Africans from Congo region influence black culture for decades

Natural increase produces surplus of slaves in Old South

Domestic slave trade expands, disrupting black family life

Louisiana becomes a state, and its sugar output increases

Mississippi becomes a state; Alabama follows (1819)

Free black population increases in North and South

Entrepreneurial planters in Cotton South turn to gang labor

Southern Methodists and Baptists become socially conservative

African Americans increasingly adopt Christian beliefs

Gentry in Old South adopt paternalistic ideology and argue that slavery is a “positive good”

Boom in cotton production

Percentage of slave-owning white families falls

Yeomen farm families retreat to hill country

Lawyers become influential in southern politics

Southern Whigs advocate economic diversification

Gradual emancipation completed in North

Cotton prices and production increase

Slave prices rise

Southern states subsidize railroads, but industry remains limited