Slavery Entrenched

         In the early 19th century, slavery became entrenched in US society. At the turn of the decade, slavery was slowly dying out. The only cotton that was efficient to harvest grew only on the coasts, so most of the slaves were located there. The problem with the inland cotton was that there were seeds in it that took too long to pull out one by one. A young man named Eli Whitney, a recent Yale graduate, needed money to pay off debts. He went down south to Georgia to become a tutor on a plantation. While in Georgia, Whitney learned about the challenges of growing cotton, and was encouraged to find a solution. Thus he created the cotton gin, which he patented and made large profits from. This invention spread across the southern states and revitalized the slave industry. In 1790, two years before the invention of the cotton gin, there were 690,000 slaves in the United States who produced 1.5 million pounds of cotton. By 1860, there were 4 million slaves who produced 2.28 billion pounds of cotton. This was 57% of America's export revenue, at a total of 191.8 million dollars. The price of a slave went from $500 to $1500 during this time period as well. It is clear that the invention of the cotton gin caused an economic uproar in America that caused the number of slaves and the export revenue in the south to grow exponentially.


Cotton Gin



How does a system of slavery based on race affect  human dignity?What human characteristics does such a system tend  to ignore?

John Brown was a antislavery activist that lived in the 19th century. While many questioned his tactics, others supported his cause. He was loved by many northerners, but hated by the southerners. He is most famous for breaking into an armory in Harper's Ferry, Virginia. His goal was to seize weapons to give to slaves in order to start a rebellion. His plan was not a success. Local troops killed 8 of the men with Brown, and a detachment of US marines captured Brown. 3 months later, he was hanged for treason. Some payed respect for John. Others called him a martyr for America's freedom. The people of the south thought that he was outrageous. What brown did may not have been right in all people's eyes, but the end goal was worth it in the end.





John Brown

In Futa Jallon, Africa, slavery was different. The main religion was Muslim, and all non Muslims were the slaves. In Futa Jallon, ethnicity didn't matter. Religion was so important to them, that it didn't matter what your skin color was, only what your religion was. Also, the generation of slave children were given freedom and were allowed to own slaves of their own. They could own land and harvest crops, just how their masters had done to them before. In Natchez, Mississippi, the story was different. Slavery was based on race. The owners were brutal. There were large numbers of slaves concentrated on large plantations. The owners of these slaves were only the few, rich white plantation owners. The free blacks had limitations on what they could do and what choices they could make. The slaves were so desperate to see their families that they would sneak out and endure the punishment just to do so. The rich people from America always wanted more slaves. Ships of white men would go to Africa and ambushing colonies and taking their men to become slaves. The African people had to submit because they did not have the guns that many American men had.



Natchez, MI Slave Auction








Mapping History Activity
Cotton Gin Reading
John Brown Document