The Plantation South
Cotton Gin
The Cotton Kingdom
• Affect on the Social Life in the South
– Slaves
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No rights
No schooling
Forced to work
Treated harshly
Families were broken apart
Slave Codes
Slave Codes
The Cotton Kingdom
• Affect on Social Life cont.
– Planters
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Lived on estates called Plantations
Wealthy and educated
Children had private educations
Many rights
Believed slavery was more humane than the treatment
of factory workers in the North
Economic Affect
• Great source of income (2/3rds of all exports in
1850)
• Created a small wealthy class- Planters
• Invention of the cotton gin helped increase
workers production, so more cotton could be
grown
• Slavery expands and the slave trade continued
until 1860s
Americans Move West
• Roads were built
– Private toll roads became common in the East
– National Road was the 1st federally funded highway in
the U.S.
• Canals
– Increased the size of loads being shipped
– Cheap and fast form of transport
• Railroads
– Very fast and reliable
– Could haul large amounts of goods and people
Westward Expansion Intensifies the
Debate Over Slavery
• Balance of free and slave states
– 1819- 11 free and 11 slave states
• Missouri Compromise 1820- Henry Clay
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Maine enters as a free state
Missouri enters as a slave state
No slavery north of Missouri's southern border
Slave owners can pursue runaways into “free regions”
• Continuing Problem
• Sectionalism: North vs. South, Free vs. Slave
– Expansion of slavery is the main issue… would it be
allowed