Eli Whitney's Abolitionist Movement

The rise of cotton in the late 18th century was an important time for the economy. The production of cotton was concentrated primarily in the Southern part of the United States due to the climate and growing conditions. The agricultural South was completely dependent on the production of cotton. As the late 18th century cash crops such as rice, indigo, and tobacco became less beneficial. Eli Whitney, a graduate from Yale University, and looking to pay off college debt invented a machine that changed history. The cotton gin is known as the “cotton gin.” This machine led the way to an economic uproar. Plantation owners saw Whitney’s invention as a way to make money fast. Cotton became exceptionally profitable and was a major success in the Antebellum

South. By 1860 the southern states produced two-thirds of the worlds source of cotton. It became the chief leading export in the Unites States. As plantations grew larger, the need for slave labor dramatically increased. The high demand for cotton not only caused a high demand for slaves but also for land. The cotton was hard on the soil, there fore expansion into unfamiliar lands was crucial for the South’s development. Greater expansion meant more slaves and more territory, which didn’t sit well with the North and eventually led to conflict between the North and South.

As a boy Eli Whitney was a skillful in mechanical work and convinced his father to work rather than focus on his education. He repaired violins in the neighborhood and worked in his fathers’ local shop. By eighteen his idea for college and education took a positive turn. He entered Yale University at twenty-three years old. After he graduated Whitney decided to head south to accept a job as a tutor. There in Savannah, Whitney learned of the awful state of agriculture in the South. Most areas were not suitable for growing rice or long-staple cotton. However they produced large crops of green seed cotton. This particular crop was unprofitable because the process of separating the cotton from its’ seed by hand was a long and dreadful process. Whitney then thought of the idea of the “cotton gin.” Whitney wrote his father, “One man and a horse will do more than fifty men with old machine…Tis generally said by those who know anything about it, that I shall make a fortune by it.” He knew that this machine had the ability to relieve the cotton industry of its old tired ways and make him a rich man.

Whitney’s invention caused a high demand for slaves in the South. While the gin paved the way toward an economic boom it led to an increase for slave labor. Cotton production doubled each decade after 1800. Mean while the Industrial Revolution introduced the textile industry, causing most of its exportation to England and the North. Cotton was the reason for the growth of textile manufacturing, which was an important piece to the emergence of the Industrial Revolution and caused slavery to be a fundamental component to this advancement.

The growth of the slave populations and the pursuit of more land for cotton expanded slavery to other states toward the Southwest such as Mississippi, Louisiana, and Georgia. Farmers became intrigued to the productivity of cotton that led to the purchasing of more land toward the western territories. Urgency for slaves was acquired. The failing tobacco planters sold their slaves to the southwest in trade for hard cash. Plantation life was extremely harsh. Slaves worked long hours, they typically started at sunrise and worked until sunset. Many slaveholders did not supply sufficient clothing, fed their slaves only the bare minimum, and provided a poor living conditions. Children were born into slavery. Amanda McDaniel an ex-slave recalled working even as a child, “Our folks had to get up at four o’clock every morning and feed the stock first. By the time it was light enough to see they had to be in the fields where they hoed the cotton and corn as well as other crops. Between ten and eleven o’clock everybody left the field and went to the house where they worked until it was too dark to see. My first job was to take breakfast to those working in the fields. I used buckets for this. Besides this I had to drive the cows to and from the pasture. The rest of the day was spent in taking care of Mrs. Hales’ young children. After a few years of this I was sent to the fields where I planted peas, corn, etc. I also had to pick cotton when that time came…” As one can see even children were not exempt from these long hours of work. Slaves also had to ask their owners for their permission to marry, however there was no legal protection. The slave owners were more than able to break marriages or families apart. Because there were larger plantations in the Lower South compared to the smaller farms of the North, it was common for slaves in the state to be sold to slave traders who took them South. Families were constantly split up, and became impossible to trace or contact loved ones.
In 1789 the Constitution was ratified and promised an end to foreign slave trade but still left the question of slavery to the individual states. By 1807 the United States prohibited the importation of slaves, but the widespread smuggling continued until 1862. Slavery was still disregarded in the eleven Southern States used for cotton plantations. The Southerners were determined to defend their way of life.
The antislavery sentiment was on the rise and the abolition movement was in progress.

The leading starting point to the abolitionist movement was the American Anti-Slavery Society, founded in 1833. The goal was to cause immediate abolition of slavery in the United States. The leader and spokesperson was radical William Lloyd Garrison, one of the most important abolitionists in 19th century America. Garrisons’ first act of abolitionist awareness was the publishing of a newspaper called The Liberator. This paper outraged the South, many fearing that he was trying to encourage a slave revolt. Due to his radical views and powerful use of words toward antislavery, he became a wanted man in many slave states. His radical views and strong disapproval of the US Constitution caused a divide from many abolitionists and a split form the movement. His radical actions and views set a separation between he and Frederick Douglass, an abolitionist and ex-slave. Their views of the Constitution were opposite. Garrison viewed the Constitution as pro slavery, while Douglass viewed it as the “most important tool in ending the institution of slavery.” In 1862 President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which freed slaves exclusively in the areas of the rebellion. Although it did not end slavery permanently, it was a step in the right

direction.
Slavery displayed prominence in the late 18th to the 19th century. The rise of cotton and the technological advancements in essence, was the culprit for the abject de-humanization of the African slaves. The North and South were complete and utter opposites. While the North was focused on industrialization and their labor percentage dropped, the South’s’ percentage drastically increased due to the agriculture of one single crop. Unfortunately after so many years of the struggle for racial equality, many of the attitudes and mindsets still exist in our world today.