Embedded Files
Life on a Cotton Plantation:
Document 13: Growth of Cotton and Slavery Graph, 1800-1860
Document 13: Growth of Cotton and Slavery Graph, 1800-1860
This graph shows the correlation between the rise in cotton production and the rise in numbers of enslaved people, after the rapid spread of the cotton gin.
Vocabulary
Vocabulary
Cotton gin: A machine that removes cotton seeds from the white fluffy fibers of the plant. Eli Whitney is often credited with inventing the cotton gin, however the concept of a machine to remove seeds was already being tried by enslaved people in the cotton-growing regions of the American south. Whitney improved the machine by adopting a suggestion of his landlady, Catherine Greene, and patented it.
Text-Dependent Questions
Text-Dependent Questions
What story is this graph telling?
If fewer enslaved people were needed to produce each bale of cotton as time went on, why do the numbers of enslaved people continue to grow?
Discussion Questions
Discussion Questions
Make an argument as to how and why the rapid spread in the use of the cotton gin prolonged the institution of slavery. Refer to Document 8b for additional information.
CitationTsongas Industrial History Center
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