Author: EFFIE REAVES

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1780s

The tobacco industry was in deep trouble around the late 18^th century. Cotton was more profitable than tobacco, rice, and sugar. Many planters shifted from those previous mentioned cash crops to cotton this occurred especially in the Deep South. Cotton was a labored intensive and the need for slaves grew immensely. The profits from cotton mad many planter rich. (The slave economy (article ) Khan Academy

The rising demand for raw cotton first came from England in the 1780’s, market for cheaply produced cloth.  These British manufacturers wielded a technical monopoly over the textile industry and offered high price to cotton farmers who best meet their needs.

Most importantly after experimenting with various types of cotton grown around the globe, these industrialists came to prefer a particular type of variety of the genus Gossypium. This type of variety grew well in the Deep South. (The Land of Enterprise by Benjamin C. Waterhouse)

1794

Eli Whitney was awarded the patented for the cotton gin. The cotton gin was able to separate the seeds from the cotton fibers. This automation changed the faced cotton production. This was serendipity for the planters who were seeking more profit from cotton. The cotton gin cut down the processing time needed to bring cotton to market.  This allowed slave owners to redirect their bondage workers so that could spend more time in the fields. (Eli Whitney and the Cotton Gin written Bill of Rights Institute)

1808

Congress abolishes the African slave trade this prohibit the importation of slaves into any port or place within the jurisdiction of the United States. Congress abolishes the African Slave trade) Since the end of transatlantic slave trade in the year of 1808 this caused a rush for slave labor.  There was a shortage and this caused slave traders to rummage throughout the south to buy and sell slaves. (Slave Sales Encyclopedia Virginia)

1812

The War of 1812 was against Great Britain and this caused the cotton pipeline to the English textile mills to evaporate.  However, this allowed the textile factories in the United States to grow.  New York and many other port cities developed factories and began to receive cotton from the south. This was a bonus because when the war ended American markets were on the same footing as the international markets. After the War of 1812 a large growth in manufacturing produced a cotton boom by mid-century and the main crop of the southern economy. (US History-Cotton is King: the Antebellum 1800-1860)

1830s

The Indian Removal act permitted the federal government to remove Native American from their home reservation with the purpose of selling it to southern planters. Native American lost land in southern Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and northern Louisiana. The main reason for this relocation was so that southern planters could buy the land cheap and grow cotton. Cotton was king and the world could not get enough of it. (Americanyawp.com text/11-cotton revolution/) The need for slaves grew to plant, cultivate, harvest and assist in all production of cotton.

1860s

The Civil War started on April 12, 1861 when Confederate army attacked the Union base at Fort Sumner, South Carolina.  In 1861 Great Britain declared neutrality in the war between the states.  King Cotton diplomacy was initiated by the Confederate forces to make Great Britain support their cause. This would have worked but Great Britain had a surplus of cotton from previous years and was able to survive the south’s cotton boycott.  Great Britain encouraged Egypt, Brazil and India to grow more cotton. The cotton boycott was effect by raising the price of cotton from 10 cents a pound in 1860 but by 1864 it increased to 1.89 a pound. The Civil War ended on April 9, 1865 when General Robert E. Lee surrendered at Appomattox Court House in Virginia. (www.historynet.com/civil-war-facts / Mississippi History Now Cotton and the Civil War

 

A Look Back Down Memory Lane

This class has been an eye-opening experience because so many hidden gems in history have gotten little exposure; for example, the book Accounting for Slavery by Catlin Rosenthal exposed the precise records that enslavers kept to ensure profits. The business end of slavery was not as dramatic as the image of wealthy southern planters living the plush life while suffering enslaved people was more real and dangerous in many ways us because it took the human factor out of it.  So if you had to beat an enslaved person to get more production out of him so be it. It did not matter because they were to equivalent the same as livestock.

The article Wealth and Power in the Early let us know that the ideals of the American Revolutionary war were not always put into practice when it came to our own people. This looks at post-war America in1776 and its effort to form a government.  It highlights the glaring differences in policy-making between the rich and poor. For example, the only person that should be able to vote or hold office were the property owners.  This alone stinks of class supremacy. There were special deals on land and loans only for the rich. The typical person argued and protested against it.  One of the most noted was Shay’s rebellion, but it did not change anything.

The Entrepreneur and the Wage Earner this chapter was another class battle and, t pitted the manufacturing business against the working man. Manufacturing grew in the 1860s. The railroad, telegraph, and steamships are products of that growth. Of course, slavery in the south eliminated any labor issues in that region. However, a good bulk of manufacturing was happening in the north in textile mills and manufacturing factories.  The manufacturers were large companies that expanded nationwide. They exploited workers for profit. The wage-earners hated the low pay and long working hours. The morale was so intense that they compared themselves to southern enslaved people. This, in my opinion, was an exaggeration.

What amazed about the Great Depression was how great the roaring twenties were.  America felt invincible. , Having bottom drop out showed how ill-prepared the country was under this economic disaster. President Wilson’s hands-off policy did not solve the problem. It did not help quick enough to soothe the masses. When President Roosevelt got elected, he promised action, and the country got it in the form of the New Deal.  New Deal was extraordinary because the federal government went to work for the people.  Many New Deal programs remain today. Even as popular as it was, it had a lot of resistance. These feelings gave way to the conservative movement. These values are still etched in our political fabric. Roosevelt was so frustrated he considered stacking the Supreme Court. Even today the President has had that suggestion dropped at his feet.

In closing, slavery helped jump-start America back in 1619 and helped when cotton was king in the 1860s. When the south lost its mind to thinking that prosperity could be based on human bondage and seceded from the union, let us not forget that the south was not the only region that profited from slavery. Cotton from the south kept the textile mills humming in the North and Great Britain.  America has always had class issues. This course exposed a great deal of information glossed over in the history books. This is crucial when the conservative states claim that telling the truth will make children ashamed of their heritage. History is for learning about the past, so we don’t repeat the same mistakes. It enriches our knowledge of ourselves and gives directions for the future. Taking this History class has accomplished this goal.

The Reflation and Relief Chapter four is an overview of the New Deal. President Roosevelt’s signature program was the New Deal. It saved the banking industry, put people back to work, and lifted the country’s morale during the worst economic times. What is overlooked is President Roosevelt’s constant connection to the American people. His fireside chats were reassuring to the American people. He explained why it was necessary to implement specific programs—to reduce the fear and anxiety of the American people, who were not used to having big government intruding into their lives.
He explained why it was necessary to take the dollar off the gold standard. He tackled the unemployment issue by giving relief to the states in the Emergency Relief and Construction Act. The federal government would fund the states. The states then gave the money to people out of work. Roosevelt was concerned about the youth and created the Civilian Conversation Corps. It gave work in planting trees, building bridges, and other public works projects. It gave discipline and dignity to a forgotten sector of the population. He attacked the quality of life issues by creating programs that put money in people while at the same time developing the infrastructure of the country. These programs were not popular with conservatives and did not immediately cure the ills of the Great Depression. He uplifted the American spirit and hoped for the ordinary person.
Roosevelt used the width of his dominion to deal with the devaluing of the currency. Oddly, benefited the farmers. Since the Great Depression, farmers were one of the hardest hit. The price of their crops dropped so low that it was difficult to pay their bills. Many lost their farms and were homeless. The dollar’s value fell, which made the price of cotton and grain rise. This bump in price allowed farmers to meet their financial responsibilities.
Roosevelt was the polar opposite of President Hoover. Hoover believed that the hands-off approach was better with minimal government interference. It allowed big business to correct itself. This view did not help the morale of the helpless people living in poverty. When Roosevelt got elected, he understood that the government could not sit on the sidelines while people suffered. He also understood that emotional health was crucial as any government program. He used the radio on a regular and frequent basis to communicate. The American people heard from the man at the government’s top that everything would be all right.

 

Entrepreneur and Wage Earner

This chapter looked at two facets of the American economy in the 1860s. One part was manufacturing, and the other was labor.

In the 1860s, the country was changing with the building of railroads, telegraphs, and ocean-going steamships. It opened the way to manufacturing and mass production. In the 1860s, there were four major economic components: mining, agriculture, construction, and manufacturing. Mining was the most stable of the four components. Although mining was more reliable than manufacturing, manufacturing was dominated by the wealthy elite, leaving little room for the struggling entrepreneur.

“Furthermore, the entrepreneur’s market of the sixties was seldom local, but regional or national. They have even given adequate demand for his wares. The entrepreneur could not reach potential customers. He needed the intervention of transportation companies and jobbers who bought and moved wholesale lots of goods”. The up-and-coming entrepreneur did not stand a chance against the new manufacturing elite, their capital. “Their customer base was the established “old elite”  businessmen. They primarily engaged in commerce, shipping, finance, and real estate.”

This passage indicates that the rich are only getting richer. Most manufacturers were from old money—this old money financed many of the factories and manufacturing in cities like Chicago and Cleveland. The new elite wanted to be called capitalists, and they had labor disputes with whom they considered labor conflicts.

Wage Earner

The 1860s was a difficult time for labor relations and manufacturing. New York Times felt the need to investigate and survey why trade unions and strikes grew. So these labor conflicts were severe to the wage earners. This was the case of the big fish eating the smaller ones. The more prominent manufacturers took over the smaller companies. The relationship between business and labor was so low that it compared itself to slavery. “The only difference is that there is agriculture  in the field, landed proprietors were the masters and negroes were the slaves; while in the North manufacturers in the field, manufacturing capitalist threatens to become the masters and the white laborers who are to be the slaves.”

The 1860s was a time of flux. The country was changing from an agricultural economy to manufacturing. The gap was slowly closing. It was estimated that 3.7 Americans were agricultural wage earners located chiefly in the South. Industrial manual workers numbered just over 3.5 million employees.

Slavery was known as the free labor system, a polite way to say exploited.  This free labor system was no threat to paid labor in the North.   There was an idea that non-property owners were defined as waged slavery. This idea gained a symbol of widespread respect because it was believed that all wage earners should seek freedom. However, the manufacturers did not treat the workers with dignity, and low wage poor working conditions caused workers to strike.

Conclusion

The chapter entitled “Entrepreneur and Wage Earner ” describes America in 1860 by contrasting manufacturing development and the worker’s plight.  Manufacturing during this time was predominantly in Northern cities. Southern states remained agricultural-based. The South had the advantage of free labor. In the north, manufacturers treated their workers like slaves.  In conclusion, the wealthy received benefits that ordinary people could not get the tax breaks or funding to start companies.  These advantages were unfair and led to resentment by the commoner.

Accounting For Slavery (Masters and Management) by Caitlin Rosenthal is an in-depth look at a slave plantation in the West Indies. The plantation’s primary purpose was to grow, harvest and distribute sugar cane. What is amazing is the insight of the detailed records of all the slaves, livestock, equipment, and all employees. Tellingly, the records let you know how inferior the slaves were their records were labeled the same as the animals.  The author writes that the plantations considered slaves as capital and labor lost- as diminished inventory. This subtle statement shows the inhumanity of the institution of slavery.

The losses were large and enslaved people died at an alarming rate.  I found it insightful that death in slavery did not begin with the middle passage and end on the plantation. The author indicated that enslaved slaved people died at all stages of the Atlantic Labor supply.  (Page 12) In Africa, 10 percent died in capture. While in Africa 25 percent died in the march to the coast. Still more died in port towns awaiting to be sent to America, South America, and the Caribbean. Another 2 million slaves died on the journey to America and once there heavy labor, diseases, killed more.  This is ironic because the slave owners needed the slaves to live to make money but so many died in the process.

Another interesting point was the massive operation it took to harvest sugar cane. It involved so many moving parts that must be coordinated in an orderly process. (Page 16) The author stated Sugar production was time-sensitive, particularly between the cutting of the cane and the boiling of the juice. Coordinating these activities for maximum output required the mill to be near the cane fields.

The key to the running of the sugar cane fields was the chain of command. First, it started with the absentee owner, followed by the attorney, then the overseer, and a host of enslaved managers.  The whites were such a minority on these plantations and they used the enslaved managers to help control the masses. The author indicated the major method of controlling the slaves was violence.  It was to create fear so that the slaves would not revolt or run away. Even the use of such cruel tactics did not totally stop revolts.  There were flare-ups but never enough to rid themselves of the slave masters.  There were even pockets of resistance that the British government allowed them to exist as long as they fought against the other revolts.

In conclusion, I found this chapter was a matter fact look at slavery on the Caribbean island.  It is so different when compared to the type of slavery in America.  In America, there were little or few absentee owners and it seemed that the American form of slavery was harsher because the owner was present. As far as the administration and running of the plantation not much difference between the two. Accounting For Slavery (Masters and Management) by Caitlin Rosenthal was an interesting look into the cold business of slavery. She exposed all phases and even raised questions like why wasn’t there more slave revolts considering the white population. This shows the power of fear and how it can be used to control people.