Social Sciences and History / Unit 1 SSH 0033 short lesson, about 20 seconds
Cotton, the Domestic Slave Trade, and the South's Defenses
Captions available
The idea
Whitney's gin of seventeen ninety-four made cotton profitable; the South grew most of the world's supply. After the international slave trade was outlawed in eighteen oh eight, the domestic trade exploded, separating families.
In practice
A small elite owning most enslaved people; most White southerners none.
Where people slip
Defenses included Calhoun's concurrent majority, paternalism and polygenism, named here as the record of an argument.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
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