King Cotton And Southern Expansion: American Communities

Note Service Chapter 11
Section 1 - King Cotton and Southern Expansion
American Communities
Natchez - Under - the - Hill
I. The flatboat men from the Mississippi are angry because of the tax on their merchandise. The tax was supposed to eliminate competition from weaker captains who could not afford to pay the 10 dollars. Their goods were confiscated and they responded by declaring violent threats only to be stopped by the militia.
II. French originally owned this territory and obtained it from Natchez Indians who they killed and later enslaved in 1720 and 1730.
III. Spanish built city away from flooding and it became a major trading post on Mississippi river. American colonization of surrounding areas lead to American growth in city.
Slave owners forced undesirables to leave under the hill because they thought they would revolt. Under the Hill hit by tornado - Natchez and Natchez under the hill both lost.
King Cotton and Southern Expansion
The Cotton Gin and Expansion into the Old Southwest
I. The extreme success of cotton and slavery as a process to make it made it widely popular in many of the southern states: Maryland, Del, Vir, N/S Carolina, Geo, Ken, Tenn., Miss, Ala, Mississippi, Louis, Ark, Florida, Texas
II. Drawback of Cotton: seeds difficult to remove - Day to clean one pound of it
III. Eli Whitney/ Greene - Cotton Gin - 1792 - Made it more profitable
IV. Cotton Gin: hand cranked with teeth that tear lint away from seeds
V. 50 Pounds of Cotton Per Day Now - Increased the Number of Slaves Needed
VI. By 1811 - 60 Million pounds of cotton a year from south
VII. Alabama Fever - After war of 1812 many slave owners went to fertile land in Ala, Miss, Geo for its fertile soil. - Swift Migration
VIII. Population of Mississippi Doubled, Alabama Grew 16 fold, Calhoun and Clay were prominent expansionists (war hawks) who encouraged a westward
After Alabama Fever 1816 - 20 several other surges of cotton planters continued - "Flush Times" - west was flooded for fertile land - more land = more slaves
The Question of Slavery
I. Old System for Growing Cotton Worked Well - large groups of people planting with one overseer - single crop planted in large amounts
II. Slaves were needed after indentured servants did not do the work - expansion of land meant expansion of slavery for the difficult work
III. These dependence on cotton and therefore slaves was at a time when slavery was in question - being outlawed in many places and slave trade was outlawed completely
IV. Invention of Cotton Gin cause such a rise in the smuggling of slaves - 1804 slave shipping was legalized - a bill in 1808 then officially made it illegal again because of national opinion.
The Internal Slave Trade
I. Plantation owners in upper south sent slaves to old southwest in order to meet demand for slaves - Between 1820 - 60 50 percent of slave population was forced to migrate.
II. Coffles: Slaves shackled together by their feet forced to move
III. Slaves sold in slave pens and taken on boats and cargo to meet the needs of expansion. Sold at