Adam Rothman's Slave Country

Midterm Section #1
The expansion of the United States within the Southwest is detailed through Adam Rothman’s novel, Slave Country. He states how the United States expanded initially through the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, as well as the push for a more Jeffersonian agricultural based society would make the Deep South grow. The lower half of modern Louisiana contained the port city of New Orleans which was a heavily marketable city for both staple crops and slave trade. The other means was through establishing American military dominance after the War of 1812. Overall, the expansion of slavery through the ceded land made by Georgia to the national government, as well as the Southwest Ordinance of 1790, the geographical locations of the

states of Alabama and Mississippi were made into slave states.
The Louisiana Purchase of 1803 nearly doubled the size of the United States, the Southwest territories was seen as one for economic prosperity.

The Southwest was an area of opportunity for commerce in the expansion of the United States, mostly due to the rising demand of cotton and sugar that was fertile in the area and the . The demand for indigo and tobacco was slowly declining as resources were being depleted. The newly claimed territories needed to be “civilized” by Jeffersonian means, Rothman stated, “It demanded the transformation of the western ‘wilderness’ into a commercially oriented agricultural society, which involved a broad policy to convert the western lands into saleable property and encourage widespread landownership.” (Rothman p. 38) The U.S. government got further involved with populating the Deep South with the Land Ordinance of 1785, “The national government established several commissions to confirm the validity of extant titles and to protect against fraudulent engrossment of land.” (Rothman p. 40) Jeffersonians firmly believed that the development of citizen militias with the growing population would develop stronger boarders while inciting patriotism amongst the people. Over time the foreign demand for cotton grew, “Planters in the Deep South had the satisfaction of seeing the value of their foreign exports—mostly cotton—more than double between 1804 and 1807, from about $1.7 million to more than $4.3 million.” (Rothman p. 47) This was a strong staple crop for a sense of capitalism through the textile industry in Great Britain and Northeast United States. In addition, the domestic demand for slaves went up as well increasing the population of the Deep South and further showing the impact of the 3/5th Compromise, “The rising cotton economy generated a brisk demand for slaves among the farmers of the Deep South…. The slave population of the Mississippi Territory in the first decade of the nineteenth century, from 3,499 slaves in 1801

to 16,703 in 1810” (Rothman p.50-51) The Creek Civil War during the War of 1812 proved to be another opportunity for American expansion into the Southwest. After fierce fighting against Red Sticks, Andrew Jackson managed to secure a treaty of peace that helped gain the United States territory, “The treaty delivered more than twenty-three million acres of Creek land to the United States, including most of what is today southwest Georgia and central Alabama.” (Rothman p. 138) With the British closing in on the coast, General Andrew Jackson rallied slaves and citizens to defend New Orleans. Through the obstacles of integrated ranks and the fear of desertion and slave revolts, Andrew Jackson managed to defend New Orleans and beat back the British, thus showing the British and the world that the United States is a force to be reckoned with, “The Battle of New Orleans ultimately reinforced the Americans’ providential view of their country’s destiny.” (Rothman p. 160)
In conclusion, the United States expansion into the Southwest and the Deep South took place through means of economic expansion through the production of cotton and sugar with the rapid demand for slaves and the means of military might through the Creek War and the War of 1812. The Creek War gathered territory through a punitive peace and through the War of 1812 it gathered international recognition that the borders of the United States was protected from both a powerful nation and massive indigenous population.