USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -Historians often credit Eliza Lucas Pinckney (1722-1793) with the development of the successful indigo industry in the mid-1700s in South Carolina.

Detailed explanation-2: -Eliza’s father had inherited three tracts of land near Charleston, South Carolina. The land provided the Lucas family with items needed in Antigua, such as timber and food for their slaves. In 1738, the family moved to South Carolina to escape the tensions between England and Spain that were brewing in the Caribbean.

Detailed explanation-3: -Eliza’s grandfather, John Lucas, had acquired three tracts of land: Garden Hill on the Combahee River (1, 500 acres), another 3, 000 acres on the Waccamaw River, and Wappoo Plantation (600 acres) on Wappoo Creek-a tidal creek that connected the Ashley and Stono Rivers.

Detailed explanation-4: -Eliza was also known to George Washington. The two met at Hampton Plantation during his 1791 visit to South Carolina.

Detailed explanation-5: -Explanation: Before Eli Whitney’s invention of the cotton gin growing cotton was not profitable in most of the south including South Carolina. Only along the coast could the long stable form of cotton be grown. The cotton fibers could be profitably separated from the seeds from the long staple form of cotton.