Chapter 1: The Americas, Europe, and Africa Before 1492
Chapter 2: Early Globalization: The Atlantic World, 1492–1650
Chapter 2: Early Globalization: The Atlantic World, 1492–1650
Chapter 2: Early Globalization: The Atlantic World, 1492–1650
Chapter 3: Creating New Social Orders: Colonial Societies, 1500–1700
Chapter 3: Creating New Social Orders: Colonial Societies, 1500–1700
Chapter 4: Rule Britannia! The English Empire, 1660–1763
Chapter 4: Rule Britannia! The English Empire, 1660–1763
Chapter 5: Imperial Reforms and Colonial Protests, 1763-1774
Chapter 6: America’s War for Independence, 1775-1783
Chapter 6: America’s War for Independence, 1775-1783
Chapter 6: America’s War for Independence, 1775-1783
Chapter 7: Creating Republican Governments, 1776–1790
Chapter 7: Creating Republican Governments, 1776–1790
Chapter 8: Growing Pains: The New Republic, 1790–1820
Chapter 9: Industrial Transformation in the North, 1800–1850
Chapter 9: Industrial Transformation in the North, 1800–1850
Chapter 9: Industrial Transformation in the North, 1800–1850
Chapter 10: Jacksonian Democracy, 1820–1840
Chapter 10: Jacksonian Democracy, 1820–1840
Chapter 11: A Nation on the Move: Westward Expansion, 1800–1860
Chapter 11: A Nation on the Move: Westward Expansion, 1800–1860
Chapter 12: Cotton is King: The Antebellum South, 1800–1860
Chapter 13: Antebellum Idealism and Reform Impulses, 1820–1860
Chapter 13: Antebellum Idealism and Reform Impulses, 1820–1860
Chapter 14: Troubled Times: the Tumultuous 1850s
Chapter 14: Troubled Times: the Tumultuous 1850s
Chapter 15: The Civil War, 1860–1865
Chapter 15: The Civil War, 1860–1865
Chapter 16: The Era of Reconstruction,1865-1877
Chapter 17: Go West Young Man! Westward Expansion, 1840-1900
Chapter 17: Go West Young Man! Westward Expansion, 1840-1900
Chapter 18: Industrialization and the Rise of Big Business, 1870-1900
Chapter 19: The Growing Pains of Urbanization, 1870-1900
Chapter 19: The Growing Pains of Urbanization, 1870-1900
Chapter 20: Politics in the Gilded Age, 1870-1900
Chapter 20: Politics in the Gilded Age, 1870-1900
Chapter 21: Leading the Way: The Progressive Movement, 1890-1920
Chapter 21: Leading the Way: The Progressive Movement, 1890-1920
Chapter 21: Leading the Way: The Progressive Movement, 1890-1920
Chapter 22: Age of Empire: American Foreign Policy, 1890-1914
Chapter 22: Age of Empire: American Foreign Policy, 1890-1914
Chapter 22: Age of Empire: American Foreign Policy, 1890-1914
Chapter 22: Age of Empire: American Foreign Policy, 1890-1914
Chapter 22: Age of Empire: American Foreign Policy, 1890-1914
Chapter 23: Americans and the Great War, 1914-1919
Chapter 23: Americans and the Great War, 1914-1919
Chapter 24: The Jazz Age: Redefining the Nation, 1919-1929
Chapter 26: Franklin Roosevelt and the New Deal 1932-1941
Chapter 26: Franklin Roosevelt and the New Deal 1932-1941
Chapter 27: Fighting the Good Fight in World War II, 1941-1945
Chapter 28: Post-War Prosperity and Cold War Fears, 1945-1960
Chapter 28: Post-War Prosperity and Cold War Fears, 1945-1960
Chapter 28: Post-War Prosperity and Cold War Fears, 1945-1960
Chapter 28: Post-War Prosperity and Cold War Fears, 1945-1960
Chapter 28: Post-War Prosperity and Cold War Fears, 1945-1960
Chapter 28: Post-War Prosperity and Cold War Fears, 1945-1960
Chapter 29: Contesting Futures: America in the 1960s
Chapter 30: Political Storms at Home and Abroad, 1968-1980
Chapter 30: Political Storms at Home and Abroad, 1968-1980
Chapter 30: Political Storms at Home and Abroad, 1968-1980
Chapter 31: From Cold War to Culture Wars, 1980-2000
Chapter 31: From Cold War to Culture Wars, 1980-2000
Chapter 31: From Cold War to Culture Wars, 1980-2000
Chapter 31: From Cold War to Culture Wars, 1980-2000
Chapter 32: The Challenges of the Twenty-First Century
Chapter 32: The Challenges of the Twenty-First Century
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Chapter 12: Cotton is King: The Antebellum South, 1800–1860
Chapter 12: Cotton is King: The Antebellum South, 1800–1860
Introduction
Nine new slave states entered the Union between 1789 and 1860, rapidly expanding and transforming the South into a region of economic growth built on slave labor. In the image above (Figure 12.1), innumerable slaves load cargo onto a steamship in the Port of New Orleans, the commercial center of the antebellum South, while two well-dressed white men stand by talking. Commercial activity extends as far as the eye can see.
By the mid-nineteenth century, southern commercial centers like New Orleans had become home to the greatest concentration of wealth in the United States. While most white southerners did not own slaves, they aspired to join the ranks of elite slaveholders, who played a key role in the politics of both the South and the nation. Meanwhile, slavery shaped the culture and society of the South, which rested on a racial ideology of white supremacy and a vision of the United States as a white man’s republic. Slaves endured the traumas of slavery by creating their own culture and using the Christian message of redemption to find hope for a world of freedom without violence.