AMH-2091 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Salt Pork, Cornmeal, Nat Turner
Document Summary
Life in the cotton kingdom: antebellum slavery (1808-1865) Big business: cotton gin by eli whitney, cotton: 58% of all u. s. exports textile factories in the north, northern ships exported to europe. Expansion of slavery: new territories, 4 million slaves by 1860, prices of slaves steadily rose b/c dependent on local supply, majority of slaves owned by top 1% of population. Normally owned 2-3 people and worked with them in the field. On plantations for bigger companies, usually worked w/ 75 people or. Not part of the white family, but slaves don"t really accept him. Work on the plantation: skilled craftsmen: carpenters, blacksmiths, mechanics, etc. Treated slightly better than field hands, not punished as harshly. More closely supervised (worked with whites: field hands: 75% of people; rich, tobacco, cotton, etc. Most preferred cotton: down time during the year, unlike tobacco (make plans to run away) Men and women worked as field hands.
