Cotton, Slavery, and Old South Essay

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The early nineteenth century was a time that was as significant for the south as it was for the north. As more southerners chose to step into the southwest and explore their prospects, the trade in the south began to grow just as steadily and the steadily developing trade served to position the south quite strongly in the US economy. However, as effective and advantageous as this development may have been for the south, it was still not as strong as that experienced by the north around the same time.

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However, this phase of development had not been one that had either triggered unexpectedly or began out of the blue. In fact, the development process had begun to take root as early as 1800 when the plantation systems became the talk of the town and slave labor was still used. It was a time when the south began growing steadily. However, there was a certain element that was not present in this growth. There was no development of technology and no development of sophisticated techniques that showed the promise of long-term growth and development for the south.

“This second middle passage as the historian Ira Berlin has called it was a traumatic experience for perhaps a million dislocated African Americans”. (Brinkley 282)

If the south was to be divided into the upper south and the lower south, one could not help but notice that there was a certain shift of power in terms of the economical strength that the south held. This shift was basically caused by the eventual deterioration of the tobacco industry. The tobacco industry had been fueling the south for quite some time now but the industry had begun to dwindle as more producers chose to switch to cotton production. This trend was based upon a desire to grow a crop that could be more stable in the long run and could be relied upon to provide the producers a higher degree of profit at the same time. The focus began to shift from tobacco production to the production of sugar, rice, and cotton. This can be seen as a well-justified measure since the demand for cotton was also recorded to grow around the very same time.

“Much of the upper south continued to rely on the cultivation of tobacco”. (Brinkley 280)

This was observed as the cause for the decrease in the slave population of the south as well. This was so because of the fact that because of one reason or another, the slaves began to move to the cotton-producing parts of the south, and slave selling became one of the most active trade activities in the areas where the dominance of the agriculture sector was observed to be steadily decreasing.

“But this southern failure was also in part the result of a set of distinctive to the south”. (Brinkley 284)

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The essence of this transition remained in the fact that the south was sliding into a position where it was now relying increasingly on the north and the fact that canals, roads, and other modes of transportation were in a treacherous condition did not help to help the south develop. Another area that was developing rapidly around the same time was that of textile. The south was undergoing considerable improvements in terms of the textile as well.

A question that may arise in this regard is the exact difference between the north and the south at this point in time. If a line was to be drawn between the north and the south to answer this question, we can conclude that it was in effect the boom in the agriculture industry in the south and its decline in the north at the same time.

Works Cited

Brinkley, Alan. The Unfinished Nation: A Concise History of the American People. McGraw-Hill, 2003.

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IvyPanda. 2021. "Cotton, Slavery, and Old South." November 16, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/cotton-slavery-and-old-south/.

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IvyPanda. "Cotton, Slavery, and Old South." November 16, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/cotton-slavery-and-old-south/.

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