Chapter
11 Section 3
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.
The Plantation South
Chapter
11 Section 3
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
The Plantation South
Chapter
11 Section 3
Warm Up Questions
Directions: Answer the following on a piece of paper.
1. Why would slave owners want their slaves to be healthy?
2. How did the cotton gin affect cotton production?
3. What were slave codes?
4. What could happen to runaway slaves and even free Africans?
Use pages 396 - 400 if needed
The Plantation South
Chapter
11 Section 3
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.
The Plantation South
Chapter
11 Section 3
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.
The Plantation South
Chapter
11 Section 3
The Cotton Gin
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.
The Plantation South
Chapter
11 Section 3
In 1790, planters
grew 1.5 million
pounds of cotton,
but by 1820, they
grew ten times as
much.
The Plantation South
Chapter
11 Section 3
Cotton became the greatest source of wealth
for the United States, enriching:
Northern bankers and ship owners
Southern planters
The Plantation South
Chapter
11 Section 3
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, the price of a
slave increased ten
or twenty times.
The Plantation South
Chapter
11 Section 3
Enslaved African Americans
Enslaved African Americans had no rights at all,
and their lives were controlled by slave codes.
The Plantation South
Chapter
11 Section 3
An Extreme Case……
The Plantation South
Chapter
11 Section 3
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 slave holders 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.
The Plantation South
Chapter
11 Section 3
The Plantation South
Chapter
11 Section 3
The Plantation South
Chapter
11 Section 3
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11 Section 3
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Chapter
11 Section 3
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.
The Plantation South
Chapter
11 Section 3
Many enslaved African Americans resisted slave
holders by working slowly, breaking equipment,
fleeing to freedom in the north, and rebelling.
In 1831, Nat Turner said he was told to kill
whites in a vision. He led a famous, but doomed,
slave revolt.
Whites retaliated by killing many innocent African
Americans.
The Plantation South
Chapter
11 Section 3
Abolition Movement
- Movement to end slavery in America
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.
The Plantation South
Chapter
11 Section 3
Supporters of
slavery said
that it was
more humane
than the free
labor system of
the North.
The Plantation South
Critics of
slavery said
that slaves
suffered abuse
from white
owners.
Chapter
11 Section 3
Most southern whites accepted the system of
slavery, fearing violent uprisings would follow if
control over slaves was weakened.
The Plantation South
Chapter
11 Section 3
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.
The Plantation South
Chapter
11 Section 3
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.
The Plantation South
Chapter
11 Section 3
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.
The Plantation South
Chapter
11 Section 3
Differences Between
Southern States
Alabama,
Mississippi,
and Like
States
• States that depended heavily on
cotton had large populations of
enslaved people.
Kentucky
and Like
States
• States that grew less cotton had
smaller populations of enslaved
people.
The Plantation South
Chapter
11 Section 3
Journal Activity
Directions: Write a 5 sentence journal entry as if you
were a slave on a Southern cotton plantation. Include
your relationship with your owner, what your job is like
and the working and living conditions you face. Hand in
your journal entry at the end of the period. (PAGE 399)
The Plantation South
Chapter
11 Section 3
Section Review
QuickTake Quiz
The Plantation South
Know It, Show It Quiz