ginning coupled with the high demand for cotton in the textile industry gave rise to the need for a workforce to harvest the cotton. The farmers turned to a readily available labor force they didn't have to pay: slaves.
Stanley, George E. "The Rise Of Manufacturing." The Era of Reconstruction and Expansion (1865-1900. N.p.: World Almanac Library, 2005. 20-21. Google Books. World Almanac Library. Web. 29 Sept. 2013.
1800s factories were beginning to be built. Also installing machinery to take the jobs of
In the 19th century, America had a basic economy and small industry. It was also a new country, with few customs and traditions. It had not had time to acquire any, because it was still so new. America has grown a lot since then, and a lot of the steps we have taken to get to today's bustling economy and immense industry took place in the nineteenth century. Commerce and industry contributed to America's nineteenth century identity because it provided the framework for a larger economy in the future, helped drive western expansion and growth of cities, made an improved transportation system necessary, and forced many new inventions onto the market
The author discusses the rise of textile mills in 19th century America and how technology
Farmers began to cultivate vast areas of needed crops such as wheat, cotton, and even corn. Document D shows a picture of The Wheat Harvest in 1880, with men on earlier tractors and over 20-30 horses pulling the tractor along the long and wide fields of wheat. As farmers started to accumilate their goods, they needed to be able to transfer the goods across states, maybe from Illinios to Kansas, or Cheyenne to Ohmaha. Some farmers chose to use cattle trails to transport their goods. Document B demonstrates a good mapping of the major railroads in 1870 and 1890. Although cattle trails weren't used in 1890, this document shows the existent of several cattle trails leading into Chyenne, San Antonio, Kansas City and other towns nearby the named ones in 1870. So, farmers began to transport their goods by railroads, which were publically used in Germany by 1550 and migrated to the United States with the help of Colonel John Stevens in 1826. In 1890, railroads expanded not only from California, Nebraska, Utah, Wyoming and Nevada, but up along to Washington, Montana, Michigan, down to New Mexico and Arizona as well. Eastern States such as New Jersey, Tennesse, Virginia and many others were filled with existing railroads prior to 1870, as Colonel John Stevens started out his railroad revolutionzing movement in New Jersey in 1815.
The south, which was mostly agricultural, depended on the production of cotton. It was very important to their economy. Before Eli Whitney’s Cotton Gin was used throughout the south, the United States produced about 750,000 bales of hay in 1830 (How the Cotton Gin). By 1850 it had increased to 2.85 billion bales of hay (How the Cotton Gin). Most of this was in the south because it had the weather conditions needed for cotton to grow. In 1793 Whitney saw the difficulty of taking out cotton seeds by hand (Cefrey 10-11). He decided to create a machine that could clean cotton faster than a human could. The Cotton Gin made the processing of cotton much faster and quicker. As a result of this, land owners were now able to have large cotton plantations across the south (How the Cotton Gin). Southerners were becoming wealthy very fast because of the cotton gin. Eli Whitney’s invention of the Cotton Gin made cotton the South’s main crop making more slave labor needed and political tensions rise.
On April 3rd, 1860, the Pony Express started. The first rider named Henry Wallace left St. Joseph, Missouri. On April 13th the last rider reached Sacramento, California. To become a rider you had to be a brave young man, and an orphan, because it was a dangerous job. They had to be very good riders, and able to shoot good. And they must not fear Indian attacks. Every rider had to ride sixty miles at very high speed. He had to travel the 60 miles with six different ponies and in six hours. Every day except on Sundays a rider left Missouri at 12 o’clock. The rider in Sacramento arrived at 8 o’clock in the morning. The pony express lasted only for one and a half year. The completion of the transcontinental telegraph line between Missouri and California was the reason the pony express ended. “Tele” means distant and “graphein” means to write, in greek. They could send messages and news over long distance. The first inventor of the telegraph was Samuel Finley Breese Morse. Groups working to finish the transcontinental telegraph meet at Fort Bridger in Utah territory. The first transcontinental telegraph was sent from San Fransico to Washington. The message was from the states Chief Justice to President Lincoln. http://www.eduplace.com/rdg/gen_act/travel/pony1.html The telegraph line only went as far west as St. Joseph, Missouri in 1860. It was 2,000 miles from St. Joseph to the west coast as Sacramento, California. It took over months for messages to be carried by ships, wagon trains, or stage coaches to reach California.