Linking the Abolitionist Movement to the Textile Industry

In contrast to the many economical differences of the industrial north and agrarian south, few similarities arise in the struggle of sectionalism. Both the societies consisted of utilization of trade, westward expansion, and the use of unskilled labor. The north's industrial businesses such as textile industries demanded the south's production of cotton in order to maintain its market with oversees buyers. Also, the fight for westward land was among the many conflicts between the north and the south. And the use of unskilled labor was highly shared between these two economies. In the south, the use of untrained African slaves was its main entity to economic success. Like the south, the north used amateur workers in its industries to boost its production.

Economic and social differences between the north and the south was one of the events of slavery leading up to the Civil War. When the cotton gin was invented in 1793, cotton became a very profitable crop. Before the invention of the cotton gin, it would take one slave a day to remove the seeds from two pounds of cotton. After the invention of the cotton gin, it could be used to clean two pounds of cotton in just half an hour. With the invention of the cotton gin came an increase in the number of plantations willing and wanting to move from other crops to cotton. The south raised rice, sugar, and indigo, but cotton was its main crop. This move from other crops to cotton would cause for a greater need for a larger amount of laborers, meaning a greater need for slaves. The south, becoming a one crop economy, then became more dependent on cotton, thus more dependent on slaves. The north, on the other hand, was less focused on crops and

    In addition to the history of slavery in the U.S. Foner also talks about not only the South 's dependence on slavery, but the North as well. Even though the Northern states abolished slavery, cotton was necessary for making textiles in the industrial factories in the North. As slavery continued so did the need for it, and the economy began to rely on it. It was especially important in the 19th century. Even with the North against slavery, the South kept it, because it was important to make money.

Slavery has always been a part of human history. Therefore on cannot talk about when slavery began in North America. Soon after the American colonies were established in North America, slaves were brought in to meet the growing labor need on plantations. Although the importation of slaves continued to grow as new plantations were developed, it was the industrial revolution that would have the most profound impact on the slave industry. The purpose of this essay is to analyze the effect of slavery in the 13 colonies due to the industrial revolution.

Was slavery an economic engine for the Southern economy before the Civil War? Men like Senator and businessman James Henry Hammond would say yes immediately without a second thought. People like Hammond believed that slavery in these times were critical to the growth of the southern economy. They made points such as that agricultural sales were a main percentage of business in the south and with the large area of fertile land that slave ownership was a necessary evil. Along with those, the decades preceding the civil war, the north began to industrialize, which in turn created a large demand for cotton, which was heavily supported by slavery. Not only was slavery a supporting crutch for the immense cotton market, but also slave trade proved to be a highly profitable market of his own. Finally, from the perspective of a plantation owner as a business enterprise, owning slaves proved to be most effective by implementing business strategies, much like Henry James Hammond’s. Without slavery, small planters would have been unable to make a steadfast profit, leaving the cotton industry to rely on large plantation owners who would mainly invest their fortune in British luxurious imports, instead of diversifying and reinvesting in schooling or infrastructure. I personally believe that James Henry Hammond and others were correct, with exception to my ethical beliefs, that slavery was a key factor in the growth and preservation of

Slavery may have helped produce abundant amounts of cotton cheaply, but it also cursed those who were tangled in the grip of this “peculiar institution”.

Southern economy was the center of plantation that cultivated cotton. Many the rich started to carve the plantation to earn money by exporting cotton. They needed a lot of labor and slavery was proper to use. The majority of white southerners did not own slaves because planters monopolized the best land. They could not help taking possession of the land that was not proper to cultivate cotton. Most of them earned a living by self-sufficiency even though the slave population was growing: from 697,624 in 1790 to 3,953,760 in 1860.

One effect on the issue was that the economy in the south was fueled by cultivation of staple crops that required slaves for labor. In the South slavery wasn’t thought as an evil as in the North because to the Southerners defense the slaves in their opinion were treaty in contrast to workers in England and peasants that were Irish, also the end of slave trade brought higher value to the slaves causing their owners to be less harsh because they were more valuable. Although slavery fueled the economy in the South it was not the same in the North therefore there was no complete dire need for slavery, and although the slaves probably weren’t treated as bad as the north had thought they still saw it as

The growth of the cotton industry impacted America economically and socially. “The domestic slave trade exploded, providing economic opportunities for whites involved in many aspects of the trade and increasing the possibility of

During the late 1700s & early 1800s, there was an agricultural revolution in the U.S. that really benefited the south. Due to this revolution, the south heavily relied on slave labor and the demand for it went up. The cotton gin was invented and it leads to cotton becoming king. Two types of workers risen because of the industrial and agricultural revolution which were wage workers and slaves. Slaves were mostly used in the South and wage workers were used mostly in the North.

Furthermore, both the North and the South needed labour; the North used poor white immigrants to fill factories while the South relied on slaves to farm cotton. Inevitably, these systems clashed as the Northern Republicans sought to limit the growth of Slavery to protect the jobs of their unskilled white constituents. In terms of microeconomics, Plantation owners would not benefit from having to pay waged laborers because the South required abundant and cheap slave labour to produce cotton in profitable amounts. Additionally, the cumulative value of slaves was too bloated to yield without a catastrophic loss of investments. Finally, the macroeconomic goals of the South included the expansion of slavery to the west, while the North was adamant about containing the already “shrinking south” to within its borders, forcing Slavery to extinguish as soil degraded and demand for farm labour fell. By controlling the West through free labour and the Homestead act, the North could deprive the South of critical plantations out

To start off with, one of the main events that involved slavery during the Antebellum period would be through increased production of cotton. As a result of Eli Whitney’s cotton gin, as well as other sewing machines, there was an increase demand of cotton export from the South to England. In order to keep up with this high demand, farmers bought large areas of land for a surprisingly small amount of money. However, the increase in land called for an increase in slave labor to harvest and cultivate the crop. Slave labor was a resource that plantation owners and Southerners relied on, because the slaves could not quit due to them having a fixed number of years, as well as slaves not being allowed to demand higher wages. This slave labor, in addition

Slavery was the center of the Southern economy. The culture of the South made it a necessity to have labor to work and harvest the crops of the cotton, tobacco, sugar and more. Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin in 1794 and once it was introduced to the South, more cotton could be picked. The purpose of the cotton gin was to have some of slaves work be lifted from their shoulders, but it resulted in the opposite. After the invention, slaves became in even more high demand and the number of slaves before the cotton gin and after the invention increased by approximately 400%. As there were more slaves more cotton was being grown and sold and the southern economy became extremely dependant on slave labor. Most slaves worked in the fields, but some slaves worked as maids, seamstresses, and cooks. These are jobs that white people would not do so, the “bad jobs” were taken care of for very cheap.

The most commonly used phrase to describe the growth of the American economy in the 1930s and 1940s is "cotton is king." Cotton became the first mass consumer goods.

Even though the slavery was introduced in the early 1600s, it had no doubt that the abolitionist inaugurated the movements about the slavery actively from early 1850s. The slavery became the essential part of industry in the South more than in the North because of the large plantations and slave trades. So in the Southerners’ perspective, the slave flourished the businesses with their inexpensive labor forces in order to profit; they argued slaves were by and large a culturally inferior, child-like people who were treated well by whites and thus content with their status in life. However, Uncle Tom’s Cabin described the slavery as an evil institution that must be abolished accurately from the historians today.