HIST 127 Lecture Notes - Lecture 21: Edmund Ruffin, Upland South, Cash Crop
Document Summary
Chapter 11: slavery and the old south 1800-1860. Lower south: sc, georgia, florida, alabama, mississippi, louisiana, texas. Before 1800: slavery associated with tobacco, rice, and cotton. Upload or short-staple cotton more profitable and easier to plant. Wasteful cotton practices had to move further west. Slave labor accounted for more than 90% of cotton production. Plantations leading economic institution in the lower south. Gang system - teams of women and men had to work at a steady pace together on a field. Average rate of return on capital invested in a slave was about 10% per year. Southern cotton planners providing england with 77% of raw cotton and france 90% Market value of slaves increased with profitability of slavery. Half of all slave sales separated family members. As long as slaves employed in growing cash staples returned 10% per year, slave owners had no economic incentive to shift their capital resources into urban manufacturing or development.
