Americas Dependency on Slavery

This is the cotton gin
invented by Eli Whitney.

     Before the industrial revolution, people would make cotton into cloth using the spinning jenny, which is a fairly small device. But then Eli Whitney created the cotton gin in 1792, which was much bigger and more efficient than the spinning Jenny. In 1619 the first slaves were brought to America, but once cotton became a crop that textiles and mills became dependent on, the demand for slaves increased dramatically. In 1790 cotton accounted for 7% of the nations total export revenue , the value of this was about 5 million dollars. By 1850, a billion pounds of cotton were being grown; it generated about 72 million dollars and accounted for 49% of the nations total export revenue. Southern plantation owners felt economically powerful and confident because as much as the government wanted to shut the plantations down, they could not afford to alienate them. At this point in time, the United States relied on the system of slavery to keep their country running.

    It didn't matter how high up one was in the African empires, once one was captured as a slave, everyone in the slave community became equal. Abdul Rahman was a prince in Futa Jalon; while he was returning from war, he was ambushed and captured by american slave traders. Then him and hundreds of other Futa Jalon people had to take a month long trip by boat to get to america. Once they arrived they weren't people anymore, they became property. Each were sold for a couple hundred dollars. Abdul was sold to a man named Tomas Foster, who owned a fairly small plantation. Foster forced Rahman to cut his long hair. This was not an easy process because Rahman felt like he was getting his individuality taken away from him; Foster ended up chaining him to a tree. He tried everything he could to inform to his master that he was a prince, but instead of believing him he just mocked him with the name. Rahman had many talents including to the ability to be a leader and knowing how to speak many languages, but because of the color of his skin, he became just another slave. It was almost ironic how america claimed to be free and independent while a big portion of their country was enslaved. An escaped slave named Fredrick Douglas said " What, to the american slave, is your fourth of July? I answer, a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim." This crushed the human dignity of the slaves because they would watch everyone celebrate their freedom, while they were still enslaved.

This picture shows two girls being sold at an auction, hoping not to
get separated from one another. At these auctions it was not uncommon
to split up families

This system of slavery ignored many characteristics of people; the usual slave was African american.  They ignored the fact that their work was extremely exhausting, working hard under the hot sun for more than ten hours a day. Even slaves that were very young, or extremely old had to work the same as everyone else. Even worse, pregnant and sick slaves had to work too. Most plantation owners did not care much for their slaves, they mostly were concerned with the amount of money they were making from the cotton being produced. With a system like this, it ignored the key qualities that could be used for more useful jobs, but instead they were forced into physical labor no matter what condition their body was in.

sources:
http://www.edline.net/files/_AeGiT_/4cda73dd16e7466c3745a49013852ec4/Unit_4_Activity_4_Cotton_Gin_Reading.pdf
http://princeamongslaves.org/module/?module_id=4d7132378ead0e0e3d310100&page=2