US History Textbook 8th Grade Chapter 12 The South

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US_History_Textbook_8th_Grade_Chapter_12_The_South PDF
1793
Eli Whitney
invents the
cotton gin.
1794 France ends
slavery in its colonies.
CHAPTER
12
17901860
The South
The South
372 CHAPTER 12
18 0 0
Biographical Sketch In this chapter you will learn
about life in the South during the first half of the nine-
teenth century. Read the chapter, and then write a
two-paragraph biographical sketch about a day in the life
of a person living on a large cotton farm in the South. You
might choose to write about a wealthy male landowner,
his wife, or an enslaved man or woman working on the
farm. As you read, think about what life would have been
like for the different people who lived and worked on the
farm. Take notes about farm life in your notebook.
FOCUS ON WRITING
History–Social Science
8.7 Students analyze the divergent paths of the American people in
the South from 1800 to the mid-1800s and the challenges they faced.
8.9 Students analyze the early and steady attempts to abolish slav-
ery and to realize the ideals of the Declaration of Independence.
English–Language Arts
Writing 8.2.1.c Employ narrative and descriptive strategies.
Reading 8.2.2 Analyze text that uses proposition and support
patterns.
California Standards
US_History_Textbook_8th_Grade_Chapter_12_The_South Download
186 0
1831 Nat Turner’s
Rebellion leads to
fears of further slave
revolts in the South.
1848 Joseph R.
Anderson becomes the
owner of the Tredegar
Iron Works, the South’s
only large iron factory.
1808 A congres-
sional ban on
importing slaves
into the United
States takes effect.
1807 Parliament
bans the slave trade in
the British Empire.
1835 Alexis de
Tocqueville publishes
Democracy in America.
1837
Victoria is
crowned queen
of Great Britain.
1858 A treaty at
Tianjin, China, gives
Hong Kong to the
United Kingdom.
THE SOUTH
373
18 2 0
18 4 0
HOLT
History’s Impact
video series
Watch the video to under-
stand the impact of regional
economies on national
culture.
These enslaved people were photographed on a
South Carolina plantation in the year 1861. The
issue of slavery would have a serious and dramatic
impact on the history of the entire United States.
In this chapter you will learn how the South
developed an agricultural economy, and how that
economy was dependent on the labor of enslaved
people.
What You Will Learn…
US_History_Textbook_8th_Grade_Chapter_12_The_South PDF Download
374 CHAPTER 00374 CHAPTER 12
Religion
Reading Social Studies by Kylene Beers
Focus on Themes
This chapter takes you
into the heart of the South from 1800 through
he mid-1800s. As you read, you will discover that
the South depended on cotton as its economic
backbone, especially after the invention of the
cotton gin. You will also read about the slave system
in the South during this time and about the harsh
living conditions slaves endured. As you will see,
the South was home to a variety of societies
and cultures.
Geography Politics
Economics
Religion
Society
and Culture
Science and
Technology
Evaluating Web Sites
Site: ____________________________ URL: ______________________________________ Date of access: ____________
Rate each item on this 1–3 scale. Then add up the total score.
I. Authority No Some Yes
a. Authors are clearly identifi ed by name. 1 2 3
b. Contact information is provided for authors. 1 2 3
c. Author’s qualifi cations are clearly stated. 1 2 3
d. Site has been updated recently. 1 2 3
II. Content
a. Site’s information is useful to your project. 1 2 3
b. Information is clear and well-organized. 1 2 3
c. Information appears to be at the right level. 1 2 3
d. Links to additional important information are provided. 1 2 3
e. Information can be verifi ed in other sources. 1 2 3
f. Graphics are helpful, not just decorative. 1 2 3
III. Design and Technical Elements
a. Pages are readable and easy to navigate. 1 2 3
b. Links to other sites work. 1 2 3
Total Score ___________________________
36–28 = very good site 28–20 = average site below 20 = poor site
Additional reading
support can be
found in the
Focus on Reading Researching history topics on the Web can
give you access to valuable information. However, just because the
information is on the Web doesn’t mean it is automatically valuable!
Evaluating Web Sites Before you use information you fi nd online,
you need to evaluate the site it comes from. The checklist below can
help you determine if the site is worth your time.
Online Research
US_History_Textbook_8th_Grade_Chapter_12_The_South Image-1
SECTION TITLE 375THE SOUTH 375
Key Terms
Key Terms
and People
and People
As you read Chapter 12, think about
what topics would be interesting to
research on the Web. If you do some
research on the Web, remember to use
the evaluation list to analyze
the Web site.
You Try It!
The passage below is from the chapter you are about to read.
Cotton Becomes Profitable
Cotton had been grown in the New World
for centuries, but it had not been a very prof-
itable crop. Before cotton could be spun into
thread for weaving into cloth, the seeds had
to be removed from the cotton fi bers.
Long-staple cotton, also called black-seed
cotton, was fairly easy to process. Workers
could pick the seeds from the cotton with rel-
ative ease. But long-staple cotton grew well
in only a few places in the South. More com-
mon was short-staple cotton, also known as
green-seed cotton. Removing the seeds from
this cotton was diffi cult and time consuming.
A worker could spend an entire day picking
the seeds from a single pound of cotton.
From
Chapter 12,
p. 376
After you read the passage, complete the following activity.
Suppose that after reading this passage you decide to do some
research on cotton growing. You use a search engine that directs you
to a site. At that site, you fi nd the information described below. Using
the evaluation criteria listed on the previous page, decide if this is a
site you would recommend to others.
a. The authors of the site are listed as “Bob and Mack, good friends
who enjoy working together.”
b. The site was last updated on “the last time we got together.”
c. The title of the site is “Cotton Pickin’.” There are few headings.
d. This ten-page site includes nine pages about the authors’ child-
hood on a cotton farm. No illustrations are included.
e. Pages are very long; but, they load quickly as there are no
graphics. There is one link to a site selling cotton clothing.
Chapter 12
Section 1
cotton gin (p. 377)
planters (p. 378)
cotton belt (p. 379)
factors (p. 379)
Tredegar Iron Works (p. 379)
Section 2
yeomen (p. 384)
Section 3
folktales (p. 389)
spirituals (p. 389)
Nat Turner (p. 390)
Nat Turners Rebellion (p. 390)
Academic Vocabulary
Success in school is related to
knowing academic vocabulary—
the words that are frequently used
in school assignments and discus-
sions. In this chapter, you will learn
the following academic words:
primary (p. 380)
aspect (p. 388)
ELA
Reading 8.2.0 Read and understand grade-level-appropriate
material.
US_History_Textbook_8th_Grade_Chapter_12_The_South Image-2
1
Growth of the
Cotton Industry
You are a fi eld-worker on a cotton farm in the South in about
1800. Your job is to separate the seeds from the cotton fi bers. It
is dull, tiring work because the tiny seeds are tangled in the fi bers.
Sometimes it takes you a whole day just to clean one pound of
cotton! Now you hear that someone has invented a machine that
can clean cotton 50 times faster than by hand.
How might this machine change your life?
BUILDING BACKGROUND Sectional differences had always existed
between different regions of the United States. The revolutionary
changes in industry and transportation deepened the differences
between North and South. The South remained mainly agricultural.
New technology helped the region become the Cotton Kingdom.
Reviving the Souths Economy
Before the American Revolution, three crops dominated south-
ern agriculture—tobacco, rice, and indigo. These crops, produced
mostly by enslaved African Americans, played a central role in the
southern economy and culture.
After the American Revolution, however, prices for tobacco,
rice, and indigo dropped. When crop prices fell, the demand for
and the price of slaves also went down. In an effort to protect their
incomes, many farmers tried, with little success, to grow other
crops that needed less labor. Soon, however, cotton would trans-
form the southern economy and greatly increase the demand for
slave labor.
Cotton Becomes Profi table
Cotton had been grown in the New World for centuries, but it had
not been a very profi table crop. Before cotton could be spun into
thread for weaving into cloth, the seeds had to be removed from
the cotton fi bers.
The invention of the cotton gin
made the South a one-crop
economy and increased the
need for slave labor.
The Big Idea
1. The invention of the cotton
gin revived the economy of
the South.
2. The cotton gin created a cot-
ton boom in which farmers
grew little else.
3. Some people encouraged
southerners to focus on other
crops and industries.
Main Ideas
Key Terms and People
cotton gin, p. 377
planters, p. 378
cotton belt, p. 379
factors, p. 379
Tredegar Iron Works, p. 381
SECTION
What You Will Learn…
If YOU were there...
376 CHAPTER 12
HSS
8.7.1 Describe the develop-
ment of the agrarian economy in the
South, identify the locations of the
cotton-producing states, and discuss
the signifi cance of cotton and the
cotton gin.
8.7.2 Trace the origins and develop-
ment of slavery; its effects on black
Americans and on the region’s politi-
cal, social, religious, economic, and
cultural development; and identify the
stategies that were tried to both over-
turn and preserve it (e.g., through the
writings and historical documents on
Nat Turner, Denmark Vesey).
US_History_Textbook_8th_Grade_Chapter_12_The_South Image-3
1
2
3
4
THE SOUTH 377
Long-staple cotton, also called black-seed
cotton, was fairly easy to process. Workers
could pick the seeds from the cotton with
relative ease. But long-staple cotton grew well
in only a few places in the South. More com-
mon was short-staple cotton, which was also
known as green-seed cotton. Removing the
seeds from this cotton was diffi cult and time
consuming. A worker could spend an entire
day picking the seeds from a single pound of
short-staple cotton.
By the early 1790s the demand for Amer-
ican cotton began increasing rapidly. For
instance, in Great Britain, new textile facto-
ries needed raw cotton that could be used for
making cloth, and American cotton produc-
ers could not keep up with the high demand
for their cotton. These producers of cotton
needed a machine that could remove the
seeds from the cotton more rapidly.
Eli Whitney’s Cotton Gin
Northerner Eli Whitney fi nally patented such
a machine in 1793. The year before, Whitney
had visited a Georgia plantation owned
by Catherine Greene where workers were
using a machine to remove seeds from long-
staple cotton. This machine did not work
well on short-staple cotton, and Greene asked
Whitney if he could improve it. By the next
spring, Whitney had perfected his design for
the
cotton gin
cotton gin,
a machine that removes seeds
a machine that removes seeds
from short-staple cotton
from short-staple cotton. (“Gin” is short for
engine.) The cotton gin used a hand-cranked
cylinder with wire teeth to pull cotton fi bers
from the seeds.
Whitney hoped to keep the design of the
gin a secret, but the machine was so useful that
his patent was often ignored by other manu-
facturers. Whitney described how his inven-
tion would improve the cotton business.
The same patent
law that protected
Whitney’s inven-
tion of the cotton
gin protects the
rights of inventors
today.
THE IMPACT
TODAY
1
The operator turned
the crank.
2
The crank turned a
roller with teeth that
stripped the seeds away
from the cotton fiber.
3
Brushes on a second
roller lifted the seed-
less cotton off the teeth
of the first cylinder and
dropped it out of the
machine.
4
A belt connected the
rollers so that they
would both turn when
the crank was turned.
Eli Whitney’s cotton gin enabled workers to easily
remove seeds from cotton fibers. The result was a
dramatic increase in cotton production in the South.
How did the cotton gin remove seeds from cotton fibers?
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
Cotton Gin
US_History_Textbook_8th_Grade_Chapter_12_The_South Image-4
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Cotton (in 100,000 bales)
U.S. Cotton Production,
1800–1860
1800 1820 1840 1860
Year
After the invention of the cotton gin, the amount of cotton pro-
duced each year in the United States soared, as the chart below
shows. The area of land devoted to growing cotton also increased
dramatically between 1820 and 1860, as shown on the map.
Extent of cotton
growing by 1820
Extent of cotton
growing by 1860
0 150 300 Miles
0 150 300 Kilometers
378 CHAPTER 12
One man will clean ten times as much cotton as
he can in any other way before known and also
clean it much better than in the usual mode
[method]. This machine may be turned by water
or with a horse, with the greatest ease, and one
man and a horse will do more than fi fty men
with the old machines.
—Eli Whitney, quoted in Eli Whitney and the Birth of
American Technology by Constance McLaughlin Green
Whitney’s gin revolutionized the cotton
industry.
Planters
Planters
—large-scale farmers who
—large-scale farmers who
held more than 20 slaves
held more than 20 slaves—built cotton gins
that could process tons of cotton much faster
than hand processing. A healthy crop almost
guaranteed fi nancial success because of high
demand from the textile industry.
READING CHECK
Drawing Conclusions
What effects did the cotton gin have on the
southern economy?
The Cotton Boom
Whitney’s invention of the cotton gin made
cotton so profi table that southern farmers
abandoned other crops in favor of growing
cotton. The removal of Native Americans
opened up more land for cotton farmers in
the Southeast. Meanwhile, the development
of new types of cotton plants helped spread
cotton production throughout the South as
far west as Texas.
Production increased rapidly—from
about 2 million pounds in 1791 to roughly
a billion pounds by 1860. As early as 1840,
the United States was producing more than
half of the cotton grown in the entire world.
The economic boom attracted new settlers,
built up wealth among wealthy white south-
erners, and helped keep in place the institu-
tion of slavery in the South.
1. In what region of the
United States was the cotton belt?
2. How many bales of cotton were
produced in 1860?
INTERPRETING CHARTS
ANALYSIS
SKILL
The Cotton Kingdom
US_History_Textbook_8th_Grade_Chapter_12_The_South Image-5
THE SOUTH 379
Cotton Belt
Cotton had many advantages as a cash crop.
It cost little to market. Unlike food staples,
harvested cotton could be stored for a long
time. Because cotton was lighter than other
staple crops, it also cost less to transport long
distances.
Farmers eager to profi t from growing cot-
ton headed west to fi nd land. Farmers also
began to apply scientifi c methods to improve
crop production. Cotton had one disadvan-
tage as a crop—it rapidly used up the nutri-
ents in the soil. After a few years, cotton could
make the land useless for growing anything.
Some agricultural scientists recommended
crop rotation—changing the crop grown
on a particular plot of land every few years.
Different crops needed different nutrients,
so crop rotation would keep the land fertile
longer. Other agricultural scientists began to
study soil chemistry, in an effort to keep the
land rich and productive.
The area of high cotton production
The area of high cotton production
became known as the
became known as the
cotton belt
cotton belt. As this area
grew, farmers continued trying to improve
the crop. Agricultural scientists worked at
crossbreeding short-staple cotton with other
varieties. Soon, new, stronger types of cotton
were being grown. This led to expansion of
the cotton industry through the 1860s.
The cotton boom involved much more
than growing and harvesting cotton. Har-
vested cotton had to be ginned, pressed
into bales, and then shipped to market or to
warehouses. Special agents helped do every-
thing from marketing cotton to customers to
insuring crops against loss or damage. Facto-
ries were built to produce items needed by
cotton farmers, such as ropes to bale cotton.
Growing and harvesting cotton required
many fi eld hands. Rather than pay wages
to free workers, planters began to use more
slave labor. Congress had made bringing
slaves into the United States illegal in 1808.
However, the growing demand for slaves led
to an increase in the slave trade within the
United States.
Cotton Trade
In an 1858 speech before the U.S. Senate,
South Carolina politician James Henry Ham-
mond declared, “Cotton is King!” Without
cotton, Hammond claimed, the world econo-
my would fail. He believed that southern cot-
ton was one of the most valuable resources in
the world. Southern cotton was used to make
cloth in England and the North. Many south-
erners shared Hammond’s viewpoints about
cotton. Southerner David Christy declared,
“King cotton is a profound [educated] states-
man, and knows what measures will best sus-
tain [protect] his throne.”
The cotton boom made the South a major
player in world trade. Great Britain became
the South’s most valued foreign trading
partner. Southerners also sold tons of cot-
ton to the growing textile industry in the
northeastern United States. This increased
trade led to the growth of major port cities
in the South, including Charleston, South
Carolina; Savannah, Georgia; and New
Orleans, Louisiana.
In these cities,
crop brokers called
crop brokers called
factors
factors
managed the cotton trade. Farmers sold their
cotton to merchants, who then made deals
with the factors. Merchants and factors also
arranged loans for farmers who needed to
buy supplies. They often advised farmers on
how to invest profi ts. Once farmers got their
cotton to the port cities, factors arranged for
transportation aboard trading ships.
However, shipping cotton by land to port
cities was very diffi cult in the South. The few
major road projects at the time were limited
to the Southeast. Most southern farmers had
to ship their goods on the region’s rivers. On
the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, fl atboats and
steamboats carried cotton and other products
to port. Eventually, hundreds of steamboats
traveled up and down the mighty Mississippi
River each day.
READING CHECK
Identifying Cause and Effect
What effect did the cotton boom have on the slave
trade within the United States?
The Port of New
Orleans remains
a major seaport.
It handles about
85 million tons of
cargo annually.
THE IMPACT
TODAY
US_History_Textbook_8th_Grade_Chapter_12_The_South Image-6
380 CHAPTER 12
Other Crops and Industries
Some leaders worried that the South was
depending too much on cotton. They wanted
southerners to try a variety of cash crops and
investments.
Food and Cash Crops
One such crop was corn, the primary south-
ern food crop. By the late 1830s the top three
corn-growing states in the nation were all in
the South. The South’s other successful food
crops included rice, sweet potatoes, wheat,
and sugarcane.
Production of tobacco, the South’s fi rst
major cash crop, was very time consuming
because tobacco leaves had to be cured, or
dried, before they could be shipped to market.
In 1839 a slave discovered a way to improve
the drying process by using heat from burn-
ing charcoal. This new, faster curing process
increased tobacco production.
Partly as a result of the cotton boom,
hemp and fl ax also became major cash crops.
Their fi bers were used to make rope and sack-
cloth. Farmers used the rope and sackcloth
to bundle cotton into bales.
Industry
Many of the fi rst factories in the South were
built to serve farmers’ needs by processing
crops such as sugarcane. In 1803 the nation’s
rst steam-powered sawmill was built in Don-
aldsonville, Louisiana. This new technology
enabled lumber companies to cut, sort, and
clean wood quickly.
In Georgia, entrepreneurs—individuals
who organize and manage businesses—had
begun investing in cotton mills. In 1840,
there were 14 cotton mills; by the mid-1850s,
there were more than 50. A few mill owners
followed the model established by Francis
Cabot Lowell. However, most built small-
scale factories on the falls of a river for water
power. A few steam-powered mills were built
in towns without enough water power.
Southerners such as Hinton Rowan Helper
encouraged industrial growth in the South.
We should . . . keep pace with the progress of
the age. We must expand our energies, and
acquire habits of enterprise and industry; we
should rouse ourselves from the couch of las-
situde [laziness] and inure [set] our minds to
thought and our bodies to action.
— Hinton Rowan Helper, The Impending Crisis of
the South: How to Meet It
Enslaved African Americans did
most of the planting, harvesting,
and processing of cotton.
Eli Whitney’s cotton gin began the cotton boom. Soon, the Cotton
Kingdom stretched across the South. For the cotton planters to
succeed, they had to get their cotton to market.
From southern ports, sailing
ships carried the cotton to
distant textile mills.
The South’s Cotton Economy
Cotton was shipped on river
steamboats to major ports such
as Charleston.
ACADEMIC
VOCABULARY
primary
main, most
important
US_History_Textbook_8th_Grade_Chapter_12_The_South Image-7
THE SOUTH 381
Joseph R. Anderson followed Helper’s
advice. In 1848 he became the owner of the
Tredegar Iron Works
Tredegar Iron Works
in Richmond, Virginia—
in Richmond, Virginia—
one of the most productive iron works in
one of the most productive iron works in
the nation.
the nation. It was the only factory to produce
bridge materials, cannons, steam engines, and
other products.
Industry, however, remained a small part
of the southern economy and primarily sup-
ported agrarian interests. Southern industry
faced stiff competition from the North and
from England, both of which could produce
many goods more cheaply. And as long as
agricultural profi ts remained high, southern
investors preferred to invest in land.
READING CHECK
Making Inferences Why
were there fewer industries in the South?
Section 1 Assessment
Reviewing Ideas,
Terms, and People
1. a. Describe How did the cotton gin make pro-
cessing cotton easier?
b. Draw Conclusions Why had slavery been on
the decline before the invention of the cotton gin?
How did slavery change as a result of the cotton
gin?
2. a. Identify What areas made up the cotton belt?
b. Evaluate Do you think the South should have
paid more attention to its industrial growth? Why?
3. a. Describe What other crops and industries were
encouraged in the South?
b. Make Inferences Why were some southern
leaders worried about the South’s reliance on cotton?
Critical Thinking
4. Identifying Cause and Effect Copy the graphic
organizer below. Use it to show events that led
to the cotton boom and to list the effects of
increased cotton production on slavery and the
southern economy.
Causes: Cotton Boom
Slavery
Economy
FOCUS ON WRITING
5. Noting Life on the Cotton Farm In your note-
book, note how Whitney’s gin changed life on the
farm. Also note other details about cotton farming
you could include in your sketch.
KEYWORD: SS8 HP12
Online Quiz
DRAWING CONCLUSIONS
Why do you think cotton was so important
to the South’s economy?
ANALYSIS
SKILL
Textile mills in Great Britain were the largest
foreign buyers of southern cotton.
FOCUS ON
READING
What kind of Web
site would you
look for to learn
more about the
Tredegar Iron
Works?
A large amount of cotton was sold to textile
mills in the northeastern United States.
SUMMARY AND PREVIEW You have read
about how southern farmers worked to
improve farming methods. In the next sec-
tion you will read about the structure of
southern society.
HSS
8.7.1, 8.7.2
US_History_Textbook_8th_Grade_Chapter_12_The_South Image-8
SECTION
What You Will Learn…
382 CHAPTER 12
2
Southern Society
Your family owns a small farm in Georgia in the 1840s. Sometimes
you work in the fi elds, but more often you tend the vegetable
garden and peach orchard. Since you have no close neighbors,
you look forward to Sundays. Going to church gives you a chance
to socialize with other young people. Sometimes you wonder what
it would be like to live in a city like Savannah.
How would life be different if you
left the farm for the city?
BUILDING BACKGROUND Although the South had some industry,
agriculture was the heart of the southern economy. Cotton was king.
As a result, wealthy plantation families were the most prominent
social class in southern society. Small farmers, however, made up
the largest part of the population.
Southern Society and Culture
Popular fi ction often made it seem that all white southerners had
many slaves and lived on large plantations. Many fi ction writ-
ers wrote about wealthy southern families who had frequent,
grand parties. The ideal image of the South included hospitality
and well-treated slaves on beautiful plantations that almost ran
themselves.
This romantic view was far from the reality. During the fi rst
half of the 1800s, only about one-third of white southern fami-
lies had slaves. Fewer families had plantations. Despite their small
numbers, these planters had a powerful infl uence over the South.
Many served as political leaders. They led a society made up of
many different kinds of people, including yeomen farmers, poor
whites, slaves, and free African Americans. Each of these segments
of society contributed to the economic success of the South.
If YOU were there...
Southern society centered
around agriculture.
The Big Idea
1. Southern society and culture
consisted of four main
groups.
2. Free African Americans in
the South faced a great deal
of discrimination.
Main Ideas
Key Term
yeomen, p. 384
HSS
8.7.3
Examine the character-
istics of white Southern society and
how the physical environment infl u-
enced events and conditions prior to
the Civil War.
8.7.4 Compare the lives of and
opportunities for free blacks in the
North with those of free blacks in the
South.
8.9.6 Describe the lives of free
blacks and the laws that limited their
freedom and economic opportunities.
US_History_Textbook_8th_Grade_Chapter_12_The_South Image-9
Fields
THE SOUTH 383
Planters
As the wealthiest members of southern soci-
ety, planters also greatly infl uenced the econ-
omy. Some showed off their wealth by living
in beautiful mansions. Many others chose to
live more simply. A visitor described wealthy
planter Alexander Stephens’s estate as “an
old wooden house” surrounded by weeds.
Some planters saved all of their money to
buy more land and slaves.
Male planters were primarily concerned
with raising crops and supervising slave
laborers. They left the running of the planta-
tion household to their wives. The planter’s
wife oversaw the raising of the children and
supervised the work of all slaves within the
household. Slave women typically cooked,
cleaned, and helped care for the planter’s
children. Wives also took on the important
ANALYZING VISUALS
How can you tell that the owner
of this plantation was wealthy?
ANALYSIS
SKILL
A Southern Plantation
A typical plantation had fields as well as many
buildings where different work was done. This
picture shows some of the more important
buildings that were a part of the plantation
system.
History Close-up
Barn
Warehouse
Smokehouse
Overseers House
Stable
Plantation House
The planter and his family
lived in the plantation
house. The planter’s wife
was in charge of running
the household.
Cotton-Ginning Shed
This sizable plantation
had several large cot-
ton gins. The vital ma-
chines were housed in
a shed to protect them
from the weather.
Slave Cabins
Slaves lived crowded together
in small cabins. Cabins are
crude, wooden structures
with dirt floors.
social duties of the family. For example,
many southern leaders discussed political
issues at the dances and dinners hosted by
their wives.
Planters often arranged their children’s
marriages based on business interests. Lucy
Breckinridge, the daughter of a wealthy Vir-
ginia planter, was married by arrangement in
1865. Three years earlier, she had described
in her journal how she dreaded the very
thought of marriage. “A woman’s life after
she is married, unless there is an immense
amount of love, is nothing but suffering
and hard work.” How Breckinridge’s life
in her own arranged marriage would have
turned out cannot be known. She died of
typhoid fever just months after her
wedding.
Fields
US_History_Textbook_8th_Grade_Chapter_12_The_South Image-10
384 CHAPTER 12
Free African Americans
in the South
Yeomen and Poor Whites
Most white southerners were
yeomen
yeomen,
owners
owners
of small farms
of small farms. Yeomen owned few
slaves or none at all. The typical farm aver-
aged 100 acres. Yeomen took great pride in
their work. In 1849 a young Georgia man
wrote, “I desire above all things to be a
‘Farmer.’ It is the most honest, upright, and
sure way of securing all the comforts of life.”
Yeoman families, including women and
children, typically worked long days at a vari-
ety of tasks. Some yeomen held a few slaves,
but worked along side them.
The poorest of white southerners lived
on land that could not grow cash crops. They
survived by hunting, fi shing, raising small
gardens, and doing odd jobs for money.
Religion and Society
Most white southerners shared similar
religious beliefs. Because of the long distances
between farms, families often saw their neigh-
bors only at church events, such as revivals or
socials. Rural women often played volunteer
roles in their churches. Wealthy white south-
erners thought that their religion justifi ed
their position in society and the institution of
slavery. They argued that God created some
people, like themselves, to rule others. This
belief opposed many northern Christians’
belief that God was against slavery.
Urban Life
Many of the largest and most important
cities in the South were strung along the
Atlantic coast and had begun as shipping
centers. Although fewer in number, the
southern cities were similar to northern cit-
ies. City governments built public water sys-
tems and provided well-maintained streets.
Public education was available in some plac-
es. Wealthy residents occasionally gave large
sums of money to charities, such as orphan-
ages and public libraries. Southern urban
leaders wanted their cities to appear as mod-
ern as possible.
As on plantations, slaves did much of
the work in southern cities. Slaves worked as
domestic servants, in mills, in shipyards, and at
skilled jobs. Many business leaders held slaves
or hired them from nearby plantations.
READING CHECK
Summarizing What different
groups made up southern society?
In 1860 about 1 out of 50
African Americans in the South
was free. Many worked in
skilled trades, like this barber
in Richmond, Virginia. In
Charleston, South Carolina, a
system of badges was set up
to distinguish between free
African Americans and slaves.
How would the work of the
free African American in this
picture be different from that
of slaves in the South?
Collection of The American Numismatic
Society, New York
US_History_Textbook_8th_Grade_Chapter_12_The_South Image-11
THE SOUTH 385
Free African Americans and
Discrimination
Although the vast majority of African Ameri-
cans in the South were enslaved, more than
250,000 free African Americans lived in the
region by 1860. Some were descendants of
slaves who were freed after the American
Revolution. Others were descendants of
refugees from Toussaint L’Ouverture’s Hai-
tian Revolution in the late 1790s. Still others
were former slaves who had run away, been
freed by their slaveholder, or earned enough
money to buy their freedom.
Free African Americans lived in both rural
and urban areas. Most lived in the countryside
and worked as paid laborers on plantations or
farms. Free African Americans in cities often
worked a variety of jobs, mostly as skilled arti-
sans. Some, like barber William Johnson of
Natchez, Mississippi, became quite successful
in their businesses. Some free African Ameri-
cans, especially those in the cities, formed
social and economic ties with one another.
Churches often served as the center of their
social lives.
Free African Americans faced constant
discrimination from white southerners. Many
governments passed laws limiting the rights
of free African Americans. Most free African
Americans could not vote, travel freely, or
hold certain jobs. In some places, free African
Americans had to have a white person repre-
sent them in any business transaction. In oth-
ers, laws restricted where they were allowed to
live or conduct business.
Many white southerners argued that free
African Americans did not have the ability to
take care of themselves, and they used this
belief to justify the institution of slavery. “The
status of slavery is the only one for which the
African is adapted,” wrote one white Missis-
sippian. To many white southerners, the very
existence of free African Americans threat-
ened the institution of slavery.
READING CHECK
Finding Main Ideas What
challenges did free African Americans face in
the South?
Section 2 Assessment
Reviewing Ideas,
Terms, and People
1. a. Identify What was the largest social
group in the South? How did its members make
a living?
b. Compare In what ways were southern cities
similar to northern cities?
c. Elaborate Which southern social class do you
think had the most diffi cult life? Why?
2. a. Describe What jobs were available to free
African Americans in the South?
b. Analyze Why did many white southerners fear
free African Americans?
c. Elaborate Why do you think that discrimination
against free African Americans was harsher in the
South than in the North?
Critical Thinking
3. Comparing and Contrasting Copy the Venn
diagram below. Add to it lines which you will fi ll in
to identify ways in which planters’ and yeomen’s
lives were similar and different.
Planters YeomenSimilarities
FOCUS ON WRITING
4. Describing the Life of Cotton Farmers In your
notebook, describe the different roles played by
male planters and their wives. What challenges
would female planters have faced? When would
the planters have had a chance to socialize?
KEYWORD: SS8 HP12
Online Quiz
SUMMARY AND PREVIEW Southern soci-
ety was led by rich planters but included
other groups as well. In the next section
you will read about life under slavery.
HSS
8.7.3, 8.7.4, 8.9.6
US_History_Textbook_8th_Grade_Chapter_12_The_South Image-12
SECTION
What You Will Learn…
386 CHAPTER 12
3
The Slave System
You are a reporter for a newspaper in Philadelphia in the 1850s.
You are writing a series of articles about the slave system in the
South. To get background for your stories, you are planning to
interview some former slaves who now live in Philadelphia.
Some have bought their freedom, while others have successfully
escaped from slavery.
What questions will you ask in your interviews?
BUILDING BACKGROUND While most white southern families were
not slaveholders, the southern economy depended on the work of
slaves. This was true not only on large plantations but also on smaller
farms and in the cities. Few chances existed for enslaved African
Americans to escape their hard lives.
Slaves and Work
Most enslaved African Americans lived in rural areas where they
worked on farms and plantations. Enslaved people on small farms
usually did a variety of jobs. On large plantations, most slaves were
assigned to specifi c jobs, and most worked in the fi elds. Most slave-
holders demanded that slaves work as much as possible. Supervisors
known as drivers, who were sometimes slaves themselves, made sure
that slaves followed orders and carried out punishments.
Working in the Field
Most plantation owners used the gang-labor system. In this system,
all fi eld hands worked on the same task at the same time. They usu-
ally worked from sunup to sundown. Former slave Harry McMillan
had worked on a plantation in South Carolina. He recalled that the
eld hands usually did not even get a break to eat lunch. “You had
to get your victuals [food] standing at your hoe,” he remembered.
Men, women, and even children older than about 10 usually did
the same tasks. Sickness and poor weather rarely stopped the work.
“The times I hated most was picking cotton when the frost was on
the bolls [seed pods],” recalled former Louisiana slave Mary Reynolds.
“My hands git sore and crack open and bleed.”
If YOU were there...
The slave system in the South
produced harsh living condi-
tions and occasional rebellions.
The Big Idea
1. Slaves worked at a variety of
jobs on plantations.
2. Life under slavery was dif-
ficult and dehumanizing.
3. Slave culture centered
around family, community,
and religion.
4. Slave uprisings led to stricter
slave codes in many states.
Main Ideas
Key Terms and People
folktales, p. 389
spirituals, p. 389
Nat Turner, p. 390
Nat Turner’s Rebellion, p. 390
HSS
8.7.2
Trace the origins and
development of slavery; its effects on
black Americans and on the region’s
political, social, religious, economic,
and cultural development; and identify
the stategies that were tried to both
overturn and preserve it (e.g., through
the writings and historical documents
on Nat Turner, Denmark Vesey).
US_History_Textbook_8th_Grade_Chapter_12_The_South Image-13
Working in the Planter’s Home
Some slaves worked as butlers, cooks, or
nurses in the planter’s home. These slaves
often had better food, clothing, and shelter
than fi eld hands did, but they often worked
longer hours. They had to serve the planter’s
family 24 hours a day.
Working at Skilled Jobs
On larger plantations, some enslaved Afri-
can Americans worked at skilled jobs, such
as blacksmithing or carpentry. Sometimes
planters let these slaves sell their services to
other people. Often planters collected a por-
tion of what was earned but allowed slaves to
keep the rest. In this way, some skilled slaves
earned enough money to buy their freedom
from their slaveholders. For example, Wil-
liam Ellison earned his freedom in South
Carolina by working for wages as a cotton
gin maker. For years, he worked late at night
and on Sundays. He bought his freedom
with the money he earned. Eventually, he
was also able to buy the freedom of his wife
and daughter.
READING CHECK
Summarizing What were some
types of work done by enslaved people on plantations?
Life Under Slavery
Generally, slaveholders viewed slaves as
property, not as people. Slaveholders bought
and sold slaves to make a profi t. The most
common method of sale was at an auction.
The auction itself determined whether fami-
lies would be kept together or separated.
Sometimes a buyer wanted a slave to fi ll a
specifi c job, such as heavy laborer, carpenter,
or blacksmith. The buyer might be willing to
pay for the slave who could do the work, but
not for that slave’s family. Families would
then be separated with little hope of ever
getting back together.
Slave traders sometimes even kidnapped
free African Americans and then sold them
into slavery. For example, Solomon Northup,
a free African American, was kidnapped in
Washington, D.C. He spent 12 years as a slave
until he fi nally proved his identity and gained
his release.
Living Conditions
Enslaved people often endured poor living
conditions. Planters housed them in dirt-
oor cabins with few furnishings and often
leaky roofs. The clothing given to them was
usually simple and made of cheap, coarse
fabric. Some slaves tried to brighten up their
THE SOUTH 387
Slaveholders’ children were often cared
for by enslaved women. At the time,
women who looked after children were
called nurses. This nurse is posing with
her slaveholder’s child in about 1850.
As a slave, what might have happened
to this woman’s family?
A Nurse’s Work
US_History_Textbook_8th_Grade_Chapter_12_The_South Image-14
388 CHAPTER 12
Slave Culture
Many enslaved African Americans found
comfort in their community and culture.
They made time for social activity, even after
exhausting workdays, in order to relieve the
hardship of their lives.
Family and Community
Family was the most important aspect of
slave communities, and slaves feared sepa-
ration more than they feared punishment.
Josiah Henson never forgot the day that he
and his family were auctioned. His mother
begged the slaveholder who bought her to
buy Josiah, too. The slaveholder refused, and
Henson’s entire family was separated. “I must
have been then between fi ve or six years
old,” he recalled years later. “I seem to see
and hear my poor weeping mother now.”
clothing by sewing on designs from
discarded scraps of material. In this
way, they expressed their individu-
ality and personalized the clothing
assigned to them by the planters.
Likewise, many slaves did what
they could to improve their small
food rations. Some planters allowed
slaves to keep their own gardens for
vegetables, and chickens for eggs.
Other slaves were able to add a lit-
tle variety to their diet by fi shing or
picking wild berries.
Punishment and Slave Codes
Some planters offered more food or
better living conditions to encour-
age slaves’ obedience. However, most
slaveholders used punishment instead.
Some would punish one slave in front
of others as a warning to them all.
Harry McMillan recalled some of the
punishments he had witnessed.
The punishments were whipping, putting
you in the stocks [wooden frames to lock
people in] and making you wear irons and a
chain at work. Then they had a collar to put round
your neck with two horns, like cows’ horns, so that
you could not lie down . . . Sometimes they dug
a hole like a well with a door on top. This they
called a dungeon keeping you in it two or three
weeks or a month, or sometimes till you died in
there.
—Harry McMillan, quoted in Major Problems in the History
of the American South,Volume I, edited by Paul D. Escott and
David R. Goldfi eld
To further control slaves’ actions, many
states passed strict laws called slave codes.
Some laws prohibited slaves from traveling
far from their homes. Literacy laws in most
southern states prohibited the education of
slaves. Alabama, Virginia, and Georgia had
laws that allowed the fi ning and whipping
of anyone caught teaching enslaved people
to read and write.
READING CHECK
Summarizing How did slave-
holders control slaves?
A Slave’s Daily Life
Typical Daily schedule:
3:00 a.m. Out of bed,
tend animals
6:00 a.m. Prayers
7:00 a.m. Start work
12:00 p.m. Lunch
1:00 p.m. Return to work
7:00 p.m. Dinner
8:00 p.m. Return to work
11:00 p.m. Lights out
ACADEMIC
VOCABULARY
aspect part
US_History_Textbook_8th_Grade_Chapter_12_The_South Image-15
THE SOUTH 389
Some slaves sang
spirituals
spirituals,
emotional
emotional
Christian songs that blended African and
Christian songs that blended African and
European music
European music, to express their religious
beliefs. For example, “The Heavenly Road”
refl ected slaves’ belief in their equality in the
eyes of God.
Come, my brother, if you never did pray,
I hope you pray tonight;
For I really believe I am a child of God
As I walk on the heavenly road.
—Anonymous, quoted in Afro-American Religious History,
edited by Milton C. Sernett
Slaves blended aspects of traditional Afri-
can religions with those of Christianity. They
worshipped in secret, out of sight of slave-
holders. Some historians have called slave
religion the invisible institution.
Enslaved parents kept their heritage alive
by passing down family histories as well as
African customs and traditions. They also
told
folktales
folktales,
or stories with a moral
or stories with a moral, to teach
lessons about how to survive under slavery.
Folktales often included a clever animal char-
acter called a trickster. The trickster—which
often represented slaves—defeated a stronger
animal by outwitting it. Folktales reassured
slaves that they could survive by outsmarting
more powerful slaveholders.
Religion
Religion also played an important part in
slave culture. By the early 1800s many slaves
were Christians. They came to see them-
selves, like the slaves in the Old Testament, as
God’s chosen people, much like the Hebrew
slaves in ancient Egypt who had faith that
they would someday live in freedom.
The lives of slaves revolved around the work that was
required of them. For many, this meant doing the
backbreaking work of harvesting and loading tons of
cotton. Most slaves found hope and a short escape from
their daily misery in Sunday church services. Others sought
to escape permanently and ran away, hoping to reach the
freedom of the North. A failed escape attempt, however,
could result in a cruel whipping—or worse.
What different aspects of slavery are shown in these
pictures?
The musical
influence of these
inspirational
slave songs can
be heard today in
gospel music.
THE IMPACT
TODAY
Hauling the Whole Week’s Pickings by William Henry Brown, The Historic New Orleans Collection
US_History_Textbook_8th_Grade_Chapter_12_The_South Image-16
First cave
Captured
October 30, 1831
Second cave
Cypress
Bridge
SOUTHAMPTON
COUNTY
VIRGINIA
NORTH CAROLINA
ATLANTIC
OCEAN
Nat Turner’s route
House or plantation
Hiding place
0 3 6 Miles
0 3 6 Kilometers
390 CHAPTER 12
Slave Nat Turner led a revolt against white slaveholders in
1831. This is a map of his route and a depiction of his capture.
August 21, 1831
Turner meets with
other slaves and
plans revolt.
August 23, 1831
Most of the rebel-
ling slaves are
captured or killed
at James Parkers
plantation. Turner
escapes.
Seeds of Rebellion
Maintaining their own religious beliefs and
practices was only one way in which enslaved
people resisted slaveholders’ attempts to con-
trol them completely. In small ways, slaves
rebelled against the system daily. Sometimes
they worked slower to protest long hours in
the fi elds. Other times they ran away for a
few days to avoid an angry slaveholder. Some
slaves tried to escape permanently, but most
left only for short periods, often to go and
visit relatives.
Gaining freedom by escaping to the
North was hard. If discovered, slaves were
captured and sent back to their slavehold-
ers, where they faced certain punishment or
death. However, thousands of enslaved peo-
ple succeeded in escaping.
READING CHECK
Summarizing How did
slaves’ religious beliefs affect their attitudes
toward slavery?
Slave Uprisings
Although violent slave revolts were rela-
tively rare, white southerners lived in fear of
them. Two planned rebellions were stopped
before they began. Gabriel Prosser planned a
rebellion near Richmond, Virginia, in 1800.
Denmark Vesey planned one in Charleston,
South Carolina, in 1822. Authorities execut-
ed most of those involved in planning these
rebellions. Though Vesey was executed as
the leader of the Charleston conspiracy, sev-
eral accounts written after his death by anti-
slavery writers claimed he was a hero.
The most violent slave revolt in the Unit-
The most violent slave revolt in the Unit-
ed States occurred in 1831 and is known as
ed States occurred in 1831 and is known as
Nat Turners Rebellion.
Nat Turners Rebellion. Nat Turner, a slave
from Southampton County, Virginia, believed
that God had told him to end slavery. On an
August night in 1831, Turner led a group of
slaves in a plan to kill all of the slaveholders
and their families in the county. First, they
ANALYZING VISUALS
Location Where did Nat Turner’s Rebellion take place?
ANALYSIS
SKILL
Nat Turner’s Rebellion
US_History_Textbook_8th_Grade_Chapter_12_The_South Image-17
THE SOUTH 391
LETTER
Nat Turner’s Rebellion
In 1831 a white southerner who had escaped
the rebellion wrote a letter describing the
mood of the area where Nat Turner had
killed slaveholders.
The oldest inhabitants of our county
have never experienced such a distress-
ing [terrible] time, as we have had since
Sunday night last. The [slaves], about
fifteen miles from this place, have massa-
cred from 50 to 75 women and children,
and some 8 or 10 men. Every house, room
and corner in this place is full of women
and children, driven from home, who had
to take to the woods, until they could get
to this place. We are worn out with fatigue
[tiredness].
Richmond Enquirer, quoted in
The Southampton Slave Revolt of 1831
by Henry I. Tragle
Primary Source
attacked the family that held Turner as a slave.
Soon they had killed about 60 white people in
the community.
More than 100 innocent slaves who were
not part of Turner’s group were killed in an
attempt to stop the rebellion. Turner himself
led authorities on a chase around the coun-
tryside for six weeks. He hid in caves and in
the woods before he was caught and brought
to trial. Before his trial, Turner made a confes-
sion. He expressed his belief that the revolt was
justifi ed and worth his death: “I am willing to
suffer the fate that awaits me.” He was execut-
ed on November 11, 1831. After the rebellion,
many states strengthened their slave codes.
The new codes placed stricter control on the
slave population. Despite the resistance of
enslaved people, slavery continued to spread.
READING CHECK
Finding Main Ideas
What was Nat Turner’s Rebellion, and what
happened as a result?
Section 3 Assessment
Reviewing Ideas,
Terms, and People
1. a. Identify What different types of work were
done by slaves on plantations?
b. Elaborate Do you think that skilled slaves had
advantages over other slaves? Why or why not?
2. a. Describe What were living conditions like for
most slaves?
b. Summarize In what different ways did slave-
holders encourage obedience from their slaves?
3. a. Recall What was the purpose of folktales?
b. Explain How did slaves try to maintain a sense
of community?
4. a. Describe What was the outcome of Nat
Turner’s Rebellion?
b. Elaborate What do you think were some rea-
sons why slaves rebelled?
Critical Thinking
5. Evaluating Copy the graphic organizer below.
Then add information to describe life under slavery.
Life as a Slave
Coping
with Slavery
Challenging
Slavery
FOCUS ON WRITING
6. Describing the Life of Slaves Add notes about
the life of slaves to your notebook. What would it
have been like to be a slave? How would it have
felt to have been separated from your family?
KEYWORD: SS8 HP12
Online Quiz
ANALYZING PRIMARY SOURCES
What emotions do you think the author of this letter
was feeling?
ANALYSIS
SKILL
The author believes
no one in the county
has been through a
worse event.
The author
says that many
people went into
hiding when the
rebellion began.
SUMMARY AND PREVIEW Several groups
of African Americans attempted to end slav-
ery by rebellion. All of the attempts failed.
In the next chapter you will read about
efforts to reform American society.
HSS
8.7.2
US_History_Textbook_8th_Grade_Chapter_12_The_South Image-18
Social Studies Skills
Analysis Critical Thinking
Define the Skill
Graphs are drawings that classify and display data
in a clear, visual format. There are three basic types
of graphs. Line graphs and bar graphs plot changes
in quantities over time. Bar graphs are also used to
compare quantities within a category at a particu-
lar time. Circle graphs, also called pie graphs, have
a similar use. The circle represents the whole of
something, and the slices show what proportion of
the whole is made by each part.
Being able to interpret graphs accurately lets
you see and understand relationships more easily
than in tables or in written explanations. This is
especially true if the information is detailed or the
relationships are complicated.
Learn the Skill
The following guidelines will help you interpret
data that is presented as a graph.
1
Read the title to identify the subject and purpose
of the graph. Note the kind of graph, remem-
bering what each type is designed to indicate.
Also note how the graph’s subject relates to any
printed material that accompanies it.
2
Study the graph’s parts. Place close attention to
the labels that defi ne each axis. Note the units
of measure. Identify the categories used. If there
are different colors on bars or lines in the graph,
determine what those differences mean.
3
Analyze the data in the graph. Note any increases
or decreases in quantities. Look for trends,
changes, and other relationships in the data.
Interpreting Graphs
4
Apply the information in the graph. Use the
results of your analysis to draw conclusions.
Ask yourself what generalizations can be made
about the trends, changes, or relationships
shown in the graph.
Practice the Skill
The graph below is a double-line graph. It shows
both changes and relationships over time. This
type of graph allows you to see how changes in one
thing compare with changes in something else.
Apply the guidelines to interpret the graph and
answer the questions that follow.
1. What is shown on each axis of this graph? What
are the units of measure on each axis?
2. What do each of the lines represent?
3. What was the total population of the South in
1810? in 1850? By how much did the African
American population grow during that period?
4. Was the white population or the black popula-
tion growing faster? Explain how you know.
392 CHAPTER 12
Participation
Study
10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
Population (in millions)
Population of the South, 1810–1850
1810 18301820 18501840
Year
African Americans
Total Population
US_History_Textbook_8th_Grade_Chapter_12_The_South Image-19
Reviewing Vocabulary,
Terms, and People
Match the defi nition on the left with the correct term
on the right.
1. A region of cotton-producing
areas that stretched from
South Carolina to Texas
2. Emotional songs that mixed
African and European
music and expressed
religious beliefs
3. Owners of small farms
who made up the largest
social class in the South
4. Crop brokers who often
managed the cotton
trade in the South
5. Wealthy farmers and
plantation owners
a. cotton belt
b. factors
c. planters
d. spirituals
e. yeomen
Comprehension and
Critical Thinking
SECTION 1 (Pages 376–381)
6. a. Describe How did the cotton gin lead to a
cotton boom in the South?
b. Analyze What were the positive and negative
results of the cotton boom?
c. Evaluate Do you think that the South suf-
fered as a result of its reliance on cotton? Why
or why not?
SECTION 2
(Pages 382–385)
7. a. Describe What three groups made up white
southern society?
b. Compare and Contrast In what ways were
the lives of free African Americans and white
southerners similar and different?
c. Predict What might have been the attitude
of yeomen and poor white southerners toward
slavery? Why?
12
THE SOUTH 393
Standards Review
CHAPTER
Use the visual summary below to help you review
the main ideas of the chapter.
Visual
Summary
Southern Society Planters were
at the top of southern society.
Cotton Economy In addition
to cotton, southern farmers grew
other cash crops and staple crops.
Slavery The strength of the southern
economy depended on slave labor.
HSS
8.7.1, 8.7.2
HSS
8.7.3, 8.7.4, 8.9.6
US_History_Textbook_8th_Grade_Chapter_12_The_South Image-20
24
20
16
12
8
4
0
Cotton (in 100,000 bales)
U.S. Cotton Production,
1800–1860
1800 1820 1840 1860
Year
394 CHAPTER 12
SECTION 3 (Pages 386–391)
8. a. Identify What are some small ways in which
slaves tried to challenge the slave system?
b. Make Inferences How did religion and fam-
ily help slaves cope with their lives?
c. Predict What could be some possible results of
stricter slave codes in the South?
Reviewing Themes
9. Society and Culture How were the different
social classes in the South affected by the cotton
boom?
10. Economics How did the cotton boom affect the
economy of the South?
11. Technology and Innovation What effects did the
cotton gin and scientific agriculture have on life
in the South?
Using the Internet
KEYWORD: SS8 US12
12. Activity: Writing Diary Entries Enslaved
African Americans faced harsh working and
living conditions. Many tried to escape the slave
system. Enter the activity keyword and research
the attempts by enslaved African Americans to
reach the North and the people who assisted
them. Imagine you were trying to help slaves
travel to freedom. Write four entries into a diary.
In each entry, describe your experiences. Include
thumbnail maps to trace their trip.
Reading Skills
Evaluating Web-Based Information Use the Reading
Skills taught in this chapter to answer the question below.
13. Which of the following would be the best Web
site to find information about life in the South
before the Civil War?
a. a Civil War historian’s homepage
b. a collection of autobiographies written by slaves
c. a site with information about how to
grow cotton
d. a collection of biographies of inventors
Social Studies Skills
Interpreting Graphs Use the Social Studies Skills
taught in this chapter to answer the questions about the
graph below.
14. What span of time saw the largest increase in
cotton production?
a. 1800 to 1820
b. 1820 to 1840
c. 1840 to 1860
d. after 1860
15. About what year did cotton production reach
1.2 million bales per year?
a. 1800
b. 1820
c. 1840
d. 1860
FOCUS ON WRITING
16. Writing Your Biographical Sketch Look over
your notes about life on a cotton farm. Then
choose an imaginary person to write about.
Think about what life would have been like for
this person. What might he or she have looked
like? How might he or she have spoken? What
might a typical day have been like? Once you
have answered these questions, write two para-
graphs about a day in the life of this person.
HSS
8.7.2
US_History_Textbook_8th_Grade_Chapter_12_The_South Image-21
160
140
120
100
80
60
40
20
0
Cotton produced (in 1,000 bales)
U.S. Cotton Production, 1795–1805
1795 1797 1799 1801 1803 1805
Year
THE SOUTH 395
Standards Assessment
DIRECTIONS: Read each question and write the
letter of the best response.
!
The main reason for the changes shown
in the graph was
A the invention and use of the cotton gin.
B a decline in the number of slaves.
C the end of the international slave trade.
D a switch from food crops to cash crops.
@
All of the following helped enslaved African
Americans to endure and survive slavery
except
A religion.
B slave codes.
C spirituals.
D folktales.
#
Because some southerners feared farm-
ers had become too reliant on cotton, they
encouraged farmers to
A stop using the cotton gin.
B try growing a variety of cash crops.
C demand higher tariffs.
D introduce cotton and slavery to the West.
$
Which statement accurately describes
southern society in the mid-1800s?
A Very few white southerners owned slaves.
B Few white southerners owned the land they
farmed.
C All African Americans in the South were held in
slavery.
D Most white southerners were small farmers.
%
Free African Americans in the South in the
early and mid-1800s
A had the same rights and freedoms as white
southerners.
B had few rights and freedoms.
C usually had escaped from slavery.
D did not exist as a class of people.
Connecting with Past Learning
^
In Grade 7 you learned about the manors
that developed in Europe during feudalism.
Who in the South in the 1800s would have
been most like the head of a manor in the
Middle Ages?
A a factor
B a yeoman farmer
C a planter
D a slaveholder
&
In 73 BC a gladiator named Spartacus led a
slave revolt against Rome. His action can be
compared to that of which American in the
mid-1800s?
A Alexander Stephens
B Eli Whitney
C Nat Turner
D Frederick Douglass
US_History_Textbook_8th_Grade_Chapter_12_The_South PDF
1793
Eli Whitney
invents the
cotton gin.
1794 France ends
slavery in its colonies.
CHAPTER
12
17901860
The South
The South
372 CHAPTER 12
18 0 0
Biographical Sketch In this chapter you will learn
about life in the South during the first half of the nine-
teenth century. Read the chapter, and then write a
two-paragraph biographical sketch about a day in the life
of a person living on a large cotton farm in the South. You
might choose to write about a wealthy male landowner,
his wife, or an enslaved man or woman working on the
farm. As you read, think about what life would have been
like for the different people who lived and worked on the
farm. Take notes about farm life in your notebook.
FOCUS ON WRITING
History–Social Science
8.7 Students analyze the divergent paths of the American people in
the South from 1800 to the mid-1800s and the challenges they faced.
8.9 Students analyze the early and steady attempts to abolish slav-
ery and to realize the ideals of the Declaration of Independence.
English–Language Arts
Writing 8.2.1.c Employ narrative and descriptive strategies.
Reading 8.2.2 Analyze text that uses proposition and support
patterns.
California Standards
US_History_Textbook_8th_Grade_Chapter_12_The_South Download
186 0
1831 Nat Turner’s
Rebellion leads to
fears of further slave
revolts in the South.
1848 Joseph R.
Anderson becomes the
owner of the Tredegar
Iron Works, the South’s
only large iron factory.
1808 A congres-
sional ban on
importing slaves
into the United
States takes effect.
1807 Parliament
bans the slave trade in
the British Empire.
1835 Alexis de
Tocqueville publishes
Democracy in America.
1837
Victoria is
crowned queen
of Great Britain.
1858 A treaty at
Tianjin, China, gives
Hong Kong to the
United Kingdom.
THE SOUTH
373
18 2 0
18 4 0
HOLT
History’s Impact
video series
Watch the video to under-
stand the impact of regional
economies on national
culture.
These enslaved people were photographed on a
South Carolina plantation in the year 1861. The
issue of slavery would have a serious and dramatic
impact on the history of the entire United States.
In this chapter you will learn how the South
developed an agricultural economy, and how that
economy was dependent on the labor of enslaved
people.
What You Will Learn…
US_History_Textbook_8th_Grade_Chapter_12_The_South PDF Download
374 CHAPTER 00374 CHAPTER 12
Religion
Reading Social Studies by Kylene Beers
Focus on Themes
This chapter takes you
into the heart of the South from 1800 through
he mid-1800s. As you read, you will discover that
the South depended on cotton as its economic
backbone, especially after the invention of the
cotton gin. You will also read about the slave system
in the South during this time and about the harsh
living conditions slaves endured. As you will see,
the South was home to a variety of societies
and cultures.
Geography Politics
Economics
Religion
Society
and Culture
Science and
Technology
Evaluating Web Sites
Site: ____________________________ URL: ______________________________________ Date of access: ____________
Rate each item on this 1–3 scale. Then add up the total score.
I. Authority No Some Yes
a. Authors are clearly identifi ed by name. 1 2 3
b. Contact information is provided for authors. 1 2 3
c. Author’s qualifi cations are clearly stated. 1 2 3
d. Site has been updated recently. 1 2 3
II. Content
a. Site’s information is useful to your project. 1 2 3
b. Information is clear and well-organized. 1 2 3
c. Information appears to be at the right level. 1 2 3
d. Links to additional important information are provided. 1 2 3
e. Information can be verifi ed in other sources. 1 2 3
f. Graphics are helpful, not just decorative. 1 2 3
III. Design and Technical Elements
a. Pages are readable and easy to navigate. 1 2 3
b. Links to other sites work. 1 2 3
Total Score ___________________________
36–28 = very good site 28–20 = average site below 20 = poor site
Additional reading
support can be
found in the
Focus on Reading Researching history topics on the Web can
give you access to valuable information. However, just because the
information is on the Web doesn’t mean it is automatically valuable!
Evaluating Web Sites Before you use information you fi nd online,
you need to evaluate the site it comes from. The checklist below can
help you determine if the site is worth your time.
Online Research
US_History_Textbook_8th_Grade_Chapter_12_The_South Image-1
SECTION TITLE 375THE SOUTH 375
Key Terms
Key Terms
and People
and People
As you read Chapter 12, think about
what topics would be interesting to
research on the Web. If you do some
research on the Web, remember to use
the evaluation list to analyze
the Web site.
You Try It!
The passage below is from the chapter you are about to read.
Cotton Becomes Profitable
Cotton had been grown in the New World
for centuries, but it had not been a very prof-
itable crop. Before cotton could be spun into
thread for weaving into cloth, the seeds had
to be removed from the cotton fi bers.
Long-staple cotton, also called black-seed
cotton, was fairly easy to process. Workers
could pick the seeds from the cotton with rel-
ative ease. But long-staple cotton grew well
in only a few places in the South. More com-
mon was short-staple cotton, also known as
green-seed cotton. Removing the seeds from
this cotton was diffi cult and time consuming.
A worker could spend an entire day picking
the seeds from a single pound of cotton.
From
Chapter 12,
p. 376
After you read the passage, complete the following activity.
Suppose that after reading this passage you decide to do some
research on cotton growing. You use a search engine that directs you
to a site. At that site, you fi nd the information described below. Using
the evaluation criteria listed on the previous page, decide if this is a
site you would recommend to others.
a. The authors of the site are listed as “Bob and Mack, good friends
who enjoy working together.”
b. The site was last updated on “the last time we got together.”
c. The title of the site is “Cotton Pickin’.” There are few headings.
d. This ten-page site includes nine pages about the authors’ child-
hood on a cotton farm. No illustrations are included.
e. Pages are very long; but, they load quickly as there are no
graphics. There is one link to a site selling cotton clothing.
Chapter 12
Section 1
cotton gin (p. 377)
planters (p. 378)
cotton belt (p. 379)
factors (p. 379)
Tredegar Iron Works (p. 379)
Section 2
yeomen (p. 384)
Section 3
folktales (p. 389)
spirituals (p. 389)
Nat Turner (p. 390)
Nat Turners Rebellion (p. 390)
Academic Vocabulary
Success in school is related to
knowing academic vocabulary—
the words that are frequently used
in school assignments and discus-
sions. In this chapter, you will learn
the following academic words:
primary (p. 380)
aspect (p. 388)
ELA
Reading 8.2.0 Read and understand grade-level-appropriate
material.
US_History_Textbook_8th_Grade_Chapter_12_The_South Image-2
1
Growth of the
Cotton Industry
You are a fi eld-worker on a cotton farm in the South in about
1800. Your job is to separate the seeds from the cotton fi bers. It
is dull, tiring work because the tiny seeds are tangled in the fi bers.
Sometimes it takes you a whole day just to clean one pound of
cotton! Now you hear that someone has invented a machine that
can clean cotton 50 times faster than by hand.
How might this machine change your life?
BUILDING BACKGROUND Sectional differences had always existed
between different regions of the United States. The revolutionary
changes in industry and transportation deepened the differences
between North and South. The South remained mainly agricultural.
New technology helped the region become the Cotton Kingdom.
Reviving the Souths Economy
Before the American Revolution, three crops dominated south-
ern agriculture—tobacco, rice, and indigo. These crops, produced
mostly by enslaved African Americans, played a central role in the
southern economy and culture.
After the American Revolution, however, prices for tobacco,
rice, and indigo dropped. When crop prices fell, the demand for
and the price of slaves also went down. In an effort to protect their
incomes, many farmers tried, with little success, to grow other
crops that needed less labor. Soon, however, cotton would trans-
form the southern economy and greatly increase the demand for
slave labor.
Cotton Becomes Profi table
Cotton had been grown in the New World for centuries, but it had
not been a very profi table crop. Before cotton could be spun into
thread for weaving into cloth, the seeds had to be removed from
the cotton fi bers.
The invention of the cotton gin
made the South a one-crop
economy and increased the
need for slave labor.
The Big Idea
1. The invention of the cotton
gin revived the economy of
the South.
2. The cotton gin created a cot-
ton boom in which farmers
grew little else.
3. Some people encouraged
southerners to focus on other
crops and industries.
Main Ideas
Key Terms and People
cotton gin, p. 377
planters, p. 378
cotton belt, p. 379
factors, p. 379
Tredegar Iron Works, p. 381
SECTION
What You Will Learn…
If YOU were there...
376 CHAPTER 12
HSS
8.7.1 Describe the develop-
ment of the agrarian economy in the
South, identify the locations of the
cotton-producing states, and discuss
the signifi cance of cotton and the
cotton gin.
8.7.2 Trace the origins and develop-
ment of slavery; its effects on black
Americans and on the region’s politi-
cal, social, religious, economic, and
cultural development; and identify the
stategies that were tried to both over-
turn and preserve it (e.g., through the
writings and historical documents on
Nat Turner, Denmark Vesey).
US_History_Textbook_8th_Grade_Chapter_12_The_South Image-3
1
2
3
4
THE SOUTH 377
Long-staple cotton, also called black-seed
cotton, was fairly easy to process. Workers
could pick the seeds from the cotton with
relative ease. But long-staple cotton grew well
in only a few places in the South. More com-
mon was short-staple cotton, which was also
known as green-seed cotton. Removing the
seeds from this cotton was diffi cult and time
consuming. A worker could spend an entire
day picking the seeds from a single pound of
short-staple cotton.
By the early 1790s the demand for Amer-
ican cotton began increasing rapidly. For
instance, in Great Britain, new textile facto-
ries needed raw cotton that could be used for
making cloth, and American cotton produc-
ers could not keep up with the high demand
for their cotton. These producers of cotton
needed a machine that could remove the
seeds from the cotton more rapidly.
Eli Whitney’s Cotton Gin
Northerner Eli Whitney fi nally patented such
a machine in 1793. The year before, Whitney
had visited a Georgia plantation owned
by Catherine Greene where workers were
using a machine to remove seeds from long-
staple cotton. This machine did not work
well on short-staple cotton, and Greene asked
Whitney if he could improve it. By the next
spring, Whitney had perfected his design for
the
cotton gin
cotton gin,
a machine that removes seeds
a machine that removes seeds
from short-staple cotton
from short-staple cotton. (“Gin” is short for
engine.) The cotton gin used a hand-cranked
cylinder with wire teeth to pull cotton fi bers
from the seeds.
Whitney hoped to keep the design of the
gin a secret, but the machine was so useful that
his patent was often ignored by other manu-
facturers. Whitney described how his inven-
tion would improve the cotton business.
The same patent
law that protected
Whitney’s inven-
tion of the cotton
gin protects the
rights of inventors
today.
THE IMPACT
TODAY
1
The operator turned
the crank.
2
The crank turned a
roller with teeth that
stripped the seeds away
from the cotton fiber.
3
Brushes on a second
roller lifted the seed-
less cotton off the teeth
of the first cylinder and
dropped it out of the
machine.
4
A belt connected the
rollers so that they
would both turn when
the crank was turned.
Eli Whitney’s cotton gin enabled workers to easily
remove seeds from cotton fibers. The result was a
dramatic increase in cotton production in the South.
How did the cotton gin remove seeds from cotton fibers?
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
Cotton Gin
US_History_Textbook_8th_Grade_Chapter_12_The_South Image-4
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Cotton (in 100,000 bales)
U.S. Cotton Production,
1800–1860
1800 1820 1840 1860
Year
After the invention of the cotton gin, the amount of cotton pro-
duced each year in the United States soared, as the chart below
shows. The area of land devoted to growing cotton also increased
dramatically between 1820 and 1860, as shown on the map.
Extent of cotton
growing by 1820
Extent of cotton
growing by 1860
0 150 300 Miles
0 150 300 Kilometers
378 CHAPTER 12
One man will clean ten times as much cotton as
he can in any other way before known and also
clean it much better than in the usual mode
[method]. This machine may be turned by water
or with a horse, with the greatest ease, and one
man and a horse will do more than fi fty men
with the old machines.
—Eli Whitney, quoted in Eli Whitney and the Birth of
American Technology by Constance McLaughlin Green
Whitney’s gin revolutionized the cotton
industry.
Planters
Planters
—large-scale farmers who
—large-scale farmers who
held more than 20 slaves
held more than 20 slaves—built cotton gins
that could process tons of cotton much faster
than hand processing. A healthy crop almost
guaranteed fi nancial success because of high
demand from the textile industry.
READING CHECK
Drawing Conclusions
What effects did the cotton gin have on the
southern economy?
The Cotton Boom
Whitney’s invention of the cotton gin made
cotton so profi table that southern farmers
abandoned other crops in favor of growing
cotton. The removal of Native Americans
opened up more land for cotton farmers in
the Southeast. Meanwhile, the development
of new types of cotton plants helped spread
cotton production throughout the South as
far west as Texas.
Production increased rapidly—from
about 2 million pounds in 1791 to roughly
a billion pounds by 1860. As early as 1840,
the United States was producing more than
half of the cotton grown in the entire world.
The economic boom attracted new settlers,
built up wealth among wealthy white south-
erners, and helped keep in place the institu-
tion of slavery in the South.
1. In what region of the
United States was the cotton belt?
2. How many bales of cotton were
produced in 1860?
INTERPRETING CHARTS
ANALYSIS
SKILL
The Cotton Kingdom
US_History_Textbook_8th_Grade_Chapter_12_The_South Image-5
THE SOUTH 379
Cotton Belt
Cotton had many advantages as a cash crop.
It cost little to market. Unlike food staples,
harvested cotton could be stored for a long
time. Because cotton was lighter than other
staple crops, it also cost less to transport long
distances.
Farmers eager to profi t from growing cot-
ton headed west to fi nd land. Farmers also
began to apply scientifi c methods to improve
crop production. Cotton had one disadvan-
tage as a crop—it rapidly used up the nutri-
ents in the soil. After a few years, cotton could
make the land useless for growing anything.
Some agricultural scientists recommended
crop rotation—changing the crop grown
on a particular plot of land every few years.
Different crops needed different nutrients,
so crop rotation would keep the land fertile
longer. Other agricultural scientists began to
study soil chemistry, in an effort to keep the
land rich and productive.
The area of high cotton production
The area of high cotton production
became known as the
became known as the
cotton belt
cotton belt. As this area
grew, farmers continued trying to improve
the crop. Agricultural scientists worked at
crossbreeding short-staple cotton with other
varieties. Soon, new, stronger types of cotton
were being grown. This led to expansion of
the cotton industry through the 1860s.
The cotton boom involved much more
than growing and harvesting cotton. Har-
vested cotton had to be ginned, pressed
into bales, and then shipped to market or to
warehouses. Special agents helped do every-
thing from marketing cotton to customers to
insuring crops against loss or damage. Facto-
ries were built to produce items needed by
cotton farmers, such as ropes to bale cotton.
Growing and harvesting cotton required
many fi eld hands. Rather than pay wages
to free workers, planters began to use more
slave labor. Congress had made bringing
slaves into the United States illegal in 1808.
However, the growing demand for slaves led
to an increase in the slave trade within the
United States.
Cotton Trade
In an 1858 speech before the U.S. Senate,
South Carolina politician James Henry Ham-
mond declared, “Cotton is King!” Without
cotton, Hammond claimed, the world econo-
my would fail. He believed that southern cot-
ton was one of the most valuable resources in
the world. Southern cotton was used to make
cloth in England and the North. Many south-
erners shared Hammond’s viewpoints about
cotton. Southerner David Christy declared,
“King cotton is a profound [educated] states-
man, and knows what measures will best sus-
tain [protect] his throne.”
The cotton boom made the South a major
player in world trade. Great Britain became
the South’s most valued foreign trading
partner. Southerners also sold tons of cot-
ton to the growing textile industry in the
northeastern United States. This increased
trade led to the growth of major port cities
in the South, including Charleston, South
Carolina; Savannah, Georgia; and New
Orleans, Louisiana.
In these cities,
crop brokers called
crop brokers called
factors
factors
managed the cotton trade. Farmers sold their
cotton to merchants, who then made deals
with the factors. Merchants and factors also
arranged loans for farmers who needed to
buy supplies. They often advised farmers on
how to invest profi ts. Once farmers got their
cotton to the port cities, factors arranged for
transportation aboard trading ships.
However, shipping cotton by land to port
cities was very diffi cult in the South. The few
major road projects at the time were limited
to the Southeast. Most southern farmers had
to ship their goods on the region’s rivers. On
the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, fl atboats and
steamboats carried cotton and other products
to port. Eventually, hundreds of steamboats
traveled up and down the mighty Mississippi
River each day.
READING CHECK
Identifying Cause and Effect
What effect did the cotton boom have on the slave
trade within the United States?
The Port of New
Orleans remains
a major seaport.
It handles about
85 million tons of
cargo annually.
THE IMPACT
TODAY
US_History_Textbook_8th_Grade_Chapter_12_The_South Image-6
380 CHAPTER 12
Other Crops and Industries
Some leaders worried that the South was
depending too much on cotton. They wanted
southerners to try a variety of cash crops and
investments.
Food and Cash Crops
One such crop was corn, the primary south-
ern food crop. By the late 1830s the top three
corn-growing states in the nation were all in
the South. The South’s other successful food
crops included rice, sweet potatoes, wheat,
and sugarcane.
Production of tobacco, the South’s fi rst
major cash crop, was very time consuming
because tobacco leaves had to be cured, or
dried, before they could be shipped to market.
In 1839 a slave discovered a way to improve
the drying process by using heat from burn-
ing charcoal. This new, faster curing process
increased tobacco production.
Partly as a result of the cotton boom,
hemp and fl ax also became major cash crops.
Their fi bers were used to make rope and sack-
cloth. Farmers used the rope and sackcloth
to bundle cotton into bales.
Industry
Many of the fi rst factories in the South were
built to serve farmers’ needs by processing
crops such as sugarcane. In 1803 the nation’s
rst steam-powered sawmill was built in Don-
aldsonville, Louisiana. This new technology
enabled lumber companies to cut, sort, and
clean wood quickly.
In Georgia, entrepreneurs—individuals
who organize and manage businesses—had
begun investing in cotton mills. In 1840,
there were 14 cotton mills; by the mid-1850s,
there were more than 50. A few mill owners
followed the model established by Francis
Cabot Lowell. However, most built small-
scale factories on the falls of a river for water
power. A few steam-powered mills were built
in towns without enough water power.
Southerners such as Hinton Rowan Helper
encouraged industrial growth in the South.
We should . . . keep pace with the progress of
the age. We must expand our energies, and
acquire habits of enterprise and industry; we
should rouse ourselves from the couch of las-
situde [laziness] and inure [set] our minds to
thought and our bodies to action.
— Hinton Rowan Helper, The Impending Crisis of
the South: How to Meet It
Enslaved African Americans did
most of the planting, harvesting,
and processing of cotton.
Eli Whitney’s cotton gin began the cotton boom. Soon, the Cotton
Kingdom stretched across the South. For the cotton planters to
succeed, they had to get their cotton to market.
From southern ports, sailing
ships carried the cotton to
distant textile mills.
The South’s Cotton Economy
Cotton was shipped on river
steamboats to major ports such
as Charleston.
ACADEMIC
VOCABULARY
primary
main, most
important
US_History_Textbook_8th_Grade_Chapter_12_The_South Image-7
THE SOUTH 381
Joseph R. Anderson followed Helper’s
advice. In 1848 he became the owner of the
Tredegar Iron Works
Tredegar Iron Works
in Richmond, Virginia—
in Richmond, Virginia—
one of the most productive iron works in
one of the most productive iron works in
the nation.
the nation. It was the only factory to produce
bridge materials, cannons, steam engines, and
other products.
Industry, however, remained a small part
of the southern economy and primarily sup-
ported agrarian interests. Southern industry
faced stiff competition from the North and
from England, both of which could produce
many goods more cheaply. And as long as
agricultural profi ts remained high, southern
investors preferred to invest in land.
READING CHECK
Making Inferences Why
were there fewer industries in the South?
Section 1 Assessment
Reviewing Ideas,
Terms, and People
1. a. Describe How did the cotton gin make pro-
cessing cotton easier?
b. Draw Conclusions Why had slavery been on
the decline before the invention of the cotton gin?
How did slavery change as a result of the cotton
gin?
2. a. Identify What areas made up the cotton belt?
b. Evaluate Do you think the South should have
paid more attention to its industrial growth? Why?
3. a. Describe What other crops and industries were
encouraged in the South?
b. Make Inferences Why were some southern
leaders worried about the South’s reliance on cotton?
Critical Thinking
4. Identifying Cause and Effect Copy the graphic
organizer below. Use it to show events that led
to the cotton boom and to list the effects of
increased cotton production on slavery and the
southern economy.
Causes: Cotton Boom
Slavery
Economy
FOCUS ON WRITING
5. Noting Life on the Cotton Farm In your note-
book, note how Whitney’s gin changed life on the
farm. Also note other details about cotton farming
you could include in your sketch.
KEYWORD: SS8 HP12
Online Quiz
DRAWING CONCLUSIONS
Why do you think cotton was so important
to the South’s economy?
ANALYSIS
SKILL
Textile mills in Great Britain were the largest
foreign buyers of southern cotton.
FOCUS ON
READING
What kind of Web
site would you
look for to learn
more about the
Tredegar Iron
Works?
A large amount of cotton was sold to textile
mills in the northeastern United States.
SUMMARY AND PREVIEW You have read
about how southern farmers worked to
improve farming methods. In the next sec-
tion you will read about the structure of
southern society.
HSS
8.7.1, 8.7.2
US_History_Textbook_8th_Grade_Chapter_12_The_South Image-8
SECTION
What You Will Learn…
382 CHAPTER 12
2
Southern Society
Your family owns a small farm in Georgia in the 1840s. Sometimes
you work in the fi elds, but more often you tend the vegetable
garden and peach orchard. Since you have no close neighbors,
you look forward to Sundays. Going to church gives you a chance
to socialize with other young people. Sometimes you wonder what
it would be like to live in a city like Savannah.
How would life be different if you
left the farm for the city?
BUILDING BACKGROUND Although the South had some industry,
agriculture was the heart of the southern economy. Cotton was king.
As a result, wealthy plantation families were the most prominent
social class in southern society. Small farmers, however, made up
the largest part of the population.
Southern Society and Culture
Popular fi ction often made it seem that all white southerners had
many slaves and lived on large plantations. Many fi ction writ-
ers wrote about wealthy southern families who had frequent,
grand parties. The ideal image of the South included hospitality
and well-treated slaves on beautiful plantations that almost ran
themselves.
This romantic view was far from the reality. During the fi rst
half of the 1800s, only about one-third of white southern fami-
lies had slaves. Fewer families had plantations. Despite their small
numbers, these planters had a powerful infl uence over the South.
Many served as political leaders. They led a society made up of
many different kinds of people, including yeomen farmers, poor
whites, slaves, and free African Americans. Each of these segments
of society contributed to the economic success of the South.
If YOU were there...
Southern society centered
around agriculture.
The Big Idea
1. Southern society and culture
consisted of four main
groups.
2. Free African Americans in
the South faced a great deal
of discrimination.
Main Ideas
Key Term
yeomen, p. 384
HSS
8.7.3
Examine the character-
istics of white Southern society and
how the physical environment infl u-
enced events and conditions prior to
the Civil War.
8.7.4 Compare the lives of and
opportunities for free blacks in the
North with those of free blacks in the
South.
8.9.6 Describe the lives of free
blacks and the laws that limited their
freedom and economic opportunities.
US_History_Textbook_8th_Grade_Chapter_12_The_South Image-9
Fields
THE SOUTH 383
Planters
As the wealthiest members of southern soci-
ety, planters also greatly infl uenced the econ-
omy. Some showed off their wealth by living
in beautiful mansions. Many others chose to
live more simply. A visitor described wealthy
planter Alexander Stephens’s estate as “an
old wooden house” surrounded by weeds.
Some planters saved all of their money to
buy more land and slaves.
Male planters were primarily concerned
with raising crops and supervising slave
laborers. They left the running of the planta-
tion household to their wives. The planter’s
wife oversaw the raising of the children and
supervised the work of all slaves within the
household. Slave women typically cooked,
cleaned, and helped care for the planter’s
children. Wives also took on the important
ANALYZING VISUALS
How can you tell that the owner
of this plantation was wealthy?
ANALYSIS
SKILL
A Southern Plantation
A typical plantation had fields as well as many
buildings where different work was done. This
picture shows some of the more important
buildings that were a part of the plantation
system.
History Close-up
Barn
Warehouse
Smokehouse
Overseers House
Stable
Plantation House
The planter and his family
lived in the plantation
house. The planter’s wife
was in charge of running
the household.
Cotton-Ginning Shed
This sizable plantation
had several large cot-
ton gins. The vital ma-
chines were housed in
a shed to protect them
from the weather.
Slave Cabins
Slaves lived crowded together
in small cabins. Cabins are
crude, wooden structures
with dirt floors.
social duties of the family. For example,
many southern leaders discussed political
issues at the dances and dinners hosted by
their wives.
Planters often arranged their children’s
marriages based on business interests. Lucy
Breckinridge, the daughter of a wealthy Vir-
ginia planter, was married by arrangement in
1865. Three years earlier, she had described
in her journal how she dreaded the very
thought of marriage. “A woman’s life after
she is married, unless there is an immense
amount of love, is nothing but suffering
and hard work.” How Breckinridge’s life
in her own arranged marriage would have
turned out cannot be known. She died of
typhoid fever just months after her
wedding.
Fields
US_History_Textbook_8th_Grade_Chapter_12_The_South Image-10
384 CHAPTER 12
Free African Americans
in the South
Yeomen and Poor Whites
Most white southerners were
yeomen
yeomen,
owners
owners
of small farms
of small farms. Yeomen owned few
slaves or none at all. The typical farm aver-
aged 100 acres. Yeomen took great pride in
their work. In 1849 a young Georgia man
wrote, “I desire above all things to be a
‘Farmer.’ It is the most honest, upright, and
sure way of securing all the comforts of life.”
Yeoman families, including women and
children, typically worked long days at a vari-
ety of tasks. Some yeomen held a few slaves,
but worked along side them.
The poorest of white southerners lived
on land that could not grow cash crops. They
survived by hunting, fi shing, raising small
gardens, and doing odd jobs for money.
Religion and Society
Most white southerners shared similar
religious beliefs. Because of the long distances
between farms, families often saw their neigh-
bors only at church events, such as revivals or
socials. Rural women often played volunteer
roles in their churches. Wealthy white south-
erners thought that their religion justifi ed
their position in society and the institution of
slavery. They argued that God created some
people, like themselves, to rule others. This
belief opposed many northern Christians’
belief that God was against slavery.
Urban Life
Many of the largest and most important
cities in the South were strung along the
Atlantic coast and had begun as shipping
centers. Although fewer in number, the
southern cities were similar to northern cit-
ies. City governments built public water sys-
tems and provided well-maintained streets.
Public education was available in some plac-
es. Wealthy residents occasionally gave large
sums of money to charities, such as orphan-
ages and public libraries. Southern urban
leaders wanted their cities to appear as mod-
ern as possible.
As on plantations, slaves did much of
the work in southern cities. Slaves worked as
domestic servants, in mills, in shipyards, and at
skilled jobs. Many business leaders held slaves
or hired them from nearby plantations.
READING CHECK
Summarizing What different
groups made up southern society?
In 1860 about 1 out of 50
African Americans in the South
was free. Many worked in
skilled trades, like this barber
in Richmond, Virginia. In
Charleston, South Carolina, a
system of badges was set up
to distinguish between free
African Americans and slaves.
How would the work of the
free African American in this
picture be different from that
of slaves in the South?
Collection of The American Numismatic
Society, New York
US_History_Textbook_8th_Grade_Chapter_12_The_South Image-11
THE SOUTH 385
Free African Americans and
Discrimination
Although the vast majority of African Ameri-
cans in the South were enslaved, more than
250,000 free African Americans lived in the
region by 1860. Some were descendants of
slaves who were freed after the American
Revolution. Others were descendants of
refugees from Toussaint L’Ouverture’s Hai-
tian Revolution in the late 1790s. Still others
were former slaves who had run away, been
freed by their slaveholder, or earned enough
money to buy their freedom.
Free African Americans lived in both rural
and urban areas. Most lived in the countryside
and worked as paid laborers on plantations or
farms. Free African Americans in cities often
worked a variety of jobs, mostly as skilled arti-
sans. Some, like barber William Johnson of
Natchez, Mississippi, became quite successful
in their businesses. Some free African Ameri-
cans, especially those in the cities, formed
social and economic ties with one another.
Churches often served as the center of their
social lives.
Free African Americans faced constant
discrimination from white southerners. Many
governments passed laws limiting the rights
of free African Americans. Most free African
Americans could not vote, travel freely, or
hold certain jobs. In some places, free African
Americans had to have a white person repre-
sent them in any business transaction. In oth-
ers, laws restricted where they were allowed to
live or conduct business.
Many white southerners argued that free
African Americans did not have the ability to
take care of themselves, and they used this
belief to justify the institution of slavery. “The
status of slavery is the only one for which the
African is adapted,” wrote one white Missis-
sippian. To many white southerners, the very
existence of free African Americans threat-
ened the institution of slavery.
READING CHECK
Finding Main Ideas What
challenges did free African Americans face in
the South?
Section 2 Assessment
Reviewing Ideas,
Terms, and People
1. a. Identify What was the largest social
group in the South? How did its members make
a living?
b. Compare In what ways were southern cities
similar to northern cities?
c. Elaborate Which southern social class do you
think had the most diffi cult life? Why?
2. a. Describe What jobs were available to free
African Americans in the South?
b. Analyze Why did many white southerners fear
free African Americans?
c. Elaborate Why do you think that discrimination
against free African Americans was harsher in the
South than in the North?
Critical Thinking
3. Comparing and Contrasting Copy the Venn
diagram below. Add to it lines which you will fi ll in
to identify ways in which planters’ and yeomen’s
lives were similar and different.
Planters YeomenSimilarities
FOCUS ON WRITING
4. Describing the Life of Cotton Farmers In your
notebook, describe the different roles played by
male planters and their wives. What challenges
would female planters have faced? When would
the planters have had a chance to socialize?
KEYWORD: SS8 HP12
Online Quiz
SUMMARY AND PREVIEW Southern soci-
ety was led by rich planters but included
other groups as well. In the next section
you will read about life under slavery.
HSS
8.7.3, 8.7.4, 8.9.6
US_History_Textbook_8th_Grade_Chapter_12_The_South Image-12
SECTION
What You Will Learn…
386 CHAPTER 12
3
The Slave System
You are a reporter for a newspaper in Philadelphia in the 1850s.
You are writing a series of articles about the slave system in the
South. To get background for your stories, you are planning to
interview some former slaves who now live in Philadelphia.
Some have bought their freedom, while others have successfully
escaped from slavery.
What questions will you ask in your interviews?
BUILDING BACKGROUND While most white southern families were
not slaveholders, the southern economy depended on the work of
slaves. This was true not only on large plantations but also on smaller
farms and in the cities. Few chances existed for enslaved African
Americans to escape their hard lives.
Slaves and Work
Most enslaved African Americans lived in rural areas where they
worked on farms and plantations. Enslaved people on small farms
usually did a variety of jobs. On large plantations, most slaves were
assigned to specifi c jobs, and most worked in the fi elds. Most slave-
holders demanded that slaves work as much as possible. Supervisors
known as drivers, who were sometimes slaves themselves, made sure
that slaves followed orders and carried out punishments.
Working in the Field
Most plantation owners used the gang-labor system. In this system,
all fi eld hands worked on the same task at the same time. They usu-
ally worked from sunup to sundown. Former slave Harry McMillan
had worked on a plantation in South Carolina. He recalled that the
eld hands usually did not even get a break to eat lunch. “You had
to get your victuals [food] standing at your hoe,” he remembered.
Men, women, and even children older than about 10 usually did
the same tasks. Sickness and poor weather rarely stopped the work.
“The times I hated most was picking cotton when the frost was on
the bolls [seed pods],” recalled former Louisiana slave Mary Reynolds.
“My hands git sore and crack open and bleed.”
If YOU were there...
The slave system in the South
produced harsh living condi-
tions and occasional rebellions.
The Big Idea
1. Slaves worked at a variety of
jobs on plantations.
2. Life under slavery was dif-
ficult and dehumanizing.
3. Slave culture centered
around family, community,
and religion.
4. Slave uprisings led to stricter
slave codes in many states.
Main Ideas
Key Terms and People
folktales, p. 389
spirituals, p. 389
Nat Turner, p. 390
Nat Turner’s Rebellion, p. 390
HSS
8.7.2
Trace the origins and
development of slavery; its effects on
black Americans and on the region’s
political, social, religious, economic,
and cultural development; and identify
the stategies that were tried to both
overturn and preserve it (e.g., through
the writings and historical documents
on Nat Turner, Denmark Vesey).
US_History_Textbook_8th_Grade_Chapter_12_The_South Image-13
Working in the Planter’s Home
Some slaves worked as butlers, cooks, or
nurses in the planter’s home. These slaves
often had better food, clothing, and shelter
than fi eld hands did, but they often worked
longer hours. They had to serve the planter’s
family 24 hours a day.
Working at Skilled Jobs
On larger plantations, some enslaved Afri-
can Americans worked at skilled jobs, such
as blacksmithing or carpentry. Sometimes
planters let these slaves sell their services to
other people. Often planters collected a por-
tion of what was earned but allowed slaves to
keep the rest. In this way, some skilled slaves
earned enough money to buy their freedom
from their slaveholders. For example, Wil-
liam Ellison earned his freedom in South
Carolina by working for wages as a cotton
gin maker. For years, he worked late at night
and on Sundays. He bought his freedom
with the money he earned. Eventually, he
was also able to buy the freedom of his wife
and daughter.
READING CHECK
Summarizing What were some
types of work done by enslaved people on plantations?
Life Under Slavery
Generally, slaveholders viewed slaves as
property, not as people. Slaveholders bought
and sold slaves to make a profi t. The most
common method of sale was at an auction.
The auction itself determined whether fami-
lies would be kept together or separated.
Sometimes a buyer wanted a slave to fi ll a
specifi c job, such as heavy laborer, carpenter,
or blacksmith. The buyer might be willing to
pay for the slave who could do the work, but
not for that slave’s family. Families would
then be separated with little hope of ever
getting back together.
Slave traders sometimes even kidnapped
free African Americans and then sold them
into slavery. For example, Solomon Northup,
a free African American, was kidnapped in
Washington, D.C. He spent 12 years as a slave
until he fi nally proved his identity and gained
his release.
Living Conditions
Enslaved people often endured poor living
conditions. Planters housed them in dirt-
oor cabins with few furnishings and often
leaky roofs. The clothing given to them was
usually simple and made of cheap, coarse
fabric. Some slaves tried to brighten up their
THE SOUTH 387
Slaveholders’ children were often cared
for by enslaved women. At the time,
women who looked after children were
called nurses. This nurse is posing with
her slaveholder’s child in about 1850.
As a slave, what might have happened
to this woman’s family?
A Nurse’s Work
US_History_Textbook_8th_Grade_Chapter_12_The_South Image-14
388 CHAPTER 12
Slave Culture
Many enslaved African Americans found
comfort in their community and culture.
They made time for social activity, even after
exhausting workdays, in order to relieve the
hardship of their lives.
Family and Community
Family was the most important aspect of
slave communities, and slaves feared sepa-
ration more than they feared punishment.
Josiah Henson never forgot the day that he
and his family were auctioned. His mother
begged the slaveholder who bought her to
buy Josiah, too. The slaveholder refused, and
Henson’s entire family was separated. “I must
have been then between fi ve or six years
old,” he recalled years later. “I seem to see
and hear my poor weeping mother now.”
clothing by sewing on designs from
discarded scraps of material. In this
way, they expressed their individu-
ality and personalized the clothing
assigned to them by the planters.
Likewise, many slaves did what
they could to improve their small
food rations. Some planters allowed
slaves to keep their own gardens for
vegetables, and chickens for eggs.
Other slaves were able to add a lit-
tle variety to their diet by fi shing or
picking wild berries.
Punishment and Slave Codes
Some planters offered more food or
better living conditions to encour-
age slaves’ obedience. However, most
slaveholders used punishment instead.
Some would punish one slave in front
of others as a warning to them all.
Harry McMillan recalled some of the
punishments he had witnessed.
The punishments were whipping, putting
you in the stocks [wooden frames to lock
people in] and making you wear irons and a
chain at work. Then they had a collar to put round
your neck with two horns, like cows’ horns, so that
you could not lie down . . . Sometimes they dug
a hole like a well with a door on top. This they
called a dungeon keeping you in it two or three
weeks or a month, or sometimes till you died in
there.
—Harry McMillan, quoted in Major Problems in the History
of the American South,Volume I, edited by Paul D. Escott and
David R. Goldfi eld
To further control slaves’ actions, many
states passed strict laws called slave codes.
Some laws prohibited slaves from traveling
far from their homes. Literacy laws in most
southern states prohibited the education of
slaves. Alabama, Virginia, and Georgia had
laws that allowed the fi ning and whipping
of anyone caught teaching enslaved people
to read and write.
READING CHECK
Summarizing How did slave-
holders control slaves?
A Slave’s Daily Life
Typical Daily schedule:
3:00 a.m. Out of bed,
tend animals
6:00 a.m. Prayers
7:00 a.m. Start work
12:00 p.m. Lunch
1:00 p.m. Return to work
7:00 p.m. Dinner
8:00 p.m. Return to work
11:00 p.m. Lights out
ACADEMIC
VOCABULARY
aspect part
US_History_Textbook_8th_Grade_Chapter_12_The_South Image-15
THE SOUTH 389
Some slaves sang
spirituals
spirituals,
emotional
emotional
Christian songs that blended African and
Christian songs that blended African and
European music
European music, to express their religious
beliefs. For example, “The Heavenly Road”
refl ected slaves’ belief in their equality in the
eyes of God.
Come, my brother, if you never did pray,
I hope you pray tonight;
For I really believe I am a child of God
As I walk on the heavenly road.
—Anonymous, quoted in Afro-American Religious History,
edited by Milton C. Sernett
Slaves blended aspects of traditional Afri-
can religions with those of Christianity. They
worshipped in secret, out of sight of slave-
holders. Some historians have called slave
religion the invisible institution.
Enslaved parents kept their heritage alive
by passing down family histories as well as
African customs and traditions. They also
told
folktales
folktales,
or stories with a moral
or stories with a moral, to teach
lessons about how to survive under slavery.
Folktales often included a clever animal char-
acter called a trickster. The trickster—which
often represented slaves—defeated a stronger
animal by outwitting it. Folktales reassured
slaves that they could survive by outsmarting
more powerful slaveholders.
Religion
Religion also played an important part in
slave culture. By the early 1800s many slaves
were Christians. They came to see them-
selves, like the slaves in the Old Testament, as
God’s chosen people, much like the Hebrew
slaves in ancient Egypt who had faith that
they would someday live in freedom.
The lives of slaves revolved around the work that was
required of them. For many, this meant doing the
backbreaking work of harvesting and loading tons of
cotton. Most slaves found hope and a short escape from
their daily misery in Sunday church services. Others sought
to escape permanently and ran away, hoping to reach the
freedom of the North. A failed escape attempt, however,
could result in a cruel whipping—or worse.
What different aspects of slavery are shown in these
pictures?
The musical
influence of these
inspirational
slave songs can
be heard today in
gospel music.
THE IMPACT
TODAY
Hauling the Whole Week’s Pickings by William Henry Brown, The Historic New Orleans Collection
US_History_Textbook_8th_Grade_Chapter_12_The_South Image-16
First cave
Captured
October 30, 1831
Second cave
Cypress
Bridge
SOUTHAMPTON
COUNTY
VIRGINIA
NORTH CAROLINA
ATLANTIC
OCEAN
Nat Turner’s route
House or plantation
Hiding place
0 3 6 Miles
0 3 6 Kilometers
390 CHAPTER 12
Slave Nat Turner led a revolt against white slaveholders in
1831. This is a map of his route and a depiction of his capture.
August 21, 1831
Turner meets with
other slaves and
plans revolt.
August 23, 1831
Most of the rebel-
ling slaves are
captured or killed
at James Parkers
plantation. Turner
escapes.
Seeds of Rebellion
Maintaining their own religious beliefs and
practices was only one way in which enslaved
people resisted slaveholders’ attempts to con-
trol them completely. In small ways, slaves
rebelled against the system daily. Sometimes
they worked slower to protest long hours in
the fi elds. Other times they ran away for a
few days to avoid an angry slaveholder. Some
slaves tried to escape permanently, but most
left only for short periods, often to go and
visit relatives.
Gaining freedom by escaping to the
North was hard. If discovered, slaves were
captured and sent back to their slavehold-
ers, where they faced certain punishment or
death. However, thousands of enslaved peo-
ple succeeded in escaping.
READING CHECK
Summarizing How did
slaves’ religious beliefs affect their attitudes
toward slavery?
Slave Uprisings
Although violent slave revolts were rela-
tively rare, white southerners lived in fear of
them. Two planned rebellions were stopped
before they began. Gabriel Prosser planned a
rebellion near Richmond, Virginia, in 1800.
Denmark Vesey planned one in Charleston,
South Carolina, in 1822. Authorities execut-
ed most of those involved in planning these
rebellions. Though Vesey was executed as
the leader of the Charleston conspiracy, sev-
eral accounts written after his death by anti-
slavery writers claimed he was a hero.
The most violent slave revolt in the Unit-
The most violent slave revolt in the Unit-
ed States occurred in 1831 and is known as
ed States occurred in 1831 and is known as
Nat Turners Rebellion.
Nat Turners Rebellion. Nat Turner, a slave
from Southampton County, Virginia, believed
that God had told him to end slavery. On an
August night in 1831, Turner led a group of
slaves in a plan to kill all of the slaveholders
and their families in the county. First, they
ANALYZING VISUALS
Location Where did Nat Turner’s Rebellion take place?
ANALYSIS
SKILL
Nat Turner’s Rebellion
US_History_Textbook_8th_Grade_Chapter_12_The_South Image-17
THE SOUTH 391
LETTER
Nat Turner’s Rebellion
In 1831 a white southerner who had escaped
the rebellion wrote a letter describing the
mood of the area where Nat Turner had
killed slaveholders.
The oldest inhabitants of our county
have never experienced such a distress-
ing [terrible] time, as we have had since
Sunday night last. The [slaves], about
fifteen miles from this place, have massa-
cred from 50 to 75 women and children,
and some 8 or 10 men. Every house, room
and corner in this place is full of women
and children, driven from home, who had
to take to the woods, until they could get
to this place. We are worn out with fatigue
[tiredness].
Richmond Enquirer, quoted in
The Southampton Slave Revolt of 1831
by Henry I. Tragle
Primary Source
attacked the family that held Turner as a slave.
Soon they had killed about 60 white people in
the community.
More than 100 innocent slaves who were
not part of Turner’s group were killed in an
attempt to stop the rebellion. Turner himself
led authorities on a chase around the coun-
tryside for six weeks. He hid in caves and in
the woods before he was caught and brought
to trial. Before his trial, Turner made a confes-
sion. He expressed his belief that the revolt was
justifi ed and worth his death: “I am willing to
suffer the fate that awaits me.” He was execut-
ed on November 11, 1831. After the rebellion,
many states strengthened their slave codes.
The new codes placed stricter control on the
slave population. Despite the resistance of
enslaved people, slavery continued to spread.
READING CHECK
Finding Main Ideas
What was Nat Turner’s Rebellion, and what
happened as a result?
Section 3 Assessment
Reviewing Ideas,
Terms, and People
1. a. Identify What different types of work were
done by slaves on plantations?
b. Elaborate Do you think that skilled slaves had
advantages over other slaves? Why or why not?
2. a. Describe What were living conditions like for
most slaves?
b. Summarize In what different ways did slave-
holders encourage obedience from their slaves?
3. a. Recall What was the purpose of folktales?
b. Explain How did slaves try to maintain a sense
of community?
4. a. Describe What was the outcome of Nat
Turner’s Rebellion?
b. Elaborate What do you think were some rea-
sons why slaves rebelled?
Critical Thinking
5. Evaluating Copy the graphic organizer below.
Then add information to describe life under slavery.
Life as a Slave
Coping
with Slavery
Challenging
Slavery
FOCUS ON WRITING
6. Describing the Life of Slaves Add notes about
the life of slaves to your notebook. What would it
have been like to be a slave? How would it have
felt to have been separated from your family?
KEYWORD: SS8 HP12
Online Quiz
ANALYZING PRIMARY SOURCES
What emotions do you think the author of this letter
was feeling?
ANALYSIS
SKILL
The author believes
no one in the county
has been through a
worse event.
The author
says that many
people went into
hiding when the
rebellion began.
SUMMARY AND PREVIEW Several groups
of African Americans attempted to end slav-
ery by rebellion. All of the attempts failed.
In the next chapter you will read about
efforts to reform American society.
HSS
8.7.2
US_History_Textbook_8th_Grade_Chapter_12_The_South Image-18
Social Studies Skills
Analysis Critical Thinking
Define the Skill
Graphs are drawings that classify and display data
in a clear, visual format. There are three basic types
of graphs. Line graphs and bar graphs plot changes
in quantities over time. Bar graphs are also used to
compare quantities within a category at a particu-
lar time. Circle graphs, also called pie graphs, have
a similar use. The circle represents the whole of
something, and the slices show what proportion of
the whole is made by each part.
Being able to interpret graphs accurately lets
you see and understand relationships more easily
than in tables or in written explanations. This is
especially true if the information is detailed or the
relationships are complicated.
Learn the Skill
The following guidelines will help you interpret
data that is presented as a graph.
1
Read the title to identify the subject and purpose
of the graph. Note the kind of graph, remem-
bering what each type is designed to indicate.
Also note how the graph’s subject relates to any
printed material that accompanies it.
2
Study the graph’s parts. Place close attention to
the labels that defi ne each axis. Note the units
of measure. Identify the categories used. If there
are different colors on bars or lines in the graph,
determine what those differences mean.
3
Analyze the data in the graph. Note any increases
or decreases in quantities. Look for trends,
changes, and other relationships in the data.
Interpreting Graphs
4
Apply the information in the graph. Use the
results of your analysis to draw conclusions.
Ask yourself what generalizations can be made
about the trends, changes, or relationships
shown in the graph.
Practice the Skill
The graph below is a double-line graph. It shows
both changes and relationships over time. This
type of graph allows you to see how changes in one
thing compare with changes in something else.
Apply the guidelines to interpret the graph and
answer the questions that follow.
1. What is shown on each axis of this graph? What
are the units of measure on each axis?
2. What do each of the lines represent?
3. What was the total population of the South in
1810? in 1850? By how much did the African
American population grow during that period?
4. Was the white population or the black popula-
tion growing faster? Explain how you know.
392 CHAPTER 12
Participation
Study
10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
Population (in millions)
Population of the South, 1810–1850
1810 18301820 18501840
Year
African Americans
Total Population
US_History_Textbook_8th_Grade_Chapter_12_The_South Image-19
Reviewing Vocabulary,
Terms, and People
Match the defi nition on the left with the correct term
on the right.
1. A region of cotton-producing
areas that stretched from
South Carolina to Texas
2. Emotional songs that mixed
African and European
music and expressed
religious beliefs
3. Owners of small farms
who made up the largest
social class in the South
4. Crop brokers who often
managed the cotton
trade in the South
5. Wealthy farmers and
plantation owners
a. cotton belt
b. factors
c. planters
d. spirituals
e. yeomen
Comprehension and
Critical Thinking
SECTION 1 (Pages 376–381)
6. a. Describe How did the cotton gin lead to a
cotton boom in the South?
b. Analyze What were the positive and negative
results of the cotton boom?
c. Evaluate Do you think that the South suf-
fered as a result of its reliance on cotton? Why
or why not?
SECTION 2
(Pages 382–385)
7. a. Describe What three groups made up white
southern society?
b. Compare and Contrast In what ways were
the lives of free African Americans and white
southerners similar and different?
c. Predict What might have been the attitude
of yeomen and poor white southerners toward
slavery? Why?
12
THE SOUTH 393
Standards Review
CHAPTER
Use the visual summary below to help you review
the main ideas of the chapter.
Visual
Summary
Southern Society Planters were
at the top of southern society.
Cotton Economy In addition
to cotton, southern farmers grew
other cash crops and staple crops.
Slavery The strength of the southern
economy depended on slave labor.
HSS
8.7.1, 8.7.2
HSS
8.7.3, 8.7.4, 8.9.6
US_History_Textbook_8th_Grade_Chapter_12_The_South Image-20
24
20
16
12
8
4
0
Cotton (in 100,000 bales)
U.S. Cotton Production,
1800–1860
1800 1820 1840 1860
Year
394 CHAPTER 12
SECTION 3 (Pages 386–391)
8. a. Identify What are some small ways in which
slaves tried to challenge the slave system?
b. Make Inferences How did religion and fam-
ily help slaves cope with their lives?
c. Predict What could be some possible results of
stricter slave codes in the South?
Reviewing Themes
9. Society and Culture How were the different
social classes in the South affected by the cotton
boom?
10. Economics How did the cotton boom affect the
economy of the South?
11. Technology and Innovation What effects did the
cotton gin and scientific agriculture have on life
in the South?
Using the Internet
KEYWORD: SS8 US12
12. Activity: Writing Diary Entries Enslaved
African Americans faced harsh working and
living conditions. Many tried to escape the slave
system. Enter the activity keyword and research
the attempts by enslaved African Americans to
reach the North and the people who assisted
them. Imagine you were trying to help slaves
travel to freedom. Write four entries into a diary.
In each entry, describe your experiences. Include
thumbnail maps to trace their trip.
Reading Skills
Evaluating Web-Based Information Use the Reading
Skills taught in this chapter to answer the question below.
13. Which of the following would be the best Web
site to find information about life in the South
before the Civil War?
a. a Civil War historian’s homepage
b. a collection of autobiographies written by slaves
c. a site with information about how to
grow cotton
d. a collection of biographies of inventors
Social Studies Skills
Interpreting Graphs Use the Social Studies Skills
taught in this chapter to answer the questions about the
graph below.
14. What span of time saw the largest increase in
cotton production?
a. 1800 to 1820
b. 1820 to 1840
c. 1840 to 1860
d. after 1860
15. About what year did cotton production reach
1.2 million bales per year?
a. 1800
b. 1820
c. 1840
d. 1860
FOCUS ON WRITING
16. Writing Your Biographical Sketch Look over
your notes about life on a cotton farm. Then
choose an imaginary person to write about.
Think about what life would have been like for
this person. What might he or she have looked
like? How might he or she have spoken? What
might a typical day have been like? Once you
have answered these questions, write two para-
graphs about a day in the life of this person.
HSS
8.7.2
US_History_Textbook_8th_Grade_Chapter_12_The_South Image-21
160
140
120
100
80
60
40
20
0
Cotton produced (in 1,000 bales)
U.S. Cotton Production, 1795–1805
1795 1797 1799 1801 1803 1805
Year
THE SOUTH 395
Standards Assessment
DIRECTIONS: Read each question and write the
letter of the best response.
!
The main reason for the changes shown
in the graph was
A the invention and use of the cotton gin.
B a decline in the number of slaves.
C the end of the international slave trade.
D a switch from food crops to cash crops.
@
All of the following helped enslaved African
Americans to endure and survive slavery
except
A religion.
B slave codes.
C spirituals.
D folktales.
#
Because some southerners feared farm-
ers had become too reliant on cotton, they
encouraged farmers to
A stop using the cotton gin.
B try growing a variety of cash crops.
C demand higher tariffs.
D introduce cotton and slavery to the West.
$
Which statement accurately describes
southern society in the mid-1800s?
A Very few white southerners owned slaves.
B Few white southerners owned the land they
farmed.
C All African Americans in the South were held in
slavery.
D Most white southerners were small farmers.
%
Free African Americans in the South in the
early and mid-1800s
A had the same rights and freedoms as white
southerners.
B had few rights and freedoms.
C usually had escaped from slavery.
D did not exist as a class of people.
Connecting with Past Learning
^
In Grade 7 you learned about the manors
that developed in Europe during feudalism.
Who in the South in the 1800s would have
been most like the head of a manor in the
Middle Ages?
A a factor
B a yeoman farmer
C a planter
D a slaveholder
&
In 73 BC a gladiator named Spartacus led a
slave revolt against Rome. His action can be
compared to that of which American in the
mid-1800s?
A Alexander Stephens
B Eli Whitney
C Nat Turner
D Frederick Douglass
US_History_Textbook_8th_Grade_Chapter_12_The_South PDF
1793
Eli Whitney
invents the
cotton gin.
1794 France ends
slavery in its colonies.
CHAPTER
12
17901860
The South
The South
372 CHAPTER 12
18 0 0
Biographical Sketch In this chapter you will learn
about life in the South during the first half of the nine-
teenth century. Read the chapter, and then write a
two-paragraph biographical sketch about a day in the life
of a person living on a large cotton farm in the South. You
might choose to write about a wealthy male landowner,
his wife, or an enslaved man or woman working on the
farm. As you read, think about what life would have been
like for the different people who lived and worked on the
farm. Take notes about farm life in your notebook.
FOCUS ON WRITING
History–Social Science
8.7 Students analyze the divergent paths of the American people in
the South from 1800 to the mid-1800s and the challenges they faced.
8.9 Students analyze the early and steady attempts to abolish slav-
ery and to realize the ideals of the Declaration of Independence.
English–Language Arts
Writing 8.2.1.c Employ narrative and descriptive strategies.
Reading 8.2.2 Analyze text that uses proposition and support
patterns.
California Standards
US_History_Textbook_8th_Grade_Chapter_12_The_South Download
186 0
1831 Nat Turner’s
Rebellion leads to
fears of further slave
revolts in the South.
1848 Joseph R.
Anderson becomes the
owner of the Tredegar
Iron Works, the South’s
only large iron factory.
1808 A congres-
sional ban on
importing slaves
into the United
States takes effect.
1807 Parliament
bans the slave trade in
the British Empire.
1835 Alexis de
Tocqueville publishes
Democracy in America.
1837
Victoria is
crowned queen
of Great Britain.
1858 A treaty at
Tianjin, China, gives
Hong Kong to the
United Kingdom.
THE SOUTH
373
18 2 0
18 4 0
HOLT
History’s Impact
video series
Watch the video to under-
stand the impact of regional
economies on national
culture.
These enslaved people were photographed on a
South Carolina plantation in the year 1861. The
issue of slavery would have a serious and dramatic
impact on the history of the entire United States.
In this chapter you will learn how the South
developed an agricultural economy, and how that
economy was dependent on the labor of enslaved
people.
What You Will Learn…
US_History_Textbook_8th_Grade_Chapter_12_The_South PDF Download
374 CHAPTER 00374 CHAPTER 12
Religion
Reading Social Studies by Kylene Beers
Focus on Themes
This chapter takes you
into the heart of the South from 1800 through
he mid-1800s. As you read, you will discover that
the South depended on cotton as its economic
backbone, especially after the invention of the
cotton gin. You will also read about the slave system
in the South during this time and about the harsh
living conditions slaves endured. As you will see,
the South was home to a variety of societies
and cultures.
Geography Politics
Economics
Religion
Society
and Culture
Science and
Technology
Evaluating Web Sites
Site: ____________________________ URL: ______________________________________ Date of access: ____________
Rate each item on this 1–3 scale. Then add up the total score.
I. Authority No Some Yes
a. Authors are clearly identifi ed by name. 1 2 3
b. Contact information is provided for authors. 1 2 3
c. Author’s qualifi cations are clearly stated. 1 2 3
d. Site has been updated recently. 1 2 3
II. Content
a. Site’s information is useful to your project. 1 2 3
b. Information is clear and well-organized. 1 2 3
c. Information appears to be at the right level. 1 2 3
d. Links to additional important information are provided. 1 2 3
e. Information can be verifi ed in other sources. 1 2 3
f. Graphics are helpful, not just decorative. 1 2 3
III. Design and Technical Elements
a. Pages are readable and easy to navigate. 1 2 3
b. Links to other sites work. 1 2 3
Total Score ___________________________
36–28 = very good site 28–20 = average site below 20 = poor site
Additional reading
support can be
found in the
Focus on Reading Researching history topics on the Web can
give you access to valuable information. However, just because the
information is on the Web doesn’t mean it is automatically valuable!
Evaluating Web Sites Before you use information you fi nd online,
you need to evaluate the site it comes from. The checklist below can
help you determine if the site is worth your time.
Online Research
US_History_Textbook_8th_Grade_Chapter_12_The_South Image-1
SECTION TITLE 375THE SOUTH 375
Key Terms
Key Terms
and People
and People
As you read Chapter 12, think about
what topics would be interesting to
research on the Web. If you do some
research on the Web, remember to use
the evaluation list to analyze
the Web site.
You Try It!
The passage below is from the chapter you are about to read.
Cotton Becomes Profitable
Cotton had been grown in the New World
for centuries, but it had not been a very prof-
itable crop. Before cotton could be spun into
thread for weaving into cloth, the seeds had
to be removed from the cotton fi bers.
Long-staple cotton, also called black-seed
cotton, was fairly easy to process. Workers
could pick the seeds from the cotton with rel-
ative ease. But long-staple cotton grew well
in only a few places in the South. More com-
mon was short-staple cotton, also known as
green-seed cotton. Removing the seeds from
this cotton was diffi cult and time consuming.
A worker could spend an entire day picking
the seeds from a single pound of cotton.
From
Chapter 12,
p. 376
After you read the passage, complete the following activity.
Suppose that after reading this passage you decide to do some
research on cotton growing. You use a search engine that directs you
to a site. At that site, you fi nd the information described below. Using
the evaluation criteria listed on the previous page, decide if this is a
site you would recommend to others.
a. The authors of the site are listed as “Bob and Mack, good friends
who enjoy working together.”
b. The site was last updated on “the last time we got together.”
c. The title of the site is “Cotton Pickin’.” There are few headings.
d. This ten-page site includes nine pages about the authors’ child-
hood on a cotton farm. No illustrations are included.
e. Pages are very long; but, they load quickly as there are no
graphics. There is one link to a site selling cotton clothing.
Chapter 12
Section 1
cotton gin (p. 377)
planters (p. 378)
cotton belt (p. 379)
factors (p. 379)
Tredegar Iron Works (p. 379)
Section 2
yeomen (p. 384)
Section 3
folktales (p. 389)
spirituals (p. 389)
Nat Turner (p. 390)
Nat Turners Rebellion (p. 390)
Academic Vocabulary
Success in school is related to
knowing academic vocabulary—
the words that are frequently used
in school assignments and discus-
sions. In this chapter, you will learn
the following academic words:
primary (p. 380)
aspect (p. 388)
ELA
Reading 8.2.0 Read and understand grade-level-appropriate
material.
US_History_Textbook_8th_Grade_Chapter_12_The_South Image-2
1
Growth of the
Cotton Industry
You are a fi eld-worker on a cotton farm in the South in about
1800. Your job is to separate the seeds from the cotton fi bers. It
is dull, tiring work because the tiny seeds are tangled in the fi bers.
Sometimes it takes you a whole day just to clean one pound of
cotton! Now you hear that someone has invented a machine that
can clean cotton 50 times faster than by hand.
How might this machine change your life?
BUILDING BACKGROUND Sectional differences had always existed
between different regions of the United States. The revolutionary
changes in industry and transportation deepened the differences
between North and South. The South remained mainly agricultural.
New technology helped the region become the Cotton Kingdom.
Reviving the Souths Economy
Before the American Revolution, three crops dominated south-
ern agriculture—tobacco, rice, and indigo. These crops, produced
mostly by enslaved African Americans, played a central role in the
southern economy and culture.
After the American Revolution, however, prices for tobacco,
rice, and indigo dropped. When crop prices fell, the demand for
and the price of slaves also went down. In an effort to protect their
incomes, many farmers tried, with little success, to grow other
crops that needed less labor. Soon, however, cotton would trans-
form the southern economy and greatly increase the demand for
slave labor.
Cotton Becomes Profi table
Cotton had been grown in the New World for centuries, but it had
not been a very profi table crop. Before cotton could be spun into
thread for weaving into cloth, the seeds had to be removed from
the cotton fi bers.
The invention of the cotton gin
made the South a one-crop
economy and increased the
need for slave labor.
The Big Idea
1. The invention of the cotton
gin revived the economy of
the South.
2. The cotton gin created a cot-
ton boom in which farmers
grew little else.
3. Some people encouraged
southerners to focus on other
crops and industries.
Main Ideas
Key Terms and People
cotton gin, p. 377
planters, p. 378
cotton belt, p. 379
factors, p. 379
Tredegar Iron Works, p. 381
SECTION
What You Will Learn…
If YOU were there...
376 CHAPTER 12
HSS
8.7.1 Describe the develop-
ment of the agrarian economy in the
South, identify the locations of the
cotton-producing states, and discuss
the signifi cance of cotton and the
cotton gin.
8.7.2 Trace the origins and develop-
ment of slavery; its effects on black
Americans and on the region’s politi-
cal, social, religious, economic, and
cultural development; and identify the
stategies that were tried to both over-
turn and preserve it (e.g., through the
writings and historical documents on
Nat Turner, Denmark Vesey).
US_History_Textbook_8th_Grade_Chapter_12_The_South Image-3
1
2
3
4
THE SOUTH 377
Long-staple cotton, also called black-seed
cotton, was fairly easy to process. Workers
could pick the seeds from the cotton with
relative ease. But long-staple cotton grew well
in only a few places in the South. More com-
mon was short-staple cotton, which was also
known as green-seed cotton. Removing the
seeds from this cotton was diffi cult and time
consuming. A worker could spend an entire
day picking the seeds from a single pound of
short-staple cotton.
By the early 1790s the demand for Amer-
ican cotton began increasing rapidly. For
instance, in Great Britain, new textile facto-
ries needed raw cotton that could be used for
making cloth, and American cotton produc-
ers could not keep up with the high demand
for their cotton. These producers of cotton
needed a machine that could remove the
seeds from the cotton more rapidly.
Eli Whitney’s Cotton Gin
Northerner Eli Whitney fi nally patented such
a machine in 1793. The year before, Whitney
had visited a Georgia plantation owned
by Catherine Greene where workers were
using a machine to remove seeds from long-
staple cotton. This machine did not work
well on short-staple cotton, and Greene asked
Whitney if he could improve it. By the next
spring, Whitney had perfected his design for
the
cotton gin
cotton gin,
a machine that removes seeds
a machine that removes seeds
from short-staple cotton
from short-staple cotton. (“Gin” is short for
engine.) The cotton gin used a hand-cranked
cylinder with wire teeth to pull cotton fi bers
from the seeds.
Whitney hoped to keep the design of the
gin a secret, but the machine was so useful that
his patent was often ignored by other manu-
facturers. Whitney described how his inven-
tion would improve the cotton business.
The same patent
law that protected
Whitney’s inven-
tion of the cotton
gin protects the
rights of inventors
today.
THE IMPACT
TODAY
1
The operator turned
the crank.
2
The crank turned a
roller with teeth that
stripped the seeds away
from the cotton fiber.
3
Brushes on a second
roller lifted the seed-
less cotton off the teeth
of the first cylinder and
dropped it out of the
machine.
4
A belt connected the
rollers so that they
would both turn when
the crank was turned.
Eli Whitney’s cotton gin enabled workers to easily
remove seeds from cotton fibers. The result was a
dramatic increase in cotton production in the South.
How did the cotton gin remove seeds from cotton fibers?
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
Cotton Gin
US_History_Textbook_8th_Grade_Chapter_12_The_South Image-4
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Cotton (in 100,000 bales)
U.S. Cotton Production,
1800–1860
1800 1820 1840 1860
Year
After the invention of the cotton gin, the amount of cotton pro-
duced each year in the United States soared, as the chart below
shows. The area of land devoted to growing cotton also increased
dramatically between 1820 and 1860, as shown on the map.
Extent of cotton
growing by 1820
Extent of cotton
growing by 1860
0 150 300 Miles
0 150 300 Kilometers
378 CHAPTER 12
One man will clean ten times as much cotton as
he can in any other way before known and also
clean it much better than in the usual mode
[method]. This machine may be turned by water
or with a horse, with the greatest ease, and one
man and a horse will do more than fi fty men
with the old machines.
—Eli Whitney, quoted in Eli Whitney and the Birth of
American Technology by Constance McLaughlin Green
Whitney’s gin revolutionized the cotton
industry.
Planters
Planters
—large-scale farmers who
—large-scale farmers who
held more than 20 slaves
held more than 20 slaves—built cotton gins
that could process tons of cotton much faster
than hand processing. A healthy crop almost
guaranteed fi nancial success because of high
demand from the textile industry.
READING CHECK
Drawing Conclusions
What effects did the cotton gin have on the
southern economy?
The Cotton Boom
Whitney’s invention of the cotton gin made
cotton so profi table that southern farmers
abandoned other crops in favor of growing
cotton. The removal of Native Americans
opened up more land for cotton farmers in
the Southeast. Meanwhile, the development
of new types of cotton plants helped spread
cotton production throughout the South as
far west as Texas.
Production increased rapidly—from
about 2 million pounds in 1791 to roughly
a billion pounds by 1860. As early as 1840,
the United States was producing more than
half of the cotton grown in the entire world.
The economic boom attracted new settlers,
built up wealth among wealthy white south-
erners, and helped keep in place the institu-
tion of slavery in the South.
1. In what region of the
United States was the cotton belt?
2. How many bales of cotton were
produced in 1860?
INTERPRETING CHARTS
ANALYSIS
SKILL
The Cotton Kingdom
US_History_Textbook_8th_Grade_Chapter_12_The_South Image-5
THE SOUTH 379
Cotton Belt
Cotton had many advantages as a cash crop.
It cost little to market. Unlike food staples,
harvested cotton could be stored for a long
time. Because cotton was lighter than other
staple crops, it also cost less to transport long
distances.
Farmers eager to profi t from growing cot-
ton headed west to fi nd land. Farmers also
began to apply scientifi c methods to improve
crop production. Cotton had one disadvan-
tage as a crop—it rapidly used up the nutri-
ents in the soil. After a few years, cotton could
make the land useless for growing anything.
Some agricultural scientists recommended
crop rotation—changing the crop grown
on a particular plot of land every few years.
Different crops needed different nutrients,
so crop rotation would keep the land fertile
longer. Other agricultural scientists began to
study soil chemistry, in an effort to keep the
land rich and productive.
The area of high cotton production
The area of high cotton production
became known as the
became known as the
cotton belt
cotton belt. As this area
grew, farmers continued trying to improve
the crop. Agricultural scientists worked at
crossbreeding short-staple cotton with other
varieties. Soon, new, stronger types of cotton
were being grown. This led to expansion of
the cotton industry through the 1860s.
The cotton boom involved much more
than growing and harvesting cotton. Har-
vested cotton had to be ginned, pressed
into bales, and then shipped to market or to
warehouses. Special agents helped do every-
thing from marketing cotton to customers to
insuring crops against loss or damage. Facto-
ries were built to produce items needed by
cotton farmers, such as ropes to bale cotton.
Growing and harvesting cotton required
many fi eld hands. Rather than pay wages
to free workers, planters began to use more
slave labor. Congress had made bringing
slaves into the United States illegal in 1808.
However, the growing demand for slaves led
to an increase in the slave trade within the
United States.
Cotton Trade
In an 1858 speech before the U.S. Senate,
South Carolina politician James Henry Ham-
mond declared, “Cotton is King!” Without
cotton, Hammond claimed, the world econo-
my would fail. He believed that southern cot-
ton was one of the most valuable resources in
the world. Southern cotton was used to make
cloth in England and the North. Many south-
erners shared Hammond’s viewpoints about
cotton. Southerner David Christy declared,
“King cotton is a profound [educated] states-
man, and knows what measures will best sus-
tain [protect] his throne.”
The cotton boom made the South a major
player in world trade. Great Britain became
the South’s most valued foreign trading
partner. Southerners also sold tons of cot-
ton to the growing textile industry in the
northeastern United States. This increased
trade led to the growth of major port cities
in the South, including Charleston, South
Carolina; Savannah, Georgia; and New
Orleans, Louisiana.
In these cities,
crop brokers called
crop brokers called
factors
factors
managed the cotton trade. Farmers sold their
cotton to merchants, who then made deals
with the factors. Merchants and factors also
arranged loans for farmers who needed to
buy supplies. They often advised farmers on
how to invest profi ts. Once farmers got their
cotton to the port cities, factors arranged for
transportation aboard trading ships.
However, shipping cotton by land to port
cities was very diffi cult in the South. The few
major road projects at the time were limited
to the Southeast. Most southern farmers had
to ship their goods on the region’s rivers. On
the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, fl atboats and
steamboats carried cotton and other products
to port. Eventually, hundreds of steamboats
traveled up and down the mighty Mississippi
River each day.
READING CHECK
Identifying Cause and Effect
What effect did the cotton boom have on the slave
trade within the United States?
The Port of New
Orleans remains
a major seaport.
It handles about
85 million tons of
cargo annually.
THE IMPACT
TODAY
US_History_Textbook_8th_Grade_Chapter_12_The_South Image-6
380 CHAPTER 12
Other Crops and Industries
Some leaders worried that the South was
depending too much on cotton. They wanted
southerners to try a variety of cash crops and
investments.
Food and Cash Crops
One such crop was corn, the primary south-
ern food crop. By the late 1830s the top three
corn-growing states in the nation were all in
the South. The South’s other successful food
crops included rice, sweet potatoes, wheat,
and sugarcane.
Production of tobacco, the South’s fi rst
major cash crop, was very time consuming
because tobacco leaves had to be cured, or
dried, before they could be shipped to market.
In 1839 a slave discovered a way to improve
the drying process by using heat from burn-
ing charcoal. This new, faster curing process
increased tobacco production.
Partly as a result of the cotton boom,
hemp and fl ax also became major cash crops.
Their fi bers were used to make rope and sack-
cloth. Farmers used the rope and sackcloth
to bundle cotton into bales.
Industry
Many of the fi rst factories in the South were
built to serve farmers’ needs by processing
crops such as sugarcane. In 1803 the nation’s
rst steam-powered sawmill was built in Don-
aldsonville, Louisiana. This new technology
enabled lumber companies to cut, sort, and
clean wood quickly.
In Georgia, entrepreneurs—individuals
who organize and manage businesses—had
begun investing in cotton mills. In 1840,
there were 14 cotton mills; by the mid-1850s,
there were more than 50. A few mill owners
followed the model established by Francis
Cabot Lowell. However, most built small-
scale factories on the falls of a river for water
power. A few steam-powered mills were built
in towns without enough water power.
Southerners such as Hinton Rowan Helper
encouraged industrial growth in the South.
We should . . . keep pace with the progress of
the age. We must expand our energies, and
acquire habits of enterprise and industry; we
should rouse ourselves from the couch of las-
situde [laziness] and inure [set] our minds to
thought and our bodies to action.
— Hinton Rowan Helper, The Impending Crisis of
the South: How to Meet It
Enslaved African Americans did
most of the planting, harvesting,
and processing of cotton.
Eli Whitney’s cotton gin began the cotton boom. Soon, the Cotton
Kingdom stretched across the South. For the cotton planters to
succeed, they had to get their cotton to market.
From southern ports, sailing
ships carried the cotton to
distant textile mills.
The South’s Cotton Economy
Cotton was shipped on river
steamboats to major ports such
as Charleston.
ACADEMIC
VOCABULARY
primary
main, most
important
US_History_Textbook_8th_Grade_Chapter_12_The_South Image-7
THE SOUTH 381
Joseph R. Anderson followed Helper’s
advice. In 1848 he became the owner of the
Tredegar Iron Works
Tredegar Iron Works
in Richmond, Virginia—
in Richmond, Virginia—
one of the most productive iron works in
one of the most productive iron works in
the nation.
the nation. It was the only factory to produce
bridge materials, cannons, steam engines, and
other products.
Industry, however, remained a small part
of the southern economy and primarily sup-
ported agrarian interests. Southern industry
faced stiff competition from the North and
from England, both of which could produce
many goods more cheaply. And as long as
agricultural profi ts remained high, southern
investors preferred to invest in land.
READING CHECK
Making Inferences Why
were there fewer industries in the South?
Section 1 Assessment
Reviewing Ideas,
Terms, and People
1. a. Describe How did the cotton gin make pro-
cessing cotton easier?
b. Draw Conclusions Why had slavery been on
the decline before the invention of the cotton gin?
How did slavery change as a result of the cotton
gin?
2. a. Identify What areas made up the cotton belt?
b. Evaluate Do you think the South should have
paid more attention to its industrial growth? Why?
3. a. Describe What other crops and industries were
encouraged in the South?
b. Make Inferences Why were some southern
leaders worried about the South’s reliance on cotton?
Critical Thinking
4. Identifying Cause and Effect Copy the graphic
organizer below. Use it to show events that led
to the cotton boom and to list the effects of
increased cotton production on slavery and the
southern economy.
Causes: Cotton Boom
Slavery
Economy
FOCUS ON WRITING
5. Noting Life on the Cotton Farm In your note-
book, note how Whitney’s gin changed life on the
farm. Also note other details about cotton farming
you could include in your sketch.
KEYWORD: SS8 HP12
Online Quiz
DRAWING CONCLUSIONS
Why do you think cotton was so important
to the South’s economy?
ANALYSIS
SKILL
Textile mills in Great Britain were the largest
foreign buyers of southern cotton.
FOCUS ON
READING
What kind of Web
site would you
look for to learn
more about the
Tredegar Iron
Works?
A large amount of cotton was sold to textile
mills in the northeastern United States.
SUMMARY AND PREVIEW You have read
about how southern farmers worked to
improve farming methods. In the next sec-
tion you will read about the structure of
southern society.
HSS
8.7.1, 8.7.2
US_History_Textbook_8th_Grade_Chapter_12_The_South Image-8
SECTION
What You Will Learn…
382 CHAPTER 12
2
Southern Society
Your family owns a small farm in Georgia in the 1840s. Sometimes
you work in the fi elds, but more often you tend the vegetable
garden and peach orchard. Since you have no close neighbors,
you look forward to Sundays. Going to church gives you a chance
to socialize with other young people. Sometimes you wonder what
it would be like to live in a city like Savannah.
How would life be different if you
left the farm for the city?
BUILDING BACKGROUND Although the South had some industry,
agriculture was the heart of the southern economy. Cotton was king.
As a result, wealthy plantation families were the most prominent
social class in southern society. Small farmers, however, made up
the largest part of the population.
Southern Society and Culture
Popular fi ction often made it seem that all white southerners had
many slaves and lived on large plantations. Many fi ction writ-
ers wrote about wealthy southern families who had frequent,
grand parties. The ideal image of the South included hospitality
and well-treated slaves on beautiful plantations that almost ran
themselves.
This romantic view was far from the reality. During the fi rst
half of the 1800s, only about one-third of white southern fami-
lies had slaves. Fewer families had plantations. Despite their small
numbers, these planters had a powerful infl uence over the South.
Many served as political leaders. They led a society made up of
many different kinds of people, including yeomen farmers, poor
whites, slaves, and free African Americans. Each of these segments
of society contributed to the economic success of the South.
If YOU were there...
Southern society centered
around agriculture.
The Big Idea
1. Southern society and culture
consisted of four main
groups.
2. Free African Americans in
the South faced a great deal
of discrimination.
Main Ideas
Key Term
yeomen, p. 384
HSS
8.7.3
Examine the character-
istics of white Southern society and
how the physical environment infl u-
enced events and conditions prior to
the Civil War.
8.7.4 Compare the lives of and
opportunities for free blacks in the
North with those of free blacks in the
South.
8.9.6 Describe the lives of free
blacks and the laws that limited their
freedom and economic opportunities.
US_History_Textbook_8th_Grade_Chapter_12_The_South Image-9
Fields
THE SOUTH 383
Planters
As the wealthiest members of southern soci-
ety, planters also greatly infl uenced the econ-
omy. Some showed off their wealth by living
in beautiful mansions. Many others chose to
live more simply. A visitor described wealthy
planter Alexander Stephens’s estate as “an
old wooden house” surrounded by weeds.
Some planters saved all of their money to
buy more land and slaves.
Male planters were primarily concerned
with raising crops and supervising slave
laborers. They left the running of the planta-
tion household to their wives. The planter’s
wife oversaw the raising of the children and
supervised the work of all slaves within the
household. Slave women typically cooked,
cleaned, and helped care for the planter’s
children. Wives also took on the important
ANALYZING VISUALS
How can you tell that the owner
of this plantation was wealthy?
ANALYSIS
SKILL
A Southern Plantation
A typical plantation had fields as well as many
buildings where different work was done. This
picture shows some of the more important
buildings that were a part of the plantation
system.
History Close-up
Barn
Warehouse
Smokehouse
Overseers House
Stable
Plantation House
The planter and his family
lived in the plantation
house. The planter’s wife
was in charge of running
the household.
Cotton-Ginning Shed
This sizable plantation
had several large cot-
ton gins. The vital ma-
chines were housed in
a shed to protect them
from the weather.
Slave Cabins
Slaves lived crowded together
in small cabins. Cabins are
crude, wooden structures
with dirt floors.
social duties of the family. For example,
many southern leaders discussed political
issues at the dances and dinners hosted by
their wives.
Planters often arranged their children’s
marriages based on business interests. Lucy
Breckinridge, the daughter of a wealthy Vir-
ginia planter, was married by arrangement in
1865. Three years earlier, she had described
in her journal how she dreaded the very
thought of marriage. “A woman’s life after
she is married, unless there is an immense
amount of love, is nothing but suffering
and hard work.” How Breckinridge’s life
in her own arranged marriage would have
turned out cannot be known. She died of
typhoid fever just months after her
wedding.
Fields
US_History_Textbook_8th_Grade_Chapter_12_The_South Image-10
384 CHAPTER 12
Free African Americans
in the South
Yeomen and Poor Whites
Most white southerners were
yeomen
yeomen,
owners
owners
of small farms
of small farms. Yeomen owned few
slaves or none at all. The typical farm aver-
aged 100 acres. Yeomen took great pride in
their work. In 1849 a young Georgia man
wrote, “I desire above all things to be a
‘Farmer.’ It is the most honest, upright, and
sure way of securing all the comforts of life.”
Yeoman families, including women and
children, typically worked long days at a vari-
ety of tasks. Some yeomen held a few slaves,
but worked along side them.
The poorest of white southerners lived
on land that could not grow cash crops. They
survived by hunting, fi shing, raising small
gardens, and doing odd jobs for money.
Religion and Society
Most white southerners shared similar
religious beliefs. Because of the long distances
between farms, families often saw their neigh-
bors only at church events, such as revivals or
socials. Rural women often played volunteer
roles in their churches. Wealthy white south-
erners thought that their religion justifi ed
their position in society and the institution of
slavery. They argued that God created some
people, like themselves, to rule others. This
belief opposed many northern Christians’
belief that God was against slavery.
Urban Life
Many of the largest and most important
cities in the South were strung along the
Atlantic coast and had begun as shipping
centers. Although fewer in number, the
southern cities were similar to northern cit-
ies. City governments built public water sys-
tems and provided well-maintained streets.
Public education was available in some plac-
es. Wealthy residents occasionally gave large
sums of money to charities, such as orphan-
ages and public libraries. Southern urban
leaders wanted their cities to appear as mod-
ern as possible.
As on plantations, slaves did much of
the work in southern cities. Slaves worked as
domestic servants, in mills, in shipyards, and at
skilled jobs. Many business leaders held slaves
or hired them from nearby plantations.
READING CHECK
Summarizing What different
groups made up southern society?
In 1860 about 1 out of 50
African Americans in the South
was free. Many worked in
skilled trades, like this barber
in Richmond, Virginia. In
Charleston, South Carolina, a
system of badges was set up
to distinguish between free
African Americans and slaves.
How would the work of the
free African American in this
picture be different from that
of slaves in the South?
Collection of The American Numismatic
Society, New York
US_History_Textbook_8th_Grade_Chapter_12_The_South Image-11
THE SOUTH 385
Free African Americans and
Discrimination
Although the vast majority of African Ameri-
cans in the South were enslaved, more than
250,000 free African Americans lived in the
region by 1860. Some were descendants of
slaves who were freed after the American
Revolution. Others were descendants of
refugees from Toussaint L’Ouverture’s Hai-
tian Revolution in the late 1790s. Still others
were former slaves who had run away, been
freed by their slaveholder, or earned enough
money to buy their freedom.
Free African Americans lived in both rural
and urban areas. Most lived in the countryside
and worked as paid laborers on plantations or
farms. Free African Americans in cities often
worked a variety of jobs, mostly as skilled arti-
sans. Some, like barber William Johnson of
Natchez, Mississippi, became quite successful
in their businesses. Some free African Ameri-
cans, especially those in the cities, formed
social and economic ties with one another.
Churches often served as the center of their
social lives.
Free African Americans faced constant
discrimination from white southerners. Many
governments passed laws limiting the rights
of free African Americans. Most free African
Americans could not vote, travel freely, or
hold certain jobs. In some places, free African
Americans had to have a white person repre-
sent them in any business transaction. In oth-
ers, laws restricted where they were allowed to
live or conduct business.
Many white southerners argued that free
African Americans did not have the ability to
take care of themselves, and they used this
belief to justify the institution of slavery. “The
status of slavery is the only one for which the
African is adapted,” wrote one white Missis-
sippian. To many white southerners, the very
existence of free African Americans threat-
ened the institution of slavery.
READING CHECK
Finding Main Ideas What
challenges did free African Americans face in
the South?
Section 2 Assessment
Reviewing Ideas,
Terms, and People
1. a. Identify What was the largest social
group in the South? How did its members make
a living?
b. Compare In what ways were southern cities
similar to northern cities?
c. Elaborate Which southern social class do you
think had the most diffi cult life? Why?
2. a. Describe What jobs were available to free
African Americans in the South?
b. Analyze Why did many white southerners fear
free African Americans?
c. Elaborate Why do you think that discrimination
against free African Americans was harsher in the
South than in the North?
Critical Thinking
3. Comparing and Contrasting Copy the Venn
diagram below. Add to it lines which you will fi ll in
to identify ways in which planters’ and yeomen’s
lives were similar and different.
Planters YeomenSimilarities
FOCUS ON WRITING
4. Describing the Life of Cotton Farmers In your
notebook, describe the different roles played by
male planters and their wives. What challenges
would female planters have faced? When would
the planters have had a chance to socialize?
KEYWORD: SS8 HP12
Online Quiz
SUMMARY AND PREVIEW Southern soci-
ety was led by rich planters but included
other groups as well. In the next section
you will read about life under slavery.
HSS
8.7.3, 8.7.4, 8.9.6
US_History_Textbook_8th_Grade_Chapter_12_The_South Image-12
SECTION
What You Will Learn…
386 CHAPTER 12
3
The Slave System
You are a reporter for a newspaper in Philadelphia in the 1850s.
You are writing a series of articles about the slave system in the
South. To get background for your stories, you are planning to
interview some former slaves who now live in Philadelphia.
Some have bought their freedom, while others have successfully
escaped from slavery.
What questions will you ask in your interviews?
BUILDING BACKGROUND While most white southern families were
not slaveholders, the southern economy depended on the work of
slaves. This was true not only on large plantations but also on smaller
farms and in the cities. Few chances existed for enslaved African
Americans to escape their hard lives.
Slaves and Work
Most enslaved African Americans lived in rural areas where they
worked on farms and plantations. Enslaved people on small farms
usually did a variety of jobs. On large plantations, most slaves were
assigned to specifi c jobs, and most worked in the fi elds. Most slave-
holders demanded that slaves work as much as possible. Supervisors
known as drivers, who were sometimes slaves themselves, made sure
that slaves followed orders and carried out punishments.
Working in the Field
Most plantation owners used the gang-labor system. In this system,
all fi eld hands worked on the same task at the same time. They usu-
ally worked from sunup to sundown. Former slave Harry McMillan
had worked on a plantation in South Carolina. He recalled that the
eld hands usually did not even get a break to eat lunch. “You had
to get your victuals [food] standing at your hoe,” he remembered.
Men, women, and even children older than about 10 usually did
the same tasks. Sickness and poor weather rarely stopped the work.
“The times I hated most was picking cotton when the frost was on
the bolls [seed pods],” recalled former Louisiana slave Mary Reynolds.
“My hands git sore and crack open and bleed.”
If YOU were there...
The slave system in the South
produced harsh living condi-
tions and occasional rebellions.
The Big Idea
1. Slaves worked at a variety of
jobs on plantations.
2. Life under slavery was dif-
ficult and dehumanizing.
3. Slave culture centered
around family, community,
and religion.
4. Slave uprisings led to stricter
slave codes in many states.
Main Ideas
Key Terms and People
folktales, p. 389
spirituals, p. 389
Nat Turner, p. 390
Nat Turner’s Rebellion, p. 390
HSS
8.7.2
Trace the origins and
development of slavery; its effects on
black Americans and on the region’s
political, social, religious, economic,
and cultural development; and identify
the stategies that were tried to both
overturn and preserve it (e.g., through
the writings and historical documents
on Nat Turner, Denmark Vesey).
US_History_Textbook_8th_Grade_Chapter_12_The_South Image-13
Working in the Planter’s Home
Some slaves worked as butlers, cooks, or
nurses in the planter’s home. These slaves
often had better food, clothing, and shelter
than fi eld hands did, but they often worked
longer hours. They had to serve the planter’s
family 24 hours a day.
Working at Skilled Jobs
On larger plantations, some enslaved Afri-
can Americans worked at skilled jobs, such
as blacksmithing or carpentry. Sometimes
planters let these slaves sell their services to
other people. Often planters collected a por-
tion of what was earned but allowed slaves to
keep the rest. In this way, some skilled slaves
earned enough money to buy their freedom
from their slaveholders. For example, Wil-
liam Ellison earned his freedom in South
Carolina by working for wages as a cotton
gin maker. For years, he worked late at night
and on Sundays. He bought his freedom
with the money he earned. Eventually, he
was also able to buy the freedom of his wife
and daughter.
READING CHECK
Summarizing What were some
types of work done by enslaved people on plantations?
Life Under Slavery
Generally, slaveholders viewed slaves as
property, not as people. Slaveholders bought
and sold slaves to make a profi t. The most
common method of sale was at an auction.
The auction itself determined whether fami-
lies would be kept together or separated.
Sometimes a buyer wanted a slave to fi ll a
specifi c job, such as heavy laborer, carpenter,
or blacksmith. The buyer might be willing to
pay for the slave who could do the work, but
not for that slave’s family. Families would
then be separated with little hope of ever
getting back together.
Slave traders sometimes even kidnapped
free African Americans and then sold them
into slavery. For example, Solomon Northup,
a free African American, was kidnapped in
Washington, D.C. He spent 12 years as a slave
until he fi nally proved his identity and gained
his release.
Living Conditions
Enslaved people often endured poor living
conditions. Planters housed them in dirt-
oor cabins with few furnishings and often
leaky roofs. The clothing given to them was
usually simple and made of cheap, coarse
fabric. Some slaves tried to brighten up their
THE SOUTH 387
Slaveholders’ children were often cared
for by enslaved women. At the time,
women who looked after children were
called nurses. This nurse is posing with
her slaveholder’s child in about 1850.
As a slave, what might have happened
to this woman’s family?
A Nurse’s Work
US_History_Textbook_8th_Grade_Chapter_12_The_South Image-14
388 CHAPTER 12
Slave Culture
Many enslaved African Americans found
comfort in their community and culture.
They made time for social activity, even after
exhausting workdays, in order to relieve the
hardship of their lives.
Family and Community
Family was the most important aspect of
slave communities, and slaves feared sepa-
ration more than they feared punishment.
Josiah Henson never forgot the day that he
and his family were auctioned. His mother
begged the slaveholder who bought her to
buy Josiah, too. The slaveholder refused, and
Henson’s entire family was separated. “I must
have been then between fi ve or six years
old,” he recalled years later. “I seem to see
and hear my poor weeping mother now.”
clothing by sewing on designs from
discarded scraps of material. In this
way, they expressed their individu-
ality and personalized the clothing
assigned to them by the planters.
Likewise, many slaves did what
they could to improve their small
food rations. Some planters allowed
slaves to keep their own gardens for
vegetables, and chickens for eggs.
Other slaves were able to add a lit-
tle variety to their diet by fi shing or
picking wild berries.
Punishment and Slave Codes
Some planters offered more food or
better living conditions to encour-
age slaves’ obedience. However, most
slaveholders used punishment instead.
Some would punish one slave in front
of others as a warning to them all.
Harry McMillan recalled some of the
punishments he had witnessed.
The punishments were whipping, putting
you in the stocks [wooden frames to lock
people in] and making you wear irons and a
chain at work. Then they had a collar to put round
your neck with two horns, like cows’ horns, so that
you could not lie down . . . Sometimes they dug
a hole like a well with a door on top. This they
called a dungeon keeping you in it two or three
weeks or a month, or sometimes till you died in
there.
—Harry McMillan, quoted in Major Problems in the History
of the American South,Volume I, edited by Paul D. Escott and
David R. Goldfi eld
To further control slaves’ actions, many
states passed strict laws called slave codes.
Some laws prohibited slaves from traveling
far from their homes. Literacy laws in most
southern states prohibited the education of
slaves. Alabama, Virginia, and Georgia had
laws that allowed the fi ning and whipping
of anyone caught teaching enslaved people
to read and write.
READING CHECK
Summarizing How did slave-
holders control slaves?
A Slave’s Daily Life
Typical Daily schedule:
3:00 a.m. Out of bed,
tend animals
6:00 a.m. Prayers
7:00 a.m. Start work
12:00 p.m. Lunch
1:00 p.m. Return to work
7:00 p.m. Dinner
8:00 p.m. Return to work
11:00 p.m. Lights out
ACADEMIC
VOCABULARY
aspect part
US_History_Textbook_8th_Grade_Chapter_12_The_South Image-15
THE SOUTH 389
Some slaves sang
spirituals
spirituals,
emotional
emotional
Christian songs that blended African and
Christian songs that blended African and
European music
European music, to express their religious
beliefs. For example, “The Heavenly Road”
refl ected slaves’ belief in their equality in the
eyes of God.
Come, my brother, if you never did pray,
I hope you pray tonight;
For I really believe I am a child of God
As I walk on the heavenly road.
—Anonymous, quoted in Afro-American Religious History,
edited by Milton C. Sernett
Slaves blended aspects of traditional Afri-
can religions with those of Christianity. They
worshipped in secret, out of sight of slave-
holders. Some historians have called slave
religion the invisible institution.
Enslaved parents kept their heritage alive
by passing down family histories as well as
African customs and traditions. They also
told
folktales
folktales,
or stories with a moral
or stories with a moral, to teach
lessons about how to survive under slavery.
Folktales often included a clever animal char-
acter called a trickster. The trickster—which
often represented slaves—defeated a stronger
animal by outwitting it. Folktales reassured
slaves that they could survive by outsmarting
more powerful slaveholders.
Religion
Religion also played an important part in
slave culture. By the early 1800s many slaves
were Christians. They came to see them-
selves, like the slaves in the Old Testament, as
God’s chosen people, much like the Hebrew
slaves in ancient Egypt who had faith that
they would someday live in freedom.
The lives of slaves revolved around the work that was
required of them. For many, this meant doing the
backbreaking work of harvesting and loading tons of
cotton. Most slaves found hope and a short escape from
their daily misery in Sunday church services. Others sought
to escape permanently and ran away, hoping to reach the
freedom of the North. A failed escape attempt, however,
could result in a cruel whipping—or worse.
What different aspects of slavery are shown in these
pictures?
The musical
influence of these
inspirational
slave songs can
be heard today in
gospel music.
THE IMPACT
TODAY
Hauling the Whole Week’s Pickings by William Henry Brown, The Historic New Orleans Collection
US_History_Textbook_8th_Grade_Chapter_12_The_South Image-16
First cave
Captured
October 30, 1831
Second cave
Cypress
Bridge
SOUTHAMPTON
COUNTY
VIRGINIA
NORTH CAROLINA
ATLANTIC
OCEAN
Nat Turner’s route
House or plantation
Hiding place
0 3 6 Miles
0 3 6 Kilometers
390 CHAPTER 12
Slave Nat Turner led a revolt against white slaveholders in
1831. This is a map of his route and a depiction of his capture.
August 21, 1831
Turner meets with
other slaves and
plans revolt.
August 23, 1831
Most of the rebel-
ling slaves are
captured or killed
at James Parkers
plantation. Turner
escapes.
Seeds of Rebellion
Maintaining their own religious beliefs and
practices was only one way in which enslaved
people resisted slaveholders’ attempts to con-
trol them completely. In small ways, slaves
rebelled against the system daily. Sometimes
they worked slower to protest long hours in
the fi elds. Other times they ran away for a
few days to avoid an angry slaveholder. Some
slaves tried to escape permanently, but most
left only for short periods, often to go and
visit relatives.
Gaining freedom by escaping to the
North was hard. If discovered, slaves were
captured and sent back to their slavehold-
ers, where they faced certain punishment or
death. However, thousands of enslaved peo-
ple succeeded in escaping.
READING CHECK
Summarizing How did
slaves’ religious beliefs affect their attitudes
toward slavery?
Slave Uprisings
Although violent slave revolts were rela-
tively rare, white southerners lived in fear of
them. Two planned rebellions were stopped
before they began. Gabriel Prosser planned a
rebellion near Richmond, Virginia, in 1800.
Denmark Vesey planned one in Charleston,
South Carolina, in 1822. Authorities execut-
ed most of those involved in planning these
rebellions. Though Vesey was executed as
the leader of the Charleston conspiracy, sev-
eral accounts written after his death by anti-
slavery writers claimed he was a hero.
The most violent slave revolt in the Unit-
The most violent slave revolt in the Unit-
ed States occurred in 1831 and is known as
ed States occurred in 1831 and is known as
Nat Turners Rebellion.
Nat Turners Rebellion. Nat Turner, a slave
from Southampton County, Virginia, believed
that God had told him to end slavery. On an
August night in 1831, Turner led a group of
slaves in a plan to kill all of the slaveholders
and their families in the county. First, they
ANALYZING VISUALS
Location Where did Nat Turner’s Rebellion take place?
ANALYSIS
SKILL
Nat Turner’s Rebellion
US_History_Textbook_8th_Grade_Chapter_12_The_South Image-17
THE SOUTH 391
LETTER
Nat Turner’s Rebellion
In 1831 a white southerner who had escaped
the rebellion wrote a letter describing the
mood of the area where Nat Turner had
killed slaveholders.
The oldest inhabitants of our county
have never experienced such a distress-
ing [terrible] time, as we have had since
Sunday night last. The [slaves], about
fifteen miles from this place, have massa-
cred from 50 to 75 women and children,
and some 8 or 10 men. Every house, room
and corner in this place is full of women
and children, driven from home, who had
to take to the woods, until they could get
to this place. We are worn out with fatigue
[tiredness].
Richmond Enquirer, quoted in
The Southampton Slave Revolt of 1831
by Henry I. Tragle
Primary Source
attacked the family that held Turner as a slave.
Soon they had killed about 60 white people in
the community.
More than 100 innocent slaves who were
not part of Turner’s group were killed in an
attempt to stop the rebellion. Turner himself
led authorities on a chase around the coun-
tryside for six weeks. He hid in caves and in
the woods before he was caught and brought
to trial. Before his trial, Turner made a confes-
sion. He expressed his belief that the revolt was
justifi ed and worth his death: “I am willing to
suffer the fate that awaits me.” He was execut-
ed on November 11, 1831. After the rebellion,
many states strengthened their slave codes.
The new codes placed stricter control on the
slave population. Despite the resistance of
enslaved people, slavery continued to spread.
READING CHECK
Finding Main Ideas
What was Nat Turner’s Rebellion, and what
happened as a result?
Section 3 Assessment
Reviewing Ideas,
Terms, and People
1. a. Identify What different types of work were
done by slaves on plantations?
b. Elaborate Do you think that skilled slaves had
advantages over other slaves? Why or why not?
2. a. Describe What were living conditions like for
most slaves?
b. Summarize In what different ways did slave-
holders encourage obedience from their slaves?
3. a. Recall What was the purpose of folktales?
b. Explain How did slaves try to maintain a sense
of community?
4. a. Describe What was the outcome of Nat
Turner’s Rebellion?
b. Elaborate What do you think were some rea-
sons why slaves rebelled?
Critical Thinking
5. Evaluating Copy the graphic organizer below.
Then add information to describe life under slavery.
Life as a Slave
Coping
with Slavery
Challenging
Slavery
FOCUS ON WRITING
6. Describing the Life of Slaves Add notes about
the life of slaves to your notebook. What would it
have been like to be a slave? How would it have
felt to have been separated from your family?
KEYWORD: SS8 HP12
Online Quiz
ANALYZING PRIMARY SOURCES
What emotions do you think the author of this letter
was feeling?
ANALYSIS
SKILL
The author believes
no one in the county
has been through a
worse event.
The author
says that many
people went into
hiding when the
rebellion began.
SUMMARY AND PREVIEW Several groups
of African Americans attempted to end slav-
ery by rebellion. All of the attempts failed.
In the next chapter you will read about
efforts to reform American society.
HSS
8.7.2
US_History_Textbook_8th_Grade_Chapter_12_The_South Image-18
Social Studies Skills
Analysis Critical Thinking
Define the Skill
Graphs are drawings that classify and display data
in a clear, visual format. There are three basic types
of graphs. Line graphs and bar graphs plot changes
in quantities over time. Bar graphs are also used to
compare quantities within a category at a particu-
lar time. Circle graphs, also called pie graphs, have
a similar use. The circle represents the whole of
something, and the slices show what proportion of
the whole is made by each part.
Being able to interpret graphs accurately lets
you see and understand relationships more easily
than in tables or in written explanations. This is
especially true if the information is detailed or the
relationships are complicated.
Learn the Skill
The following guidelines will help you interpret
data that is presented as a graph.
1
Read the title to identify the subject and purpose
of the graph. Note the kind of graph, remem-
bering what each type is designed to indicate.
Also note how the graph’s subject relates to any
printed material that accompanies it.
2
Study the graph’s parts. Place close attention to
the labels that defi ne each axis. Note the units
of measure. Identify the categories used. If there
are different colors on bars or lines in the graph,
determine what those differences mean.
3
Analyze the data in the graph. Note any increases
or decreases in quantities. Look for trends,
changes, and other relationships in the data.
Interpreting Graphs
4
Apply the information in the graph. Use the
results of your analysis to draw conclusions.
Ask yourself what generalizations can be made
about the trends, changes, or relationships
shown in the graph.
Practice the Skill
The graph below is a double-line graph. It shows
both changes and relationships over time. This
type of graph allows you to see how changes in one
thing compare with changes in something else.
Apply the guidelines to interpret the graph and
answer the questions that follow.
1. What is shown on each axis of this graph? What
are the units of measure on each axis?
2. What do each of the lines represent?
3. What was the total population of the South in
1810? in 1850? By how much did the African
American population grow during that period?
4. Was the white population or the black popula-
tion growing faster? Explain how you know.
392 CHAPTER 12
Participation
Study
10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
Population (in millions)
Population of the South, 1810–1850
1810 18301820 18501840
Year
African Americans
Total Population
US_History_Textbook_8th_Grade_Chapter_12_The_South Image-19
Reviewing Vocabulary,
Terms, and People
Match the defi nition on the left with the correct term
on the right.
1. A region of cotton-producing
areas that stretched from
South Carolina to Texas
2. Emotional songs that mixed
African and European
music and expressed
religious beliefs
3. Owners of small farms
who made up the largest
social class in the South
4. Crop brokers who often
managed the cotton
trade in the South
5. Wealthy farmers and
plantation owners
a. cotton belt
b. factors
c. planters
d. spirituals
e. yeomen
Comprehension and
Critical Thinking
SECTION 1 (Pages 376–381)
6. a. Describe How did the cotton gin lead to a
cotton boom in the South?
b. Analyze What were the positive and negative
results of the cotton boom?
c. Evaluate Do you think that the South suf-
fered as a result of its reliance on cotton? Why
or why not?
SECTION 2
(Pages 382–385)
7. a. Describe What three groups made up white
southern society?
b. Compare and Contrast In what ways were
the lives of free African Americans and white
southerners similar and different?
c. Predict What might have been the attitude
of yeomen and poor white southerners toward
slavery? Why?
12
THE SOUTH 393
Standards Review
CHAPTER
Use the visual summary below to help you review
the main ideas of the chapter.
Visual
Summary
Southern Society Planters were
at the top of southern society.
Cotton Economy In addition
to cotton, southern farmers grew
other cash crops and staple crops.
Slavery The strength of the southern
economy depended on slave labor.
HSS
8.7.1, 8.7.2
HSS
8.7.3, 8.7.4, 8.9.6
US_History_Textbook_8th_Grade_Chapter_12_The_South Image-20
24
20
16
12
8
4
0
Cotton (in 100,000 bales)
U.S. Cotton Production,
1800–1860
1800 1820 1840 1860
Year
394 CHAPTER 12
SECTION 3 (Pages 386–391)
8. a. Identify What are some small ways in which
slaves tried to challenge the slave system?
b. Make Inferences How did religion and fam-
ily help slaves cope with their lives?
c. Predict What could be some possible results of
stricter slave codes in the South?
Reviewing Themes
9. Society and Culture How were the different
social classes in the South affected by the cotton
boom?
10. Economics How did the cotton boom affect the
economy of the South?
11. Technology and Innovation What effects did the
cotton gin and scientific agriculture have on life
in the South?
Using the Internet
KEYWORD: SS8 US12
12. Activity: Writing Diary Entries Enslaved
African Americans faced harsh working and
living conditions. Many tried to escape the slave
system. Enter the activity keyword and research
the attempts by enslaved African Americans to
reach the North and the people who assisted
them. Imagine you were trying to help slaves
travel to freedom. Write four entries into a diary.
In each entry, describe your experiences. Include
thumbnail maps to trace their trip.
Reading Skills
Evaluating Web-Based Information Use the Reading
Skills taught in this chapter to answer the question below.
13. Which of the following would be the best Web
site to find information about life in the South
before the Civil War?
a. a Civil War historian’s homepage
b. a collection of autobiographies written by slaves
c. a site with information about how to
grow cotton
d. a collection of biographies of inventors
Social Studies Skills
Interpreting Graphs Use the Social Studies Skills
taught in this chapter to answer the questions about the
graph below.
14. What span of time saw the largest increase in
cotton production?
a. 1800 to 1820
b. 1820 to 1840
c. 1840 to 1860
d. after 1860
15. About what year did cotton production reach
1.2 million bales per year?
a. 1800
b. 1820
c. 1840
d. 1860
FOCUS ON WRITING
16. Writing Your Biographical Sketch Look over
your notes about life on a cotton farm. Then
choose an imaginary person to write about.
Think about what life would have been like for
this person. What might he or she have looked
like? How might he or she have spoken? What
might a typical day have been like? Once you
have answered these questions, write two para-
graphs about a day in the life of this person.
HSS
8.7.2
US_History_Textbook_8th_Grade_Chapter_12_The_South Image-21
160
140
120
100
80
60
40
20
0
Cotton produced (in 1,000 bales)
U.S. Cotton Production, 1795–1805
1795 1797 1799 1801 1803 1805
Year
THE SOUTH 395
Standards Assessment
DIRECTIONS: Read each question and write the
letter of the best response.
!
The main reason for the changes shown
in the graph was
A the invention and use of the cotton gin.
B a decline in the number of slaves.
C the end of the international slave trade.
D a switch from food crops to cash crops.
@
All of the following helped enslaved African
Americans to endure and survive slavery
except
A religion.
B slave codes.
C spirituals.
D folktales.
#
Because some southerners feared farm-
ers had become too reliant on cotton, they
encouraged farmers to
A stop using the cotton gin.
B try growing a variety of cash crops.
C demand higher tariffs.
D introduce cotton and slavery to the West.
$
Which statement accurately describes
southern society in the mid-1800s?
A Very few white southerners owned slaves.
B Few white southerners owned the land they
farmed.
C All African Americans in the South were held in
slavery.
D Most white southerners were small farmers.
%
Free African Americans in the South in the
early and mid-1800s
A had the same rights and freedoms as white
southerners.
B had few rights and freedoms.
C usually had escaped from slavery.
D did not exist as a class of people.
Connecting with Past Learning
^
In Grade 7 you learned about the manors
that developed in Europe during feudalism.
Who in the South in the 1800s would have
been most like the head of a manor in the
Middle Ages?
A a factor
B a yeoman farmer
C a planter
D a slaveholder
&
In 73 BC a gladiator named Spartacus led a
slave revolt against Rome. His action can be
compared to that of which American in the
mid-1800s?
A Alexander Stephens
B Eli Whitney
C Nat Turner
D Frederick Douglass

Subjects

U.S. History

Grade Levels

K12

Resource Type

PDF

US History Textbook 8th Grade Chapter 12 The South PDF Download

California Standards Science Students analyze the divergent paths of the American people in the South from 1800 to the and the challenges they faced . Students analyze the early and steady attempts to abolish ery and to realize the ideals of the Declaration of Independence . Arts Writing Employ narrative and descriptive strategies . Reading Analyze text that uses proposition and support patterns . FOCUS ON WRITING Biographical Sketch In this chapter you will learn about life in the South during the first half of the teenth century . Read the chapter , and then write a biographical sketch about a day in the life of a person living on a large cotton farm in the South . You might choose to write about a wealthy male landowner , his wife , or an enslaved man or woman working on the farm . As you read , think about what life would have been like for the different people who lived and worked on the farm . Take notes about farm life in your notebook . 312 CHAPTER 12 Eli Whitney invents the cotton gin . France ends slavery in its colonies .

. History Impact ' series ' Watch the video to stand the impact of regional economies on national These enslaved people were photographed on a South Carolina plantation in the year 1861 . The issue of slavery would have a serious and dramatic impact on the history of the entire United States . In this chapter you will learn how the South developed an agricultural economy , and how that economy was dependent on the labor of enslaved people . 1808 A 1848 Joseph ban on 1831 Nat Turner Anderson becomes the importing slaves Rebellion leads to owner of the into the United fears of further slave Iron Works , the States takes effect . revolts in the South . only large iron factory . Parliament 1835 Alexis de 1837 . 1858 A treaty at bans the slave trade in publishes Victoria is . China , gives the British Empire . Democracy in America . crowned queen Hong Kong to the of Great Britain . United Kingdom . THE SOUTH 313

Reading Social Studies Geography Politics Religion Society Economics and Culture Focus on Themes This chapter takes you cotton gin . You will also read about the slave system into the heart of the South from 1800 through in the South during this time and about the harsh he . As you read , you will discover that living conditions slaves endured . As you will see , the South depended on cotton as its economic the South was home to a variety of societies backbone , especially after the invention of the and cultures . Online Research Focus on Reading Researching history topics on the Web can , give you access to valuable information . However , just because the Ad I . information is on the Web does mean It IS automatically valuable ! I i . Evaluating Web Sites Before you use information you find online , you need to evaluate the site it comes from . The checklist below can help you determine if the site is worth your time . Evaluating Web Sites Site URL Date of access Rate each item on this scale . Then add up the total score . I . Authority a . Authors are clearly identified by name . Contact information is provided for authors . Author qualifications are clearly stated . Site has been updated recently . Content Site information is useful to your project . Information is clear and . Information appears to be at the right level . Links to additional important information are provided . Information can be verified in other sources . Graphics are helpful , not just decorative . Design and Technical Elements a . Pages are readable and easy to navigate . Links to other sites work . Total Score very good site average site below 20 poor site 314 CHAPTER 12

ELA Reading Read and understand material . You Try It ! The passage below is from the chapter you are about to read . Cotton Becomes Profitable Cotton had been grown in the New World for centuries , but it had not been a very crop . Before cotton could be spun into thread for weaving into cloth , the seeds had to be removed from the cotton . cotton , also called cotton , was fairly easy to process . Workers could pick the seeds from the cotton with ease . But cotton grew well in only a few places in the South . More mon was cotton , also known as cotton . Removing the seeds from this cotton was difficult and time consuming . A worker could spend an entire day picking the seeds from a single pound of cotton . From Chapter 12 , 376 After you read the passage , complete the following activity . Suppose that after reading this passage you decide to do some research on cotton growing . You use a search engine that directs you to a site . At that site , you find the information described below . Using the evaluation criteria listed on the previous page , decide if this is a site you would recommend to others . The authors of the site are listed as Bob and Mack , good friends who enjoy working together . The site was last updated on the last time we got together . The title of the site is Cotton . There are few headings . This site includes nine pages about the authors hood on a cotton farm . No illustrations are included . Pages are very long but , they load quickly as there are no graphics . There is one link to a site selling cotton clothing . and People Chapter 12 Section cotton gin ( planters ( 378 ) cotton belt ( 379 ) factors ( 379 ) Iron Works ( Section yeomen ( 384 ) Section folktales ( 389 ) spirituals ( 389 ) Nat Turner ( 390 ) Nat Turner Rebellion ( Academic Vocabulary Success in school is related to knowing academic the words that are frequently used in school assignments and . In this chapter , you will learn the following academic words primary ( 380 ) aspect ( 388 ) As you read Chapter 12 , think about what topics would be interesting to research on the Web . If you do some research on the Web , rememberto use the evaluation list to analyze the Web site . THE SOUTH 315

SECTION What You Will Learn . The invention of the cotton gin revived the economy of the South . The cotton gin created a ton boom in which farmers grew little else . Some people encouraged southerners to focus on other crops and industries . The Big Idea The invention of the cotton gin made the South a economy and increased the need for slave labor . Key Terms and People cotton gin , 377 planters , 378 cotton belt , 379 factors , 379 Iron Works , 381 IE Describe the ment of the agrarian economy in the South , identify the locations of the states , and discuss the significance of cotton and the cotton gin . origins and ment of slavery its effects on black Americans and on the region cal , social , religious , economic , and cultural development and identify the that were tried to both turn and preserve it ( through the writings and historical documents on Nat Turner , Denmark ) 316 CHAPTER 12 Growth of the Cotton Industry If YOU were there You are a er on a cotton farm in the South in about 1800 . Your job is to separate the seeds from the cotton fibers . It is dull , tiring work because the tiny seeds are tangled in the . Sometimes it takes you a whole dayjust to clean one pound of cotton ! Now you hear that someone has invented a machine that can clean cotton 50 times faster than by hand . How might this machine change your life ?

BUILDING BACKGROUND Sectional differences had always existed different regions of the United States . The revolutionary changes in industry and transportation deepened the differences North and South . The South remained mainly agricultural . New technology helped the region become the Cotton Kingdom . Reviving the South Economy Before the American Revolution , three crops dominated ern , rice , and indigo . These crops , produced mostly by enslaved African Americans , played a central role in the southern economy and culture . After the American Revolution , however , prices for tobacco , rice , and indigo dropped . When crop prices fell , the demand for and the price of slaves also went down . In an effort to protect their incomes , many farmers tried , with little success , to grow other crops that needed less labor . Soon , however , cotton would form the southern economy and greatly increase the demand for slave labor . Cotton Becomes Cotton had been grown in the New World for centuries , but it had not been a very crop . Before cotton could be spun into thread for weaving into cloth , the seeds had to be removed from the cotton .

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY Eli Whitney cotton gin enabled workers to easily remove seeds from cotton fibers . The result was a dramatic increase in cotton production in the South . How did the cotton yin remove seeds from cotton fibers ?

The operator turned the crank . The crank turned a roller with teeth that stripped the seeds away from the cotton fiber Brushes on a second roller lifted the less cotton off the teeth of the first cylinder and . dropped it out of the machine . A belt connected the ' rollers so that they would both turn when the crank was turned . cotton , also called Whitney cotton Gin was easy to Process Workers Northerner such eould the Seeds hem the when with in year before Whitney relative ease . But cotton had Visited a Georgia plantation owned The Same 9319 . law that protected places the South More by Catherine Greene where workers were mon was cotton , which was also using a machine to remove Seeds from non of the comm as Removing the staple cotton . This machine did not work seeds from this cotton was difficult and time Well on and Greene asked of inventors consuming . A worker could spend an entire Whitney it he Could improve it By the next day the Seeds from Single of spring , Whitney had perfected his design for ' the cotton gin a machine that removes seeds By the early the demand for from Cotton ( is Short for ican cotton began increasing rapidly . For engine . The Cotton gin used a instance , in Great Britain , new textile Cylinder with Wire teeth to pull Cotton needed raw cotton that could be used for from the making cloth , and American cotton Whitney hoped to keep the design of the em hot keep up with the high demand gin a secret , but the machine was so useful that for their cotton . These producers of cotton needed a machine that could remove the his patent was often ignored by other . Whitney described how his Seeds hem the Cotton more rapidly tion would improve the cotton business . THE SOUTH 311

Cotton ( in bales ) After the invention of the cotton gin , the amount of cotton each year in the United States soared . as the chart below shows . The area of land devoted to growing cotton also increased dramatically between 1820 and 1860 , as shown on the map . Cotton Production , One man will clean ten times as much cotton as he can in any other way before known and also clean it much better than in the usual mode method machine may be turned by water or with a horse , with the greatest ease , and one man and a horse will do more than men with the old Whitney , quoted in Eli Whitney and the Birth of American Technology by Constance Green Whitney gin revolutionized the cotton industry . farmers who held more than 20 slaves cotton gins that could process tons of cotton much faster than hand processing . A healthy crop almost guaranteed success because of high demand from the textile industry . Drawing Conclusions What did the cotton gin have on the southern economy ?

Te Cotton Kingdom ANALYSIS SKILL INTERPRETING CHARTS . In what region ofthe United States was the cotton belt ?

How many bales of cotton were produced in 1860 ' The Cotton Boom Whitney invention of the cotton gin made cotton so that southern farmers abandoned other crops in favor of growing cotton . The removal of Native Americans opened up more land for cotton farmers in the Southeast . Meanwhile , the development of new types of cotton plants helped spread cotton production throughout the South as far west as Texas . Production increased about million pounds in 1791 to roughly a billion pounds by 1860 . As early as 1840 , the United States was producing more than half of the cotton grown in the entire world . The economic boom attracted new settlers , built up wealth among wealthy white , and helped keep in place the tion of slavery in the South . Extent of cotton growing by 1820 Extent of cotton growing by 1860

Cotton Belt Cotton had many advantages as a cash crop . It cost little to market . Unlike food staples , harvested cotton could be stored for a long time . Because cotton was lighter than other staple crops , it also cost less to transport long distances . Farmers eager to from growing ton headed west to land . Farmers also began to apply methods to improve crop production . Cotton had one tage as a rapidly used up the ents in the soil . After a few years , cotton could make the land useless for growing anything . Some agricultural scientists recommended crop the crop grown on a particular plot of land every few years . Different crops needed different nutrients , so crop rotation would keep the land fertile longer . Other agricultural scientists began to study soil chemistry , in an effort to keep the land rich and productive . The area of high cotton production became known as the cotton belt . As this area grew , farmers continued trying to improve the crop . Agricultural scientists worked at crossbreeding cotton with other varieties . Soon , new , stronger types of cotton were being grown . This led to expansion of the cotton industry through the . The cotton boom involved much more than growing and harvesting cotton . vested cotton had to be ginned , pressed into bales , and then shipped to market or to warehouses . Special agents helped do thing from marketing cotton to customers to insuring crops against loss or damage . were built to produce items needed by cotton farmers , such as ropes to bale cotton . Growing and harvesting cotton required many hands . Rather than pay wages to free workers , planters began to use more slave labor . Congress had made bringing slaves into the United States illegal in 1808 . However , the growing demand for slaves led to an increase in the slave trade within the United States . Cotton Trade In an 1858 speech before the Senate , South Carolina politician James Henry mond declared , Cotton is King ! Without cotton , Hammond claimed , the world my would fail . He believed that southern ton was one of the most valuable resources in the world . Southern cotton was used to make cloth in England and the North . Many shared Hammond viewpoints about cotton . Southerner David Christy declared , King cotton is a profound educated man , and knows what measures will best tain protect his The cotton boom made the South a major player in world trade . Great Britain became the South most valued foreign trading partner . Southerners also sold tons of ton to the growing textile industry in the northeastern United States . This increased trade led to the growth of major port cities in the South , including Charleston , South Carolina Savannah , Georgia and New Orleans , Louisiana . In these cities , crop brokers called factors managed the cotton trade . Farmers sold their cotton to merchants , who then made deals with the factors . Merchants and factors also arranged loans for farmers who needed to buy supplies . They often advised farmers on how to invest . Once farmers got their cotton to the port cities , factors arranged for transportation aboard trading ships . However , shipping cotton by land to port cities was very in the South . The few major road projects at the time were limited to the Southeast . Most southern farmers had to ship their goods on the regions rivers . On the Ohio and Mississippi rivers , and steamboats carried cotton and other products to port . Eventually , hundreds of steamboats traveled up and down the mighty Mississippi River each day . Identifying Cause and Effect What effect did the cotton boom have on the slave trade within the United States ?

THE SOUTH 319 TODAY The Port of New Orleans remains a . It handles about 85 million tons of cargo annually .

The South Cotton Economy Eli Whitney cotton gin began the cotton boom . Soon , the Cotton Kingdom stretched across the South . For the cotton planters to succeed , they had to get their cotton to market . Enslaved African Americans did most of the planting , harvesting . and processing of cotton . ACADEMIC VOCABULARY primary main , most important III Cotton was shipped on river as Charleston . Other Crops and Industries Some leaders worried that the South was depending too much on cotton . They wanted to try a variety of cash crops and investments . Food and Cash Crops One such crop was , the primary ern food crop . By the late the top three states in the nation were all in the South . The South other successful food crops included rice , sweet potatoes , wheat , and sugarcane . Production of tobacco , the South first major cash crop , was very time consuming because tobacco leaves had to be cured , or dried , before they could be shipped to market . In 1839 a slave discovered a way to improve the drying process by using heat from ing charcoal . This new , faster curing process increased tobacco production . Partly as a result of the cotton boom , hemp and also became major cash crops . Their were used to make rope and cloth . Farmers used the rope and sackcloth to bundle cotton into bales . 380 CHAPTER steamboats to major ports such From southern ports , sailing ships carried the cotton to distant textile mills . Industry Many of the first factories in the South were built to serve farmers needs by processing crops such as sugarcane . In 1803 the first sawmill was built in , Louisiana . This new technology enabled lumber companies to cut , sort , and clean wood quickly . In Georgia , who organize and manage begun investing in cotton mills . In 1840 , there were 14 cotton mills by the , there were more than 50 . A few mill owners followed the model established by Francis Cabot Lowell . However , most built scale factories on the falls of a river for water power . A few mills were built in towns without enough water power . Southerners such as Rowan Helper encouraged industrial growth in the South . We should . keep pace with the progress of the must expand our energies , and acquire habits of enterprise and industry we should rouse ourselves from the couch of laziness and inure set our minds to thought and our bodies to Rowan Helper , The Impending Crisis of the How to Meet It

Joseph Anderson followed Helper advice . In 1848 he became the owner of the Iron Works in Richmond , one of the most productive iron works in the nation . It was the only factory to produce site would you bridge materials , cannons , steam engines , and I learn more about the other products . A large amount of cotton was sold to textile Industry , however , remained a small part Works ?

mills in the United States . of the southern economy and primarily ported agrarian interests . Southern industry faced stiff competition from the North and from England , both of which could produce many goods more cheaply . And as long as agricultural remained high , southern investors preferred to invest in land . Making inferences Why We were there fewer industries in the South ?

foreign buyers of cotton . SUMMARY AND PREVIEW You have read about how southern farmers worked to improve farming methods . In the next tion you will read about the structure of southern society . DRAWING CONCLUSIONS Why do you think cotton was so important to the South economy ?

go ram online Section Assessment Reviewing Ideas , critical Thinking and . Identifying Cause and Effect Copy the graphic a . Describe How did the cotton gin make organizer below . Use it to show events that led cotton easier ?

to the cotton boom and to list the effects of Draw Why had been On increased cotton production on slavery and the the decline before the invention of the cotton gin ?

southern How did slavery change as a result of the cotton ?

Slavery a . Identify What areas made up the cotton belt ?

Evaluate Do you think the South should have Causes Cotton Boom paid more attention to its industrial growth ?

Why ?

a . Describe What other crops and industries were encouraged in the South ?

Make inferences Why were some southern leaders worried about the South reliance on cotton ?

Noting Life on the Cotton Farm In your book , note how Whitney gin changed life on the farm . Also note other details about cotton farming you could include in your sketch . THE SOUTH 381 SECTION What You Will Learn . Southern society and culture consisted of four main groups . Free African Americans in the South faced a great deal of discrimination . The Big Idea Southern society centered around agriculture . Key Term yeomen , 384 of white Southern society and how the physical environment events and conditions prior to the Civil War . Compare the lives of and opportunities for free blacks in the North with those of free blacks in the South . Describe the lives of free blacks and the laws that limited their 382 CHAPTER 12 IE freedom and economic opportunities . Southern Society If YOU were there Your family owns a small farm in Georgia in the 18405 . Sometimes you work in the fields , but more often you tend the vegetable garden and peach orchard . Since you have no close neighbors , you look forward to Sundays . Going to church gives you a chance to socialize with other young people . Sometimes you wonder what it would be like to live in a city like Savannah . How would life be different if you left the farm for the city ?

BUILDING BACKGROUND Although the South had some industry , agriculture was the heart of the southern economy . Cotton was king . As a result , wealthy plantation families were the most prominent social class in southern society . Small farmers , however , made up the largest part of the population . Southern Society and Culture Popular fiction often made it seem that all white had many slaves and lived on large plantations . Many ers wrote about wealthy southern families who had frequent , grand parties . The ideal image of the South included hospitality and slaves on beautiful plantations that almost ran themselves . This romantic View was far from the reality . During the first half of the , only about of white southern lies had slaves . Fewer families had plantations . Despite their small numbers , these planters had a powerful over the South . Many served as political leaders . They led a society made up of many different kinds of people , including yeomen farmers , poor whites , slaves , and free African Americans . Each of these segments of society contributed to the economic success of the South .

Planters As the wealthiest members of southern ety , planters also greatly the omy . Some showed off their wealth by living in beautiful mansions . Many others chose to live more simply . A visitor described wealthy planter Alexander Stephens estate as an old wooden house surrounded by weeds . Some planters saved all of their money to buy more land and slaves . Male planters were primarily concerned with raising crops and supervising slave laborers . They left the running of the tion household to their wives . The planter Wife oversaw the raising of the children and supervised the work of all slaves within the household . Slave women typically cooked , cleaned , and helped care for the planter children . Wives also took on the important A Southern Plantation A typical plantation had fields as well as many buildings where different work was done . This picture shows some of the more important buildings that were a part of the plantation system . Plantation House The planter and his family lived in the plantation house . The planter wife was in charge of running the household . social duties of the family . For example , many southern leaders discussed political issues at the dances and dinners hosted by their wives . Planters often arranged their children marriages based on business interests . Lucy , the daughter of a wealthy planter , was married by arrangement in 1865 . Three years earlier , she had described in her journal how she dreaded the Very thought of marriage . A woman life after she is married , unless there is an immense amount of love , is nothing but suffering and hard How life in her own arranged marriage would have turned out can not be known . She died of typhoid fever just months after her wedding . Slave Cabins Slaves lived crowded together in small cabins . Cabins are crude , wooden structures with dirt . Shed This sizable plantation had several large ton gins . The vital chines were housed in a shed to protect them from the weather . SKILL ANALYZING VISUALS How can you tell that the owner at this plantation was wealthy ?

Yeomen and Poor Whites Most white were yeomen , owners of small farms . Yeomen owned few slaves or none at all . The typical farm aged 100 acres . Yeomen took great pride in their work . In 1849 a young Georgia man wrote , I desire above all things to be a It is the most honest , upright , and sure way of securing all the comforts of Yeoman families , including women and children , typically worked long days at a ety of tasks . Some yeomen held a few slaves , but worked along side them . The poorest of white lived on land that could not grow cash crops . They survived by hunting , raising small gardens , and doing odd jobs for money . Religion and Society Most white southerners shared similar religious beliefs . Because of the long distances between farms , families often saw their bors only at church events , such as revivals or socials . Rural women often played volunteer roles in their churches . Wealthy white thought that their religion justified their position in society and the institution of 384 CHAPTER 12 In 1860 about I outof 50 African Americans in the South was free . Many worked in skilled trades , like this barber in Richmond , In Charleston , South Carolina , a system of badges was set up to distinguish between free African Americans and slaves . How would the work of the free African American in this picture be different from that of slaves in the South ?

slavery . They argued that God created some people , like themselves , to rule others . This belief opposed many northern Christians belief that God was against slavery . Urban Life Many of the largest and most important cities in the South were strung along the Atlantic coast and had begun as shipping centers . Although fewer in number , the southern cities were similar to northern ies . City governments built public water and provided streets . Public education was available in some es . Wealthy residents occasionally gave large sums of money to charities , such as ages and public libraries . Southern urban leaders wanted their cities to appear as em as possible . As on plantations , slaves did much of the work in southern cities . Slaves worked as domestic servants , in mills , in shipyards , and at skilled jobs . Many business leaders held slaves or hired them from nearby plantations . Summarizing groups made up southern society ?

Free African Americans and Discrimination Although the vast majority of African cans in the South were enslaved , more than free African Americans lived in the region by 1860 . Some were descendants of slaves who were freed after the American Revolution . Others were descendants of refugees from Toussaint tian Revolution in the late . Still others were former slaves who had run away , been freed by their slaveholder , or earned enough money to buy their freedom . Free African Americans lived in both rural and urban areas . Most lived in the countryside and worked as paid laborers on plantations or farms . Free African Americans in cities often worked a variety of jobs , mostly as skilled sans . Some , like barber William Johnson of , Mississippi , became quite successful in their businesses . Some free African cans , especially those in the cities , formed social and economic ties with one another . Churches often served as the center of their social lives . Free African Americans faced constant discrimination from white . Many Section Assessment Reviewing Ideas , IE . governments passed laws limiting the rights of free African Americans . Most free African Americans could not vote , travel freely , or hold certain jobs . In some places , free African Americans had to have a white person sent them in any business transaction . In ers , laws restricted where they were allowed to live or conduct business . Many white Southerners argued that free African Americans did not have the ability to take care of themselves , and they used this belief to justify the institution of slavery . The status of slavery is the only one for which the African is adapted , wrote one white . To many white southerners , the very existence of free African Americans the institution of slavery . Finding Main Ideas What challenges did free African Americans face in the South ?

SUMMARY AND PREVIEW Southern ety was led by rich planters but included other groups as well . In the next section you will read about life under slavery . Critical Thinking Online Quiz KEYWORD Terms , and People a . Identify What was the largest social group in the South ?

How did its members make a living ?

Compare In what ways were southern cities similar to northern cities ?

Elaborate Which southern social class do you think had the most difficult life ?

Why ?

a . Describe What jobs were available to free African Americans in the South ?

Analyze Why did many white southerners fear free African Americans ?

Elaborate Why do you think that discrimination against free African Americans was harsher in the South than in the North ?

Comparing and Contrasting Copy the Venn diagram below . Add to it lines which you will fill in to identify ways in which planters and lives were similar and different . Describing the Life of Cotton Farmers In your notebook , describe the different roles played by male planters and their wives . What challenges would female planters have faced ?

When would the planters have had a chance to socialize ?

THE SOUTH 385 What You Will Learn . Slaves worked at a variety of jobs on plantations . Life under slavery was and dehumanizing . Slave culture centered around family , community , and religion . Slave uprisings led to stricter slave codes in many states . The Big Idea The slave system in the South produced harsh living tions and occasional rebellions . Key Terms and People folktales , 389 spirituals , 389 Nat Turner , 390 Nat Turner Rebellion , 390 origins and development of slavery its effects on black Americans and on the political , social , religious , economic , and cultural development and identify the that were tried to both overturn and preserve it ( through the writings and historical documents on Nat Turner , Denmark . 386 CHAPTER 12 The Slave System If YOU were there You are a reporter for a newspaper in Philadelphia in the . You are writing a series of articles about the slave system in the South . To get background for your stories , you are planning to interview some former slaves who now live in Philadelphia . Some have bought their freedom , while others have successfully escaped from slavery What questions will you ask in your interviews ?

BUILDING BACKGROUND While most white southern families were not slaveholders , the southern economy depended on the work of slaves . This was true not only on large plantations but also on smaller farms and in the cities . Few chances existed for enslaved African Americans to escape their hard lives . Slaves and Work Most enslaved African Americans lived in rural areas where they worked on farms and plantations . Enslaved people on small farms usually did a variety of jobs . On large plantations , most slaves were assigned to jobs , and most worked in the . Most holders demanded that slaves work as much as possible . Supervisors known as drivers , who were sometimes slaves themselves , made sure that slaves followed orders and carried out punishments . Working in the Field Most plantation owners used the system . In this system , all hands worked on the same task at the same time . They ally worked from sunup to sundown . Former slave Harry McMillan had worked on a plantation in South Carolina . He recalled that the hands usually did not even get a break to eat lunch . You had to get your victuals food standing at your hoe , he remembered . Men , women , and even children older than about 10 usually did the same tasks . Sickness and poor weather rarely stopped the work . The times I hated most was picking cotton when the frost was on the seed pods recalled former Louisiana slave Mary Reynolds . My hands git sore and crack open and bleed .

Working in the Home Some slaves worked as butlers , cooks , or nurses in the planter home . These slaves often had better food , clothing , and shelter than hands did , but they often worked longer hours . They had to serve the planter family 24 hours a day . Working at Skilled Jobs On larger plantations , some enslaved can Americans worked at skilled jobs , such as blacksmithing or carpentry . Sometimes planters let these slaves sell their services to other people . Often planters collected a tion of what was earned but allowed slaves to keep the rest . In this way , some skilled slaves earned enough money to buy their freedom from their slaveholders . For example , liam Ellison earned his freedom in South Carolina by working for wages as a cotton gin maker . For years , he worked late at night and on Sundays . He bought his freedom with the money he earned . Eventually , he was also able to buy the freedom of his wife and daughter . Summarizing Whatwere some types ofwork done by enslaved people on plantations ?

Life Under Slavery Generally , slaveholders viewed slaves as property , not as people . Slaveholders bought and sold slaves to make a . The most common method of sale was at an auction . The auction itself determined whether lies would be kept together or separated . Sometimes a buyer wanted a slave to a job , such as heavy laborer , carpenter , or blacksmith . The buyer might be willing to pay for the slave who could do the work , but not for that slave family . Families would then be separated with little hope of ever getting back together . Slave traders sometimes even kidnapped free African Americans and then sold them into slavery . For example , Solomon , a free African American , was kidnapped in Washington , He spent 12 years as a slave until he proved his identity and gained his release . Living Conditions Enslaved people often endured poor living conditions . Planters housed them in cabins with few furnishings and often leaky roofs . The clothing given to them was usually simple and made of cheap , coarse fabric . Some slaves tried to brighten up their A Nurse Work Slaveholders children were often cared for by enslaved women . At the time , women who looked after children were called nurses . This nurse is posing with her child in about 1850 . As a slave , what might have happened to this woman family ?

THE SOUTH 381 ACADEMIC VOCABULARY aspect pa clothing by sewing on designs from discarded scraps of material . In this way , they expressed their and personalized the clothing assigned to them by the planters . Likewise , many slaves did what they could to improve their small food rations . Some planters allowed slaves to keep their own gardens for vegetables , and chickens for eggs . Other slaves were able to add a tle variety to their diet by or picking wild berries . Punishment and Slave Codes Some planters offered more food or better living conditions to age slaves obedience . However , most slaveholders used punishment instead . Some would punish one slave in front of others as a warning to them all . Harry McMillan recalled some of the punishments he had witnessed . The punishments were whipping , putting you in the stocks wooden frames to lock people in and making you wear irons and a chain at they had a collar to put round your neck with two horns , like cows horns , so that you could not lie down . Sometimes they dug a hole like a well with a door on they called a dungeon keeping you in it two orthree weeks or a month , or sometimes till you died in McMillan , quoted in Major Problems in the History South , Volume I , edited by Paul and David To further control slaves actions , many states passed strict laws called slave codes . Some laws prohibited slaves from traveling far from their homes . Literacy laws in most southern states prohibited the education of slaves . Alabama , Virginia , and Georgia had laws that allowed the and whipping of anyone caught teaching enslaved people to read and write . Summarizing How did holders control slaves ?

388 CHAPTER 12 I A Slave Daily Life A Typical Daily schedule Out , tend animals Prayers Start work . Lunch Return to work Dinner Return to work . Lights out Slave Culture Many enslaved African Americans found comfort in their community and culture . They made time for social activity , even after exhausting workdays , in order to relieve the hardship of their lives . Family and Community Family was the most important aspect of slave communities , and slaves feared ration more than they feared punishment . Josiah Henson never forgot the day that he and his family were auctioned . His mother begged the slaveholder who bought her to buy Josiah , too . The slaveholder refused , and Henson entire family was separated . I must have been then between or six years old , he recalled years later . I seem to see and hear my poor weeping mother now .

The lives of slaves revolved around the work that was required of them . For many , this meant doing the backbreaking work of harvesting and loading tons of cotton . Most slaves found hope and a short escape from their daily misery in Sunday church services . Others sought to escape permanently and ran away , hoping to reach the freedom of the North . A failed escape attempt , however , could result in a cruel worse . What different aspects of slavery are shown in these pictures ?

Hauling the Whole Week by William Henry Brown , The New Orleans Collection Enslaved parents kept their heritage alive by passing down family histories as well as African customs and traditions . They also told folktales , or stories with a moral , to teach lessons about how to survive under slavery . Folktales often included a clever animal called a trickster . The often represented a stronger animal by outwitting it . Folktales reassured slaves that they could survive by outsmarting more powerful slaveholders . Religion also played an important part in slave culture . By the early many slaves were Christians . They came to see selves , like the slaves in the Old Testament , as God chosen people , much like the Hebrew slaves in ancient Egypt who had faith that they would someday live in freedom . Some slaves sang spirituals , emotional Christian songs that blended African and European music , to express their religious beliefs . For example , The Heavenly Road slaves belief in their equality in the eyes of God . Come , my brother , if you never did pray , I hope you pray tonight really believe I am a child of God As I the heavenly , quoted in Religious History , edited by Milton Slaves blended aspects of traditional can religions with those of Christianity . They worshipped in secret , out of sight of holders . Some historians have called slave religion the invisible institution . TODAY The musical of these inspirational slave songs can be heard gospel music . THE SOUTH 389

Slave Nat Turner led a revolt against white slaveholders in 1831 . This is a map of his route and a depiction of his capture . Nat Turner route House or plantation Hiding place VIRGINIA Miles Captured . awn cave Cypress October 30 , Bridge First cave I I August Turner meets with ' other slaves and plans revolt . August . ling slaves are SOUTHAMPTON COUNTY escapes . NORTH CAROLINA ANALYSIS captured or killed at James plantation . Turner Most of the SKILL ANALYZING VISUALS Seeds of Rebellion Maintaining their own religious beliefs and practices was only one way in which enslaved people resisted slaveholders attempts to trol them completely . In small ways , slaves rebelled against the system daily . Sometimes they worked slower to protest long hours in the . Other times they ran away for a few days to avoid an angry slaveholder . Some slaves tried to escape permanently , but most left only for short periods , often to go and visit relatives . Gaining freedom by escaping to the North was hard . If discovered , slaves were captured and sent back to their ers , where they faced certain punishment or death . However , thousands of enslaved ple succeeded in escaping . Summarizing How did slaves religious beliefs affect their attitudes toward slavery ?

390 CHAPTER 12 Location Where did Rebellion take place ?

Slave Uprisings Although violent slave revolts were rare , white lived in fear of them . Two planned rebellions were stopped before they began . Gabriel planned a rebellion near Richmond , Virginia , in 1800 . Denmark planned one in Charleston , South Carolina , in 1822 . Authorities ed most of those involved in planning these rebellions . Though was executed as the leader of the Charleston conspiracy , eral accounts written after his death by slavery writers claimed he was a hero . The most violent slave revolt in the ed States occurred in 1831 and is known as Nat Turner Rebellion . Nat Turner , a slave from Southampton County , Virginia , believed that God had told him to end slavery . On an August night in 1831 , Turner led a group of slaves in a plan to kill all of the slaveholders and their families in the county . First , they

attacked the family that held Turner as a slave . Soon they had killed about 60 white people in the community . More than 100 innocent slaves who were not part of group were killed in an attempt to stop the rebellion . Turner himself led authorities on a chase around the for six weeks . He hid in caves and in the woods before he was caught and brought to trial . Before his trial , Turner made a sion . He expressed his belief that the revolt was and worth his death I am willing to suffer the fate that awaits He was ed on November 11 , 1831 . After the rebellion , many states strengthened their slave codes . Primary Source LETTER Nat Turner Rebellion In a white southerner who had escaped the rebellion wrote a letter describing the mood of the area where Nat Turner had The author believes killed slaveholders . Ohe the has been through a The oldest inhabitants of our county have never experienced such a distress ing terrible time , as we have had since Sunday night last . The slaves , about fifteen miles from this place , have cred from 50 to 75 women and children , and some or 10 men . Every house , room The new codes placed stricter control on the and Comer in Place hi il any slave population . Despite the resistance of ahd from homer Who had people enslaved people , slavery continued to spread . take to the mods Um they Could get hiding When the to this place . We are worn out with fatigue tiredness . rebellion began . Finding Main Ideas Whatwas Nat Turner Rebellion , and what happened as a result ?

Enquirer , quoted in The Southampton Slave Revolt by Henry I SUMMARY AND PREVIEW Several groups of African Americans attempted to end ery by rebellion . All of the attempts failed . In the next chapter you will read about efforts to reform American society . ANALYSIS SKILL ANALYZING PRIMARY SOURCES What emotions do you think the author of this letter was feeling ?

go ram Section Assessment Reviewing Ideas . 533 Critical Tums and . Evaluating Copy the graphic organizer below . a . Identify What different types of work were Then add information to describe life under slavery . done by slaves on plantations ?

Elaborate Do you think that skilled slaves had advantages over other slaves ?

Why or why not ?

a . Describe What were living conditions like for most slaves ?

Summarize In what different ways did Coping Challenging with Slavery Slavery holders encourage obedience from their slaves ?

a . Recall What was the purpose of folktales ?

Focus on I . Explain How did slaves try to maintain a sense . Describing the Life of Slaves Add notes about of community ?

Describe What was the outcome of Nat the life of slaves to your notebook . What would it have been like to be a slave ?

How would it have Turner Rebellion ?

Elaborate What do you think were some felt to have been separated your sons why slaves rebelled ?

THE SOUTH 391 Social Studies Skills Analysis Critical Thinking Interpreting Graphs Graphs are drawings that classify and display data in a clear , Visual format . There are three basic types of graphs . Line graphs and bar graphs plot changes in quantities over time . Bar graphs are also used to compare quantities within a category at a lar time . Circle graphs , also called pie graphs , have a similar use . The circle represents the whole of something , and the slices show what proportion of the whole is made by each part . Being able to interpret graphs accurately lets you see and understand relationships more easily than in tables or in written explanations . This is especially true if the information is detailed or the relationships are complicated . Learn the Skill The following guidelines will help you interpret data that is presented as a graph . Read the title to identify the subject and purpose of the graph . Note the kind of graph , bering what each type is designed to indicate . Also note how the graphs subject relates to any printed material that accompanies it . Study the graph parts . Place close attention to the labels that define each axis . Note the units of measure . Identify the categories used . If there are different colors on bars or lines in the graph , determine what those differences mean . Analyze the data in the graph . Note any increases or decreases in quantities . Look for trends , changes , and other relationships in the data . 392 CHAPTER 12 Participation Apply the information in the graph . Use the results of your analysis to draw conclusions . Ask yourself what generalizations can be made about the trends , changes , or relationships shown in the graph . Practice the Skill The graph below is a graph . It shows both changes and relationships over time . This type of graph allows you to see how changes in one thing compare with changes in something else . Apply the guidelines to interpret the graph and answer the questions that follow . Population oi the ans Population Population on ) I . What is shown on each axis of this graph ?

What are the units of measure on each axis ?

What do each of the lines represent ?

What was the total population of the South in 1810 ?

in 1850 ?

By how much did the African American population grow during that period ?

Was the white population or the black tion growing faster ?

Explain how you know .

Visual Summary the main ideas of the chapter . Standards Review Use the visual summary below to help you review ' Southern Society Planters were at the top of southern society . Slavery The strength of the southern economy depended on slave labor . Reviewing Vocabulary , Terms , and People Match the on the left with the correct term on the right . I . A region of cotton belt areas that stretched from South Carolina to Texas factors . Emotional songs that mixed African and European planters music and expressed religious beliefs . Owners of small farms who made up the largest yeomen social class in the South . Crop brokers who often managed the cotton trade in the South . Wealthy farmers and plantation owners Comprehension and Critical Thinking SECTION ( Pages ) Em , a . Describe How did the cotton gin lead to a cotton boom in the South ?

Analyze What were the positive and negative results of the cotton boom ?

Evaluate Do you think that the South as a result of its reliance on cotton ?

Why or why not ?

SECTION ( Pages ) Em , a . Describe What three groups made up white southern society ?

Compare and Contrast In what ways were the lives of free African Americans and white southerners similar and different ?

Predict What might have been the attitude of yeomen and poor white southerners toward slavery ?

Why ?

THE SOUTH 393 ( Pages ) a . Identify What are some small ways in which slaves tried to challenge the slave system ?

Make Inferences How did religion and ily help slaves cope with their lives ?

Predict What could be some possible results of stricter slave codes in the South ?

Reviewing Themes . Society and Culture How were the different social classes in the South affected by the cotton boom ?

Economics How did the cotton boom affect the economy of the South ?

Technology and Innovation What effects did the cotton gin and agriculture have on life in the South ?

Using the Internet . Activity Writing Diary Entries Enslaved African Americans faced harsh working and living conditions . Many tried to escape the slave system . Enter the activity keyword and research the attempts by enslaved African Americans to reach the North and the people who assisted them . Imagine you were trying to help slaves travel to freedom . Write four entries into a diary . In each entry , describe your experiences . Include thumbnail maps to trace their trip . Reading Skills Evaluating Information Use the Reading Skills taught in this chapter to answer the question below . Which of the following would be the best Web site to find information about life in the South before the Civil War ?

a Civil War historian homepage a collection of autobiographies written by slaves a site with information about how to grow cotton a collection of biographies of inventors 394 CHAPTER 12 Social Studies Skills Interpreting Graphs Use the Social Studies Skills taught in this chapter to answer the questions about the graph below . Cotton Production , A 20 an co A 13 12 ?

1800 1820 1840 1860 Year . What span of time saw the largest increase in cotton production ?

a . 1800 to 1820 . 1820 to 1840 1840 to 1860 after 1860 . About what year did cotton production reach million bales per year ?

a . 1800 . 1820 1840 1860 . Writing Your Biographical Sketch Look over your notes about life on a cotton farm . Then choose an imaginary person to write about . Think about what life would have been like for this person . What might he or she have looked like ?

How might he or she have spoken ?

What might a typical day have been like ?

Once you have answered these questions , write two graphs about a day in the life of this person .

Standards Assessment DIRECTIONS Read each question and write the letter of the best response . Cotton Production , The main reason for the changes shown in the graph was A the invention and use of the cotton gin . a decline in the number of slaves . the end of the international slave trade . a switch from food crops to cash crops . All of the following helped enslaved African Americans to endure and survive slavery except A religion . slave codes . spirituals . folktales . Because some southerners feared ers had become too reliant on cotton , they encouraged farmers to A stop using the cotton gin . try growing a variety of cash crops . demand higher tariffs . introduce cotton and slavery to the West . Which statement accurately describes southern society in the ?

A Very few white southerners owned slaves . Few white southerners owned the land they farmed . All African Americans in the South were held in slavery . Most white southerners were small farmers . Free African Americans in the South in the early and A had the same rights and freedoms as white southerners . had few rights and freedoms . usually had escaped from slavery . did not exist as a class of people . Connecting with Past Learning a In Grade you learned about the manors that developed in Europe during feudalism . Who in the South in the 18005 would have been most like the head of a manor in the Middle Ages ?

A a factor farmer a slaveholder In 73 a gladiator named Spartacus led a slave revolt against Rome . His action can be compared to that of which American in the ?

A Alexander Stephens Eli Whitney Nat Turner Frederick THE SOUTH 395