Essay On The Cotton Revolution

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Recommended: Cotton farming between 1775 and 1830

Brendan McCormack
4/28/14
Mrs. Walsh Period 1
US History 1
Why was Cotton King
Throughout the 1700s, cotton was a very big part of the economy for The United States. It brought in much of he income for farmers I the southern US, and for the country in general. Cotton wasn’t always the leading crop in the southern United States. In colonial times, tobacco, indigo, and rice were the leading cash crops in Virginia, Georgia, and South Carolina. Tobacco was beginning to have its downsides, as it took crucial nutrients out of the soil. Rice also had its downsides because it was unable to be grown in dry climates (Cotton Kingdom 1).

Cotton was a very expensive industry. Picking cotton seeds from the cotton itself was extremely difficult and required a lot of manual labor. Obviously with labor, you need to pay your workers. This was part of the reason that tobacco and rice were two more important cash crops in colonial times, they were both cheaper and easier. However, in 1794 that all changed when Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin. This invention sped up the process tremendously. This was the key factor to the turning point in the cotton revolution.

In the Late 1700s the British textile industry was at its peak, which created a very high demand for cotton. The southerners of the United States of America jumped on this bandwagon in order to support their families. The southern United States had very little industry besides the cotton industry. The reason for this was the success in the cotton industry. The people stayed faithful to the cotton industry, rather than starting other businesses (Cotton Kingdom 2). So as time passed, the cotton industry grew, which meant that more workers were needed. Instead of hiring workers to wor...

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...rendering unnecessary the labor of building flatboats, steamers, in Gudmestad’s view, “made slaves more efficient and more valuable” (29). The removal of tens of thousands of Creeks, Cherokees, Choctaws, and Seminoles in the 1830s was also enabled by steamboat transportation, thus opening up vast new areas perfectly suited for cotton cultivation. In all these ways and others, the great paddle-wheelers facilitated the breakneck development of the cotton South from 1811 to 1850.
In conclusion, essentially cotton got the United States of America up and running, with some help of course. There were many things that pushed the cotton industry along including the British textile industry, to the Cotton Gin, to the steam boat being able to transport more cotton. Cotton, or “white gold” was a key factor in American history, claiming the south as “The Cotton Kingdom.”

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