The South as Defined by the Crops Grown Within the Plantation System
John Shelton Reed asked, “"The South: Where is it? What is it?" (Reed 1994, 5). This paper will define the American South by the crops grown within the plantation system from the American Colonial period through the end of the antebellum period. The South has been an economically distinctive region reflected by the historic dominance of the plantation system.
For this paper, the crops grown within the plantation system include tobacco, indigo, rice, sugarcane, and cotton. Tobacco, indigo, rice, sugarcane, and cotton were valuable plants and grown as cash crops. Cash crops, as opposed to subsistence crops, are specialized crops that are grown to be sold for profits and not used for personal use on the plantations. Plantation owners had no trouble transporting their crops because of the many waterways in the Southern colonies that made it made it easy for ocean-going ships to tie up at plantation docks. A plantation is defined as a large piece of land (or water) usually in a tropical or semitropical area where one crop is intentionally planted for widespread commercial sale and usually tended by resident laborers.
"Let us begin by discussing the weather," wrote U. B. Phillips in 1929. (Reed 1994, 7). The weather, that distinguished Southern historian asserted, "Has been the chief agency in making the South distinctive. It fostered the cultivation of the staple crops, which promoted the plantation system,
The North’s economy was based on textiles, shipping, and skilled trades. Their climate was not suited for the same type of agricultural products that the South produced like cotton, sugar, rice and tobacco. Northern states like New England manufactured and shipped goods like guns, clocks, plows and axes (page 399). One reason for the South’s dependence on slavery is because their economy relied on the existence of slave labor. For example, the cultivation of cotton depended largely on slave labor, with 75% of the crop grown on plantations,
Tobacco became the largest cash crop for the Chesapeake and southern colonies. Tobacco resulted in great wealth for the regions that it was grown. As agriculture became more important in the South; the need for workers became more important, also. Labor shortages were temporarily solved by indentured servants, but the indentured servants weren’t enough. Growers turned to African slaves to meet their need for labor. The slaves impacted the agricultural techniques as well as the social aspects of the Southern society. The presence of slaves created a gap in the economy between the rich and poor farmers in the Chesapeake, with the rich farmers leading the social and political
“The Slave Community: Plantation Life in the Antebellum South” by John W. Blassingame is the first book about slavery written by a historian in the viewpoint of slaves rather than slave owners. This book analyzes the experience of slaves in the South during misjudgement and confusion. Blassingame targets the different aspects that have influenced the slaves life and the way they lived it. Blassingame writes this book to encounter you in feeling the pain of the slaves but also how they had their own traditions and culture while enslaved.
Many fields are flooded in order to cultivate enough rice for England and the colony. Freshwater swamps are not the only means by which rice can be produced. A number of the chief rice fields are situated along the tidal rivers and inlets. Dikes and floodgates are used to regulate the amount of water supplied to the field according to whether it is low tide or high tide. The same process is reversed when water needs to be drained from the fields (Garraty, 51). People of Africa's Rice Coast taught this technique to the settlers. A large portion of the population is made up of people from the rice-producing regions of Africa. The economy is reliant upon enslaved Africans. Not only is the role of slave labor significant in the rice culture, but also in the production of indigo. Eliza Lucas introduced the second cash crop, indigo. Although indigo increases the revenue of the colony immensely, it cannot compete with rice for either land or labor. It prospers on high ground and needs cultivation in the seasons slaves are not preoccupied in the rice paddies. This is a valuable asset for England, to have a new source of indigo, for it has a quintessential function in the textile industry. Parliament has already reaped the benefits of their bounty and should continue to fund the production of indigo. South Carolina has established a solid economy in the manufacturing of tobacco, indigo, and rice, along with
the lower south during the rise of King Cotton and the sugar plantations, including the
During the Antebellum Era, the North and South had developed many differences, a lot of which were due to their geography. In the South, soil was rich and the climate was great for farming and planting, which caused longer growing seasons. In the North, the climate was cold, and the soil was rocky and wasn’t very suitable for farming or planting, which caused shorter growing seasons. Both the North and South had lots of farmers, but the South was more successful. Their success mainly came from small, independent farms, but they also got success from large plantations. Eventually, the South’s economy began to revolve around farming, while the North’s started to become more technologically advanced. The North began to industrialize and the South
“Between 1680 and 1750, the southern white tidewater settlements changed from a frontier society with high immigration, a surplus of males, and an unstable social organization to a settled society mostly of native-born families” (Nash, p. 99). African slaves grew tobacco and rice, as well as a rapid population growth in the southern colonies because of migration. They replaced indentured servants by African slaves and the unfree labor force was black. They shifted fields from grain, hemp, and flax to cattle and swine. They soon became more productive with iron, leather, and textiles in both economic and social reasons. They all had several differences. The rice coast transformed their land into swampy coastal lowlands around Charleston. Rice
The crops grown on plantations and the slavery system changed significantly between 1800-1860. In the early 1800s, plantation owners grew a variety of crops – cotton, sugar, rice, tobacco, hemp, and wheat. Cotton had the potential to be profitable, but there was wasn’t much area where cotton could be grown. However, the invention of the cotton gin changed this - the cotton gin was a machine that made it much easier to separate the seeds from cotton. Plantation owners could now grow lots of cotton; this would make them a lot of money. As a result, slavery became more important because the demand for cotton was high worldwide. By 1860, cotton was the main export of the south. The invention of the cotton gin and high demand for cotton changed
The antebellum era (also referred to as the plantation era) between 1800’s to 1860 was a period of slave driven farming, marking the economic growth of the south. During this period in 1815, cotton was the most valuable traded produce in the United States and by 1840, it was more valuable compared to all other imported and exported goods combined. In 1860, one year before the Civil War, the South was predominantly reliant on the sale of agricultural products, such as tobacco, rice, sugar, and cotton estimated at 5,344,000 bales, to a worldwide market. while the southern states generated two-thirds of the world's cotton supply, the South had little industrial capability (manufactured good estimated to the value of$156,000,000), consisting of an estimated 29 percent of the railroad tracks or 14484.1km, and only 13 percent of the nation's banks. The South attempted slave labour in manufacturing, but were mainly content with their agricultural economy. Their delay in industrial expansion was not the result of any integral economic disadvantages, there was a vast amount of wealth in the South, but it was mainly bound to slave labour. In 1860, the financial value of slaves in the United States surpassed the participated value of all of the land's railroads, factories, and banks combined. the day before the Civil War, the value of cotton was at its peak, the Confederate aristocrats were confident that the significance of cotton on the world market, especially in England and France,
The Effect pop culture has on having companionship (having friends vs being lonely) As teenagers currently, we are in the center of pop culture, sometimes caring more about what is popular versus what is right and what is comfortable. Pop culture is an evolving spectrum that can be moved from someone getting a pat on the back for dabbing after winning a wrestling match in march to now the next January and we say, “dude, did you really just dab, are you a middle schooler?” Pop Culture has shown that having friends is better than being alone in the long run. This is best illustrated by the movie Home Alone, the Legend trilogy by Marie Lu and the TV series Scorpion.
The South, on the other hand, was highly dependent upon the institution of slavery. It was still primarily an agricultural society that needed as many laborers as possible in order for the plantation owners to make ends meet. According to historian Douglas Harper, “In 1793 came the cotton gin, which brought a 50-fold increase in the average daily output of short-staple cotton, promoted the rapid expansion of a ‘cotton kingdom’ across the Deep South, and made large-scale slavery profitable.” Because of this, the slave became an essential tool to the farmers of the south; more money became invested in slavery rather than in industrial improvements. Based upon the 1860 U.S. Census, there were almost a whopping total of four million slaves in the South alone. In fact, the more slaves an owner had, the more prestige. “Most slave owners owned fewer than five slaves, and only 12 percent of Southerners had twenty or more slaves. Many whites who had no slaves looked with envy upon the wealthy, and to a degree admired them.” This hierarchy had a clearly defined social structure which created distinctions between rich and poor whites as well as racial segregation. This agricultural society and its strict hierarchy only increased the social and racial disparities found in the southern region of the United States.
Both areas had many farmers, but the south was successful with big plantations. The southern economy depended on agriculture while the North was based on technological advancement. The North successful developed many industries, while the south improved their farming methods (Roark, 7). The south farmers established huge plantations for cash crop production especially cotton. In addition, slavery became an important factor that provided
It feels like every day, countless news stations, websites, and social media users break the tragic story of yet another mass shooting in the US, a fact that is shared by almost no other developed countries. Clearly there is something anomalous about the U.S., why else would the U.S. be the only country where this regularly happens? The answer lies in one key difference between the United States and other developed countries, its policies on gun control and ownership. The 2nd amendment to the United States Constitution states, essentially, that every US citizen has the right to own guns, and that the United States Government may not infringe upon those rights. The truth of the matter is that controlling American Citizen’s access to firearms is the only solution to the undeniable issue of mass shootings and gun related homicides, a fact that is backed up by the example of several other developed countries, in which guns are controlled and incidents of gun homicide and mass murder are far less common than they are in America. Controlling guns in America is a task that has been halted numerous times by the antiquated constitutional stance on American armament, and is the only sensible option for lessening the atrocious tragedies that are seen so often on U.S. soil.
With the economic system, the south had a very hard time producing their main source “cotton and tobacco”. “Cotton became commercially significant in the 1790’s after the invention of a new cotton gin by Eli Whitney. (PG 314)” Let
Everywhere you look, all around the world, there are corporations, businesses, and companies. You can hear about them through all different types of advertisements and news outlets. It seems as if we are always helping companies by supporting them. We buy their products and promote their business. One question a lot of people wonder are “How are companies giving back”? These businesses do this in many ways. This is called Social Responsibility (Schiffman & Kanuk, 2010). This is the corporation’s obligation to give back to the society in a positive way (Schiffman & Kanuk, 2010).