Cotton Becomes King

1793-1860. Learn how Cotton Becomes King due to the introduction of the cotton gin. This new invention also created opportunities for the expansion of slavery and the move towards westward expansion. The tensions that arise during this time period eventually lead to Civil War.
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The Planter at the Gate, Part 2
Episode 2

Video

Thomas Lamar farms cotton on the family land granted by the King of England. Thomas’ brother, Charles, makes a bold move to reopen the African slave trade in defiance of a federal ban. Talk of...
The Rise Of Cotton In SC | Walter Edgar's Journal
Episode 5

Audio

With the invention of the “Cotton Gin” by Eli Whitney, combined with methods we would today call “scientific plant breeding,” the cotton industry boomed in South Carolina, in the early 19th century...
Supply And Demand For Cotton | Walter Edgar's Journal
Episode 6

Audio

With the success of cotton in South Carolina, entrepreneurs in other states looked to cash in on the success of cotton plantations. When the cotton economy and market-shares begin to decline in S.C...
Cotton | Historic Brattonsville
Cotton | Historic Brattonsville

Photo

Cotton was a very important cash crop for families like the Brattons, who not only raised grain crops like wheat, oats and corn, but also raised cotton, which gave them the economic capital to...
Cotton Gin | Historic Brattonsville
Cotton Gin | Historic Brattonsville

Photo

A cotton gin was used to clean the cotton, removing the seeds and stems Did you know that the word "gin," as in cotton gin, was an abbreviation for the word "engine"?