The History of American Cotton
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How the Production of Cotton Fueled the Slave Trade
It is unknown where cotton originated. We do know that it was being grown, and made into cloth at least 3,000 B.C. Christopher Columbus found cotton in the Bahamas in 1492. American settlers began to grow it in 1556. The southern states were ideal for farming the fiber, because cotton is best grown in warm climates. Cotton's first manufacturing boom was fueled by the British Industrial Revolution. As textiles became Britain's leading export, the demand for the fiber grew. The demand for slaves also grew with cotton's popularity. Although the majority of the northern states had abolished slavery by the early 1800s, the south's economy was becoming dependent on slave labor. At one time eighty percent of cotton came from Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana. This region was dubbed "The Black Belt," because over half of the area's poulation was black. The northern economy was also affected. Although cotton was produced in the south, it was exported from northern ports. By the mid 1800s, the United States dominated the the cotton industry.
Plantation soon began to appear all over the southern states. A plantation is a large farm or estate the is ususally worked by residents. Almost all plantations included slave quarters that housed hundreds of slaves. Seventy-five percent of all U.S. slaves were involved in the production of cotton. The industry became so profitable that at one time the south had the highest concentration of millionares in the world.
Harvesting cotton was a long and tedious process. The most skilled slave could only separate on or two pounds of cotton a day. The industry really began to boom the introduction of the cotton gin. The cotton gin is a machine that separates the cotton fibers from the seed. This machine separated the cotton ten times faster that the slaves could do by hand. Eli Whitney secured the patent on the cotton gin i n1793. Whitney is credited with the invention, although there is speculation that one of his slaves may be the real inventor of the machine. The invention revolutionized the production of cotton.
From the early 1800s to the U.S. Civl War the southern states accumalated tremendous wealth with their plantation lifestyles. However, their Civil War defeat changed the region forever. When the south fell, the British and French began to go to Egypt for cotton. The U.S. is still the leading producer of the fiber. At the farm level alone, cotton sales involve purchases of more than five billion dollars. Yearly revenue generated after the farm level is upwards of one hundred billion dollars. Cotton is still the most used fiber in the world.
sources: http://www.cotton.org/, http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/cotton, http://slaveryinamerica.org, http://nps.gov/history/delta
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Thanks for your very informative comment. I can not get over the long term affect cotton had on our country's history.
Cotton largely drove economic growth throughout the United States - both north and south - in the first half of the 19th century. It's difficult to imagine the United States without it. This is why it is also impossible to imagine the United States without slavery. As hard as it is to admit, U.S. prosperity was largely built on the backs of slaves.
I'm a community college history instructor, and I try to emphasize the degree to which both north and south profitted from slavery. I'm glad to see that your article does the same. Too often, it's easy to get caught up in the idea that the north was the "good guy" and the south bad.
HSchneider Level 6 Commenter 21 months ago
Very good history. Your excerpt about Eli Whitney and the cotton gin is very important. The framers of the Constitution felt that slavery was a dying institution and that they could pass this horrible and divisive subject off on another generation. They did not envision the cotton gin and how the cotton industry would then explode. Slavery became more entrenched in the south dooming any hope of a peaceful emancipation. You are also right that the north had a major stake in slavery also due to trade. My area of New York and New Jersey were very reluctant to back the Civil War. Unfortunately money often trumps conscience. That and the draft helped spark the New York riots of 1863. The movie "The Gangs of New York" made it seem like it was riots between Irish gangs but it was a riot of the poor Irish against Blacks because they feared that they would take their jobs.