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The Rise of Cotton: Crash Course Black American History #13

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The US had imports from Britain, Canada, New England Southern Europe, Brazil, and the West Indies. Trade was one of the most important things to the growing American economy in the Market Revolution, so imports and exports through shipment was a big deal. In Britain, the US shipped to Liverpool, Chester, Bristol, Yarmouth, Southampton and many more. In England there was a big Textile boom which created a huge market for Cotton in the US as far as exports.

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In factories there were long hours, strict discipline, and low wages. It was extremely dangerous as people were often hurt or even killed while on the clock. They were also strained because of the low lighting which hurt their eyes and they were assigned many machines which was stressful. Factories were often located in "factory towns" which hired people on contracts and provided on site housing. Mostly women and children were employed in factories.

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Factories hired non-specialized workers to operate the many machines in the factories, and women and children were often hired. The hours were long (up to 80 hours a week) because they no longer needed to be based on the sun's rising and setting. Workers strained their eyes and many suffered sickness due to the extreme heat in the summers and freezing temperatures in the winters. Children were sometimes abused and many workers got hurt due to the machines or fires. Wages were eventually cut and workers were given more machines to work.

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Cotton was a huge export for the United States and was usually sent out from one of the four major harbors, Charleston, Savannah, New Orleans, and Mobile. 85% of the exports to Britain were cotton because of their great demand for textiles, and were sent to many harbors including Liverpool. When shipping outside the US, steamboats were used in the major canals and across oceans. The Erie Canal was built during this time and was used a lot. The US also exported tobacco, furs, skins, salt meat, flaxeed, rice, tar, turpentine, and pitch.

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During the nineteenth century, transportation routes and means of transport underwent dramatic changes, greatly increasing national mobility. New and improved transportation technology made it easier and faster to transport goods: first national roads, then canals, and finally the railroad revolution.
During the nineteenth century, transportation routes and means of transport underwent dramatic changes, greatly increasing national mobility. New and improved transportation technology made it easier and faster to transport goods: first national roads, then canals, and finally the railroad revolution.  The 363-mile Erie Canal was so successful that another four thousand miles of canals were dug in America before the Civil War. In addition, the Illinois and Michigan canals radically reduced the costs of transferring goods and allowed for cotton to be transported faster and cheaper than ever.

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Slaves- On each day of cotton picking, slaves were sent to the fields with sacks, which they had to fill as many times as possible. The labor was intense and demanding and masters would usually send a white "driver" out with a whip in case any slaves were working too slowly.
Apart from slaves- Some free whites would work on the plantations but only in planting and supervising.

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As the demand for cotton increased across the world, slave labor by hand was not the most efficient way to produce cotton products. Unfortunately, harvesting was done by hand up until the 1930s but the invention of the cotton gin in 1793 majorly increased its popularity while also somewhat decreasing its physical labor demand. By 1860, slave labor was producing over two billion pounds of cotton per year.  Cotton planting took place in March and April. Then, in august, as the plants started to "boll," slave men, women, and children would pick it by hand.

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As the US began to shift from subsistence farming to larger commercial options,  cotton production was dominated by the Mississippi River Valley—home of the new slave states of Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Missouri—as well as in other states like Texas. Whenever new slave states entered the Union, white slaveholders sent armies of slaves to clear the land in order to plant, harvest, and increase the speed of production.
The Black Belt: The Black Belt is a fertile plain, generally 25–30 miles wide and stretching approximately 300 miles across central Alabama and northeastern Mississippi. A region of dark, calcareous soils, it was one of the South's most important agricultural areas before the American Civil War.

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The MARKET REVOLUTION in America—INDUSTRIALIZATION [APUSH Review Unit 4 Topic 5] Period 4: 1800-1848