Since the colonial days white southern settlers had dominated the economic gain in the United States with a concentration on farming and the dependence of slaves. There was such a demand for cotton that by the 1860’s Britain was importing more than eighty percent of its cotton supply from the southern states. The growing demand for cotton led to more enslaved labor. In the late 1850’s, cotton became so profitable that the Southern planters became arrogant. What they failed to realize was that without salved labor there would be no cotton to profit from. South Carolina’s James H Hammond stated in a famous speech that he gave to the senate in 1858, “You dare not make war on cotton. No power on earth dares make war upon it. Cotton is King”
…show more content…
The difference between a plantation and a farm, besides the size, was the use of enslaved labor under different supervision to mainly grow tobacco, sugarcane, rice, and cotton. There was a clear distinction between management and the laborers. The small farmer often worked side by side with the slaves doing the same work.
If a planter was defined by owning at least twenty slaves, then in 1860 only one out of every thirty white men in the Southern states was a planter. The census in 1860 listed eleven planters with at least five hundred slaves and one with over a thousand slaves. These planters made up less than four percent of white men in the South and they owned more than half the slave population. White people in the South made up roughly one fourth of the population. The rest were enslaved blacks.
The plantation mistress was an extremely busy woman. She was rarely idle and had little time for leisurely activities. On a daily basis, she supervised the household staff. She oversaw the supply and preparation of food and linens, housework such as cleaning, caring for the sick, and lots of other details. Most of the wives, except for the wealthiest planters, supervised the household and managed the domestic
The difference between a plantation and a farm, besides the size, was the use of enslaved labor under different supervision to mainly grow tobacco, sugarcane, rice, and cotton. There was a clear distinction between management and the laborers. The small farmer often worked side by side with the slaves doing the same work.
If a planter was defined by owning at least twenty slaves, then in 1860 only one out of every thirty white men in the Southern states was a planter. The census in 1860 listed eleven planters with at least five hundred slaves and one with over a thousand slaves. These planters made up less than four percent of white men in the South and they owned more than half the slave population. White people in the South made up roughly one fourth of the population. The rest were enslaved blacks.
The plantation mistress was an extremely busy woman. She was rarely idle and had little time for leisurely activities. On a daily basis, she supervised the household staff. She oversaw the supply and preparation of food and linens, housework such as cleaning, caring for the sick, and lots of other details. Most of the wives, except for the wealthiest planters, supervised the household and managed the domestic