Economics/Demographics of Slavery Flashcards
What were the major destinations of slaves from Africa (roughly how many, where)?
Caribbean- 4 mil, Brazil- 3.6mil, Spanish South America- 545,000, US- 480,000, Mexico- 200,000
In early America, why were there fewer slaves in the North than in the South?
- economics (agriculture more in south)
- Puritan (in North) believed slavery was a sin
What were financial incentives for slavery in the South (products, share of global market)
tobacco (late 1600’s-1700’s) and cotton which became 60% of the US’s exports (south was 88% of the world’s supply)
What was the cotton gin and how did it transform slavery?
a machine that cleans cotton more efficiently, 1793 new incentive,
Where was population growing fastest? Why (immigration)?
20% faster in free states. cheap labor available without slavery
Distribution of African American population in free and slave states:
1860: free states: 20 million
slave states: 11 million- 7 white: 4 slaves
What was true of the increase in manufacturing and railroads?
south has 44% of nations railroad mileage in 1840 then grows 400% in 1850’s but north grows faster
Slave states had 18% of US’s capacity
What was true of urbanization between 1820-60?
north has more populated towns and grows more
Social characteristics of South and North (according to McPherson)
South: emphasis on tradition, rural life, hierarchal social structure
North: impersonal, bureaucratic, meritocratic, urbanizing, commercial, industrial
Attitudes toward and comparative statistics on education in south:
½ the amount of white children went to school than the north, 1860’s: 3x more illiterate adults than North
