The Economy Of The South

The North’s economy was based on textiles, shipping, and skilled trades. Their climate was not suited for the same type of agricultural products that the South produced like cotton, sugar, rice and tobacco. Northern states like New England manufactured and shipped goods like guns, clocks, plows and axes (page 399). One reason for the South’s dependence on slavery is because their economy relied on the existence of slave labor. For example, the cultivation of cotton depended largely on slave labor, with 75% of the crop grown on plantations,

The New South: an era of change, a time of transition away from the destruction of the Civil War and chaos of Reconstruction. However, while the institution of slavery and a cotton-based economy faded away into the past, feelings of intolerance and inequality resided in the hearts and minds of Southerners, shaping a new society that closely mirrored the old. Blacks and other minorities, such as women, remained in an underclass with strict social and economic rules as the South expanded outside it agrarian roots. William Faulkner captures the preconceived sentiments keeping the Civil War relevant in the South in his novel Light in August. He chronicles the stories of the outcasts Lena Grove and Joe Christmas, both people who break social

As we already noted – in the 1800s expediency of slavery was disputed. While industrial North almost abandoned bondage, by the early 19th century, slavery was almost exclusively confined to the South, home to more than 90 percent of American blacks (Barney W., p. 61). Agrarian South needed free labor force in order to stimulate economic growth. In particular, whites exploited blacks in textile production. This conditioned the differences in economic and social development of the North and South, and opposing viewpoints on the social structure. “Northerners now saw slavery as a barbaric relic from the past, a barrier to secular and Christian progress that contradicted the ideals of the Declaration of Independence and degraded the free-labor aspirations of Northern society” (Barney W., p. 63).

The author also explores the profitability of slavery as an institution, as while the tendency of slave owners to keep their capital invested in slaves rather than industry resulted in a lack of economic diversification in the South, it also resulted in great profits during times of high demand for agricultural products. Phillips states that more research is required in this area.

Since the Civil War brought extensive economic change to the United States, civilians in the North and South faced many economic challenges. "In the North the arms, metalworkings, boot making, and shipbuilding industries boomed, but the scarcity of cotton caused widespread layoffs and closures in the textile industry" (Keene, 391). Even though workers' salaries rose by forty percent, prices increased even faster, resulting in inflation that averaged fifteen percent. Despite the North's economic hardships, the problems the South faced were far worse. "The Southern economy was hit hard by the cessation of trade with the North and Europe due to the Union blockade" (Keene, 391). Southern industry and agriculture were limited by persistent

The Northern states had the pleasure of discovering abundant resources of coal. In addition, Richmond faced difficulties because of their existence on the margins of a plantation economy. Even though this was the nation’s first mine, it had various disadvantages that would not let it compete on an industrious scale. In the following paragraph, I will discuss how the South had a secret hand in textile mills within the United States.

The South, on the other hand, was highly dependent upon the institution of slavery. It was still primarily an agricultural society that needed as many laborers as possible in order for the plantation owners to make ends meet. According to historian Douglas Harper, “In 1793 came the cotton gin, which brought a 50-fold increase in the average daily output of short-staple cotton, promoted the rapid expansion of a ‘cotton kingdom’ across the Deep South, and made large-scale slavery profitable.” Because of this, the slave became an essential tool to the farmers of the south; more money became invested in slavery rather than in industrial improvements. Based upon the 1860 U.S. Census, there were almost a whopping total of four million slaves in the South alone. In fact, the more slaves an owner had, the more prestige. “Most slave owners owned fewer than five slaves, and only 12 percent of Southerners had twenty or more slaves. Many whites who had no slaves looked with envy upon the wealthy, and to a degree admired them.” This hierarchy had a clearly defined social structure which created distinctions between rich and poor whites as well as racial segregation. This agricultural society and its strict hierarchy only increased the social and racial disparities found in the southern region of the United States.

The South felt this through the Market Revolution in the cotton industry, slave labor and trade, as well as, in plantations increasing in size. The cotton industry made $200 million in 1810 just before the Market Revolution took place. toward the end of the revolution the cotton industry was making $2 billion in 1860. This is showing that when the market went through changes it benefitted the Southern plantation owners as they obtained more money for their crops. Also, helping the plantation owners make a

At this point, plantation owners were more focused on the profits they made then their slaves. Although the author uses the document to discuss slavery on cotton plantations, there were many other industries where slaves were equally badly off. This document directly supports the author’s argument indicating the difficulties that many Americans faced due to the revolutions of the early nineteenth

However, historians are still debating whether the domestic slave trade supported the economic viability of the slave economy. Moreover, though the domestic slave trade had a major part in the Southern economy, historical studies still have to explore the domestic slave trade economic nature, and how it precisely served the region’s part in the capitalistic world.

With the economic system, the south had a very hard time producing their main source “cotton and tobacco”. “Cotton became commercially significant in the 1790’s after the invention of a new cotton gin by Eli Whitney. (PG 314)” Let

The two authors of these historical writing’s, Hinton Helper and Thomas R. Dew share similar interests about the economy in the southern states, however, they differ in opinion and desire. Take Thomas R. Dews’ stance on the economical well being of the south,” …slave labor, in an economical point of view, is far superior to free negro labor” (491). Dew is essentially making a case for the southern economy and he challenges anyone who questions the status quo that exists in the southern states during this time period. Dew is obviously in favor of continuing the slave labor market with a reliance on the demand for goods in the northern states. Hinton Helper on the other hand also makes a case for the well being of the southern economy and does so by outlining a plan to create a fixed point along the southern coast “…at some point or port on the coast of the Carolinas, Georgia or Virginia” (492). Hinton, unlike Dew wants to gradually see the southern economy move away from a heavy dependence from the northern markets and expand outward trying to establish trade with foreign markets “… open facilities for direct communication with foreign countries” (492). Both writers bring passion to their arguments and a sense of southern pride. The two writers’ by virtue of expression ultimately expose two distinct weaknesses of the

In Cotton and Race in the Making of America: The Human Costs of Economic Power Eugene Dattel writes an invigorating argument about how, “economic self-interest and national growth complemented each other from the start.” He organizes his book in six parts correlating the relationship between making money and its effect on people in America. Cotton was an essential ingredient in the making of America and it was a part of our history for so long. It shaped political parties, made people rebel and fight for what they believed in; whether what they were fighting for was good or bad. It was our biggest export during the first half of the 19th century and without it we would most likely have gone bankrupt.

The decline of slavery in the upper South in the early 19th century can be identified as a profound change which would contribute to the eventual division of the nation. After 1830, the pattern of regional slavery in the South experienced great variations, such that the upper South gradually declined ties with slavery while the lower South distinctively became identified with it. This profound change was brought on by a shift in utilizing free labor rather than slavery to drive economic production in the upper South (Goldfield et. al, p. 285). The climate and geography in states of the upper South overtime proved less

The economic change had the most impact on the Southern life because the Southerners had nobody to work on their farm for them. It was such an impact because the slaves were the field hands. Some were skilled and some were unskilled, they usually did outdoor chores like farming and blacksmithing, in all kinds of weather.