AP UNITED STATES HISTORY
CHAPTER 12 OUTLINE
A. THE SOUTH
1. The Cotton Kingdom
a. Introduction: Consisting of the South Atlantic and Southwestern states, the South contained many small
subsistence farmers but was dominated by a small number of wealthy and influential plantation
owners.
b. Which area of the US grew cotton? South Carolina, Georgia, North Florida, Alabama,
Mississippi, Tennessee, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Texas
c. What did they grow? Tobacco, rice, sugar, and most important, cotton.
From 1790 – 1826 cotton production increased from 2 million to 339 million ponds annually.
d. What caused the rise in KING COTTON?
1. Cheap, fertile land was plentiful – as the soil became exhausted by the continuous cultivation of a single
crop, planters gradually moved from the South Atlantic states in to the fertile lands of the Southwest.
2. The cotton gin – invented by Eli Whitney in 1793, provided a simple and inexpensive method of
separating the cotton fiber from the seed. It replaced the costly and time-consuming practice of doing
the job by hand.
3. Cotton growing was a simple year-round activity. Slaves could therefore be trained easily and kept
occupied continuously.
4. Northern and English factories provided a growing market for the South’s raw cotton.
5. Removal of Indians from western lands.
6. Weather – warm, wet summers and springs with dry falls. (Conducive for cotton growing.)
e. Which area was the leader in cotton production? The Mississippi area
f. Economic factors to consider:
35 –50% of the southern farmers did not own slaves. They were mostly small farmers.
Cotton made up 2/3 of the US exports = lots of money.
2. Southern Trade and Industry
a. Facts:
1. The south relied on trade with Britain. They bought most of the South’s cotton.
2. The South had little industry = 10% of US manufacturing existed in the South.
3. Before cotton the South produced tobacco, rice and sugar. All of these things
slowed down in demand, which meant that there was little profit in growing them anymore.
4. The upper and lower South sold slaves back and forth which made slave trade a new
money making business.
b. Industry
1.
In the 1860’s the South began to build some factories. This was mainly supported in Virginia and
North Carolina where tobacco had burned out the soil.
2. They were smaller than New England factories and produced goods for near by markets that were
tied to agriculture. (Examples: wheat turned into flour, corn turned into meal, trees turned into
lumber.)
3. The South questioned the success of industrialization especially since it would bring anti-slavery
people there.
4. But they knew that cotton would produce a lot of money and keep most of the Northerners out of
the South.
3. Southern Society and Culture.
a. Gradations of white society
1. Only ¼ of the south really owned slaves.
2. Only 1% owned 100 or more.
3. There are 4 classes of people that lived in the south:
a. The planter = large plantation owners with 20 or more slaves.
b. Small slaveholders = 88% of the slave holding population. These slave owners usually had around
5, but could own up to 19.
c. Yeomen = non-slaveholding, small family farmers. They made up the largest class of people in
the South. Their land was not very fertile and they had very little money.
d. People of the Pine Barrens = 10% of the population. They did not own land or slaves. They had
hogs, cattle, and grew corn for themselves. The men would hunt and they would not work for
other people. (Lazy group)
These 4 groups had little contact with each other.
e. Suffrage and Politics
1. Only the white men could vote.
2. Planters v Yeomen = Whigs v. Democrats
f. Relationships
It was ok for men to have many mistresses, but women were expected to be faithful to one
man, her husband.
b. Nature of Slavery: "peculiar institution"
1. The South believed that slavery was a "positive good, not a necessary evil." They said"
a. Slavery was sanctioned throughout history, not just in America and that it existed in the Bible.
b. Slaves were treated better than Northern factory workers who earned "slave wages."
c. Slave owners took care of the slaves even when old. In the North, factory owners fired old
workers leaving them on the streets.
2. Why did non-slave owners of the South support the Civil War?
a. They had hopes of being able to own slaves.
b. They feared social equality for freed blacks = same status as they currently held.
c. They feared that emancipation would be followed by a race war.
d. A slave was worth about $2000 in 1860’s.
3.
The treatment of slaves varied from plantation to plantation.
Those kept healthy v. those who were beaten, however all slaves were refused freedom.
Some owners allowed families to stay together; others separated the families to avoid sympathy
for each other. (To keep them more efficient in their work.)
4.
Attitudes of Slaves
Varied from person to person depending on who your owner was.
Some slaves were treated well and did not retaliate. Other slaves sabotaged cotton fields and
worked very slowly.
c. The Mind of the South
1. Education was not supported. Most of the South was made up of illiterate people.
2. It was illegal to teach slaves to read. A dumb slave is the best kind of slave ideal.
3. Only the upper class valued education = college.
4. The South was more violent than the more populous North. Eye gouging fights and ear-biting
fights were common.
5. Code of Honor = The personal pride of Southerners was strong. The South was very much a
feudal society. They realized that if you insult someone action would be taken against you and
no necessarily by the law.
There was extraordinary sensitivity to one’s reputation in the South. A belief that ones self
esteem depended on other opinions of him/her.
Battle and duels were common when intentional insults were made to someone. Laws and courts
were seen as shameless ways to solve a problem.
Duel Rules: Choose your weapon calmly, Agree on a meeting place
The amount of violence in your duel usually represented which class you belonged to. Lower
class = more violent.
6. Religion
The slavery question affected church membership. Partly because they preached biblical
support for slavery, both Methodist and Baptist churches gained in membership in the South
while splitting with their northern brethren.
On the other hand, Unitarians, who challenged slavery, faced declining membership and
hostility.
Catholics and Episcopalians took a neutral stand on slavery, and their membership declined in
the South.
B. The North
1. Northeast industry
Originally, the Industrial Revolution centered in the textile industry, but by the 1830s, northern
factories were producing a wide range of goods – everything from farm implements to clocks and
shoes.
a. Labor
Industrial development meant that large numbers of people who had once earned their living as
independent farmers and artisans became dependent on wages paid by factory owners.
Experiencing common problems with low pay, long hours, and unsafe working conditions, urban
workers in different cities organized both unions and local political parties to protect their
interests.
The first U.S. labor party, founded in Philadelphia in 1828, succeeded in electing a few members
of the city council. For a brief period in the 1830’s, an increasing number of urban workers joined
unions and participated in strikes.
Organized labor achieved one notable victory in 1842 when the Massachusetts Supreme Court
rules in Commonwealth v Hunt that "peaceful unions" had the right to negotiate labor contracts
with employers.
During the 1840s and 1850s most state legislatures in the North passed laws establishing a tenhour day for industrial workers.
Improvement for workers, however, continued to be limited by
1. periodic depressions
2. employers and courts that were hostile to unions
3. an abundant supply of cheap immigrant labor.
4.
b. Immigrants
In 1820, some 8000 immigrants arrived from Europe, but beginning in 1832, there was a sudden
increase.
After that year, the number of new arrivals never fell below 50,000 a year and in 1854 it climbed
as high as 428,000.
From 1830s through the 1850, nearly 4 million people from northern Europe crossed the Atlantic
to seek a new life in the US.
Arriving by ship in the northern seacoast cities of Boston, New York, and Philadelphia, many
immigrants remained where they landed, while others traveled to farms and cities in the Old
Northwest.
Few journeyed to the South, where the plantation economy and slavery limited the opportunities
for free labor.
The surge in immigration for the 1830 –1860 was chiefly the result of
1. The development of inexpensive and relatively rapid ocean transportation.
2. Famines and revolutions in Europe that drove people from their homelands
3. The growing reputation that the US was a country offering economic opportunities and political
freedom.
The immigrants strengthened the US economy by providing both a steady stream of cheap labor
and an increased demand for mass-produced consumer goods.