Agriculture in Antebellum SCStandard 8-4.1 Explain the importance of agriculture in antebellum South Carolina, including the plantation system and the impact of the cotton gin on all social classes.

Quick ReviewDuring Colonial times, agriculture was the basis for society in SC

Headright System + slave labor = large SC plantations

By 1860, SC had the highest percentage of slave holders in the nation… why?

NOTE: Most SC families lived on sustenance farms and owned NO slaves

Those who did save up

enough for 1 or 2 slaves work along

side them in their own

fields

The Cotton BoomEli Whitney- Cotton

GinPlanted lots of cotton

Need to increase profits

Dependency on slave

labor to make it all work

The use of slavery in both the Upcountry and Lowcountry

eased the tensions between the two areas…… as well as the

Constitutional Amendment that gave one vote where one lived

to “every free white man of 21”

The Cotton Boom Cont…SC political rights changedInternational slave trade

ended in 1808SC slave population

continued to growOver growth of cotton

stripped the landLittle focus on finding a

new cash cropNeed for new land led to

southern arguments over western expansion

Planter Life of the Elite

Planter Life in Antebellum South (4:43)

Plantation Life for Slaves

Was self-sustaining & depended on the institution on slavery

Slave Duties/Jobs (men, women, children)

Provided minimum food, clothing, & Shelter

Slave marriages were not recognized

Slave families often split upAgainst the law to teach slaves how

to read or write

Plantation Life for SlavesLived in small cabins with dirt floorsOverseen by the Masters under a

watchful eyeSlaves who went of the plantation

has to carry a passRun-aways were harshly beatenSlave protests happened by way of

slow down of work, destruction of owner property, and faking sickness

Converted to Christianity

Class SystemPlanter elite had wealth, prosperity, &

political pull due to slave laborMaster & Mistress had the hard job of

making the plantation run smoothly to be profitable

Overseers were hired to help with the business (but the master oversaw the slave population)

Mistress oversaw the running of the house & cared of the sick slaves

Leading to Sectionalism Such actions led

southern to justify slavery as a “positive good” & claim that southern slaves were better cared for than factory workers in the north.

These arguments led to the growing sectionalism that divided the nation