PLANTATIONS AND

THE COTTON BOOM

• Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin
• It made cleaning cotton way faster

COTTON GIN CHANGES

• Farms moved west fast
• Made cotton worth more and stopped other crops
• Native Americans had to move because of farms
• Plantations needed cheap workers, wanted slaves

SLAVERY EXPANDS

• From 1790-1860 profit from cotton went up 10 times
• As cotton become more popular so did slavery

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SLAVERY DIVIDES THE SOUTH

• Most farmers in South supported slavery
• Only about 1in 3 families owned slaves, though

AFRICAN AMERICANS IN THE SOUTH

• Plantation slaves generally had it worse than others
• 8% of slaves in South were free
• Life was tough for free A.A. too (racism)

FINDING STRENGTH IN RELIGION

• Slaves coped through religion, music, and friendship
• Slaves liked story of Moses
• Slaves made spirituals which were religious stories
• Spirituals were secret codes sometimes

FAMILIES UNDER SLAVERY

• Slave owners would split families
• Sometimes children were taken from their mothers

SLAVE REBELLIONS

• Nat Turner led biggest slave revolt
• Most revolutionaries were caught or killed
• Led to backlash by slave owners

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