Kayla Kingdon

Econ 1740

20 july 2017

Professor

Why was cotton king?

Cotton is a large form of profit and has been since the 1800s. That is where the saying

cotton is king came from, because it was king of the time period. Now we have spun it

around into a racist meaning but the honest truth is that cotton was a luxury that made a

lot of money in that time period and slaves were a casualty.

Cotton was one of the worlds first luxury commodities, after sugar and tobacco, and

was also the commodity whose production most dramatically turned millions of black

human beings in the United States themselves into commodities. Cotton became the

first mass consumer commodity (Why Was Cotton King?)

Cotton was and still is a very profitable business. Since their was a high need for cotton

there was a high need for slaves in the cotton fields.

We can't talk about cotton without the thought of slavery popping into everyone's head.

It's true that millions of African Americans were forced into slave labor.

They were forced to pick cotton.

If there was one ultimate cause of the Civil War, it was King Cotton black-slave-grown

cotton the most important determinant of American history in the 19th century, Dattel

concludes. Cotton prolonged Americas most serious social tragedy, slavery, and
slave-produced cotton caused the American Civil War. And that is why it was

something of a miracle that even the New England states joined the war to end slavery

and the potential loss of its cotton. (Why Was Cotton King?)

Cotton had a large consumer need so they needed a lot of people in the fields.

What better way than to buy slaves? (Right) Despite the horrors of the slave labor that

went on cotton was a huge business in that time period.

Cotton is a really important part of everyone's everyday life. We wear cotton, cook with

it, work with it. In one way or another almost everyone use cotton in some form daily.

Despite the slave labor that started the cotton trade it's grown into a very modern

farming trade. A Lot of the modern cotton farming comes from california.

The perception of economic history in American is often torn.

The 1800s was a time for leadership and development. While the economic system in

the USA was growing slaves were stuck in the fields picking cotton.

Slaves were often forced to work long hard hours. As I stated before the cotton trade is

still very much associated with slavery. Now its modern.

People don't physically pick cotton themselves anymore, we have machines for that.

Cotton picking took a turn around in 1865 when thousands of slaves were freed by the

putting in class of the Emancipation Proclamation.

Cotton was the basis for the Civil War and the American Revolution. Cotton is a

ingredient that goes in a lot of things so it became very important very fast.
In the modern day world picking cotton doesn't involve any picking. We now have highly

equipped machines to help pick up pounds of cotton at a time.

That is a major change from how it use to be. With the help of these machine we use

about 130 billion fibers of cotton each year.

Once the cotton is collect by the machine it is then condensed into blocks for

transportation. These are called modules and each one weighs about 20,000 pounds.

By compacting the cotton they were able to move more with less trips was a major

profit. They were taking less time and getting more work done.

The work was becoming faster and more modern which made it easier to profit.

The cotton is than taken to what is called a cotton gin where they sort the debri out of

the cotton.This process is done by a conveyor machine, it takes all the seeds and debri

out and prepare it for its purpose. They then put it in 485 pounds bales to deliver.

About 95 percent of those bales are going to be used for clothing.

When cotton is planted it affects the soil. It takes away its nutrients so it's important that

as soon as the cotton harvest is over that other things be planted.

What they do to avoid this is called crop rotation which means they will grow a couple

years of cotton and then a couple tears of another crop to keep the soil balanced.

Cotton plants come in different strands, colors and textures. It just depends on the type

of cotton planet. Different plants have different uses. We even use the seeds we discard

of to make oil.
Coton is a very useful product. It can go into couch stuffing, clothes, candle wicks,

plastic, explosives, oil etc. Their are 4 progenitors of the cotton plant.

These were the first 4 kinds of the cotton plant. In the 1800s there was large demand for

cotton which went their was a higher need for slaves in the cotton industry.

The cotton growers would not do crop rotation back then, instead they would just move

to another spot and get new slaves and start again.

The cotton industry wasn't just cruel to slaves, it was also terrible to children.

Back in these times there were no child labor laws. Children 6 and up for forced to work

in cotton mills most of them were orphans. It was like prison for a child in manchester.

The Slaves were just a small factor which is horrible but part of the economically

history. With slaves picking cotton America was able to offset the civil war which helped

This is ultimately what started the civil war. Slavery was the main purpose of fighting in

the civil war. Americans were fighting to keep slavery legal.

This all connects to the cotton business. The Civil War could have possibly been

avoided had we not used slaves to labor and pick cotton. In the 1700s slavery was

close to being abolished until the uprising of the cotton industry.

When cotton got big they needed people to work on the farms and slaves were the

cheapest option.

In the 1890s a bug came into America from Mexico and almost wiped out the plant

completely. This bug destroyed 14 billion dollars in cotton in the 20th century.

Bugs love cotton because all its fibers in a pod. They tried to kill the bug with pesticides

but despite their efforts the bug continued to kill cotton plant. In the 1980s they finally

created a pesticide to fight the boll weevil.

The upcoming of the cotton industry has a horrible past filled with slavery and child

labor. It had nothing to do with the cotton business itself, it was just what was in high

demand at the time. Besides the past of the industry it has grown into a wonderful

business that helps a lot of people. The cotton industry helped build the economical

system for American. This business has changed so much in the last 100 years. Now

everything is ran by man powered machines. The cotton business was a large part of

the world and still is.

Facts:

Cotton is a hollow fiber

A bale is 485 pounds

Modules weigh 20,000 pounds

130 billion fibers are collected each year

The boll weevil killed over 14 billion dollars in cotton plant

Sources:

Why Was Cotton King

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