Week 5 - Waning Slavery By the Constitutional Convention of...

Waning Slavery?
- By the Constitutional Convention of 1787, the year of the 3/5ths Compromise, slavery
was waning in popularity. There was a belief that it would eventually disappear as a
practice, especially since it was becoming unprofitable.
- THen Eli Whitney created the cotton gin in 1793. Suddenly, cotton became very easy to
harvest and there was a renewed “need” for slave labor.
- As Takaki points out, cotton, and therefore slavery, were responsible for the Market
Revolution in the United States. In practical terms, slavery positively affected the
economy of the entire nation.
- Market Revolution: Improvements in transportation, communication, and industry. Two
major effects: began the shift away from an agrarian economy to industrialization, and
began the shift toward a greater focus on capitalism than democracy.
The Indian Problem
- In order to continue the growth of the Cotton Kingdom and the U.S economy by proxy,
Native land was taken
- As Native people were removed, they were replaced by slaves and plantation owners.
- As the Market Revolution intensified, more laborers began to immigrate to the U.S,
mostly from Ireland.