The Road to Secession Kristi Fleming Murchison Middle

The Road to Secession Kristi Fleming Murchison Middle School 2007 -2008

Cotton was first grown in Texas by Spanish missionaries. A report of the missions at San Antonio in 1745 indicates that several thousand pounds of cotton were produced annually, then spun and woven by mission craftsmen. Cotton cultivation was begun in Texas by Anglo-American colonists in 1821. In 1849 a census of the cotton production of the state reported 58, 073 bales (500 pounds each). In 1852 Texas was in eighth place among the top ten cottonproducing states of the nation. The 1859 census credited Texas with a yield of 431, 645 bales. This sharp rise in production in the late 1850 s and early 1860 s was due at least in part to the removal of Indians, which opened up new areas for cotton production. The Civil Warqv caused a decrease in production, but by 1869 the cotton crop was reported as 350, 628 bales.

Cotton Production in TX, 1860 Purple – 5, 000 or more Blue – 1, 000 -4, 999 lbs. Red – 100 -900 lbs. Yellow – 0 -99 lbs. Slave Populations in TX, 1860 Purple – 35% or higher Blue – 34%-20% Red – 10%-19. 9% Yellow – less than 10%

Picking Cotton. Here the artist shows two men and one woman picking cotton. Loading and Weighing Cotton. Workers here bring their cotton to be weighed before dumping their load into the wagon. Cotton Ready to be Ginned. This painting shows wagons loaded with freshly picked cotton on the way to the gin house.

Wagon loads of cotton downtown Moody, Texas photo compliments of Eva Jo Jones Butler

Now that Texas was full of immigrants from the Southern United States…it’s time to learn about the differences facing the two sides…. The year is 1860… The lives of people living the North… were very different than that of people living in the South…

LIFE IN THE NORTH • • Industrial economy Growth of cities Railroads increased commerce Yankee clippers increased foreign trade New machines helped produce more goods Wave of immigrants supplied labor Larger Population

LIFE IN THE NORTH Industrial Economy

Growth of Cities According to the map, where are the cities with a population of more than 250, 000 located? The cities with 50, 000 -250, 000?

Railroads and Increased Commerce

Yankee Clippers Increased Foreign Trade

New machines helped produce more goods Bates Mill workers in the late 19 th century in Maine. The cotton fiber is sent through "combers" and other machinery that gradually reduces it in size until the desired thread thickness is reached. Photography courtesy of the Lewiston Public Library.

Wave of immigrants supplied labor

LIFE IN THE SOUTH • Agricultural economy • Few large cities • Limited industry & transportation • “Cottonocracy” & King Cotton • Invention of the cotton gin increased planters’ profits • African Americans enslaved • Plantation System • Smaller Population

Agricultural Economy

Few large cities

Limited industry & transportation

“Cottonocracy” & King Cotton 1836 -1840 $321 million 1856 -1860 $744. 6 million 43% of total U. S. exports 54% of total U. S. exports Cotton Diplomacy In The Civil War Almost unanimously, Southerners believed they could use cotton to lure England France into recognizing the Confederacy. Since the administration of Jefferson Davis wanted to avoid any appearance of international "blackmail, " the Confederate Congress never formally approved an embargo, but state governments and private citizens voluntarily withheld the crop from the market in hopes of causing a "cotton famine" overseas. Theoretically, widespread shortages would shut down European mills, forcing governments to recognize and perhaps come to the military aid of the Confederacy, or to declare the Union blockade ineffective and disregard or break it in order to reopen Southern ports. The "King Cotton" mentality was seriously flawed, not the least in overestimating the value of "white gold. " First, a bumper crop in 1860 had glutted the marketplace, lowering prices and allowing mill owners to stockpile. Cotton prices did rise sharply late in 1861, but workers, not owners, suffered from the effects of unemployment. Producers, drawing from their reserves, did not feel the pinch until late in 1862, and within a year imports from India, Egypt, and Brazil sufficiently replaced Southern cotton. Second, Davis, never an astute diplomat, failed to recognize how much Europe feared the possibility of war with the U. S. Private European citizens and industrialists invested in speculative ventures tenuously backed by Southern cotton securities, but their governments would not antagonize the North by recognizing the Confederacy for the sake of guaranteeing those investments or increasing supplies of the staple. Further, Southern society tied cotton inseparably to slavery, and England, the example Napoleon Ill would follow, led the abolitionist movement in the world community. Europe's wait-and-see attitude hardened into unassailable neutrality after the Southern armies suffered reverses beginning at Gettysburg, and Davis and his supporters realized the cotton strategy had failed as a diplomatic tool. They had unwisely hoarded their one great asset and undermined their best chance of financing the war.

Invention of the Cotton Gin Increased Planter’s Profits Before cotton can be spun into yarn or thread and woven into cloth, the fibers must be separated from their seeds. In 1793 Eli Whitney had invented the cotton gin, a shortened term for "cotton engine. " Whitney's patented machine featured a wooden cylinder with iron teeth or spikes, a grooved breastwork of brass or iron through which the spikes could pass but the seeds could not, and a brush cylinder behind the breastwork to clear cotton fibers from the spikes. Ginned seed cotton, or lint, was carried in baskets or allowed to fall into a lint room for storage. The lint was then packed by foot or wooden pestle into a sack and taken to market. H. Ogden Holmes, a South Carolina mechanic, received a patent in 1796 for improvements to the cotton gin that included saw disks passing between flat metal ribs and continuous emptying of the roll box, ginning principles in use today. The cotton gin enabled a worker who had formerly cleaned five pounds of cotton a day by hand to "gin" fifty pounds of cotton a day. The success of the cotton gin led to increased production of short-staple cotton throughout the South.

This diagram shows how the cotton gin worked. Hooks on the cylinder removed the seeds from the cotton. ØDid the cotton go through the brushes before or after the seeds were removed?

African Americans enslaved

Plantation System

Draw a Venn Diagram in your notebook and do the following: Life in the North Life in the South In Common?

Capital Resources: Resources made and used to produce and distribute goods and services; examples include tools, machinery and buildings. Human Capital: The health, education, experience, training, skills and values of people. It is also known as human resources. Natural Resources: "Gifts of nature" that can be used to produce goods and services; for example, oceans, air, mineral deposits, virgin forests and actual fields of land. When investments are made to improve fields of land or other natural resources, those resources become, in part, capital resources. Also known as land.

Do a Summary Page with Major Causes • States’ Rights (the Umbrella) • Tarrifs • Labor

Q 1: Would population be considered capital, human, or natural resources? Q 2: Would railroad mileage be considered capital, human, or natural resources? Q 3: Would manufacturing plants be considered capital, human, or natural resources? Q 4: Would industrial workers be considered capital, human, or natural resources? Q 5: Would farm acreage be considered capital, human, or natural resources? Q 6: Who had more resources in every category?

Advantages of the Union Advantages of the Confederacy -Banking, Factories and ships. -More railroads to move supplies, men and equipment. -Larger Navy. -Experienced government. -Larger population; 22 million to 9 million. • Trading Relationships with Europe. • Best Military officers (Robert E. Lee) • Long coastline made blockade difficult. -They were convinced they were right. They were fighting for their lives and on their own soil. -British and French leaders sympathized with them due to economic reasons. Union Disadvantages Confederate Disadvantages • They were not as "into it. " • Northerners were not in complete agreement over the abolition of slavery. • Lost most of their good military officers to the South. -Their smaller Navy left them at a disadvantage due to the Union blockade. -Their long coastline, while a benefit in sneaking in supplies was also a detriment in trying to defend it. Southern slaves, a large part of the population, were clearly no help. -Little industry and factory production. "My paramount objective in this struggle is to save the union, and it is not either to save or destroy slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any slave, I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves, I would do it; if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone, I would also do that. " This quote by Abraham Lincoln from his letter to Horace Greeley shows Lincoln's true position. He was clearly committed to the preservation of the Union. In fact it shows this is even more clear when one considers his personal disgust with the institution of slavery. He was clearly willing to sacrifice his personal goals in favor of the preservation of the Union. In fact the abolition of slavery didn't even become a war goal until after the battle of Gettysburg when Lincoln knew he had the war won. Lincoln's strength and willingness to fight on in the end led him to success and that commitment is what makes him perhaps the greatest President of all time. The Civil War, or the "War between the states, " was fought on both moral and economic grounds. It was certain advantages, however, inherent in the North, that inevitably told the tale of victory. Clearly the North had a distinct advantage in its ability to produce soldiers and supplies. The the South counted on the North not having the stomach to stay in the war. They counted on the Union eventually giving up and allowing them to secede. What they failed to take into account was the resolve of Lincoln. It is said the longer the war went on, the better the North's' chances of winning. Clearly this was true and as the war grew longer and longer the South was eventually doomed. http: //www. socialstudieshelp. com/Lesson_35_Notes. htm