AP®︎ US History: Topic 4.13 Flashcards

Crops grown mainly for sale or export; Southern staples included tobacco, rice, sugar, and especially cotton

System of producing staple crops on large estates with enslaved labor that concentrated wealth and political power among planters

Long-staple cotton grew only in limited coastal areas, while short-staple cotton grew widely inland but required difficult seed removal

Machine that rapidly removed seeds from short-staple cotton, making its cultivation profitable across the interior South

Inventor who created the cotton gin in 1793, greatly increasing the profitability of short-staple cotton

Expression describing cotton’s economic dominance and Southerners’ belief that foreign and Northern dependence gave the South great influence

Broad region from Georgia through the Deep South into Arkansas and eastern Texas dominated by cotton plantations

Cotton Belt area named first for its dark, fertile soil and later for its large African American population

Loss of soil fertility from repeated tobacco or cotton cultivation, encouraging planters to seek fresh western lands

Forced sale and movement of enslaved people from the Upper South to expanding cotton plantations in the Deep South

Small, wealthy class generally owning twenty or more enslaved people that dominated Southern politics, courts, and commerce

Independent white farmers who owned and worked small farms and usually owned no enslaved people

Black Southerners who were not enslaved but faced increasing restrictions on movement, work, education, assembly, and legal rights

System claiming authority for elite white men over households, property, dependents, and enslaved laborers

Elite ideal emphasizing male reputation, independence, mastery, and public respect, sometimes defended through violence or dueling

Proslavery claim that enslavers were protective guardians caring for dependent enslaved people, concealing the system’s coercion and violence

By the 1830s, the argument that slavery was beneficial and superior to Northern wage labor rather than merely a necessary evil

Southern senator who prominently declared slavery “a positive good” in an 1837 Senate speech

Defense of slavery through paternalism, property and states’ rights, biblical claims, white supremacy, and attacks on Northern wage labor

Commercial agents who arranged plantation crops’ storage and shipment, extended credit, and purchased supplies for planters

Farming mainly to support the farmer’s household rather than to produce staples for distant markets, especially common in poorer upland areas