AS

The Cotton Boom

The Cotton Boom, 1830-1861

  • massive growth, part of the broader Market Revolution
  • by 1850, US produced 2 billion pounds of cotton per year (over 60% of all exports)
  • key to southern and northern economies
  • made slavery more profitable and more brutal

Origins of the Cotton Boom

  • industrial textile mills in northeastern US and Britain
    • huge international market
  • trans-atlantic credit system
  • steamboat transportation
  • additional land:
    • LA purchase (1803)
    • Eastern Indian Removal (1830-42)
    • colonization of Texas (1820-45)
  • the cotton gin
  • short-staple cotton strains

The Domestic Slave Trade

  • cotton industry led to a huge demand for enslaved labor
  • filled via the “internal” or “domestic” slave trade
  • 1790-1860, about 1 million enslaved people were sold or relocated
  • from “upper” to “lower” south