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The South
Growth of the Cotton Industry
Chapter 13, Section 1
Pages 414-419
Building Background
Sectional differences had always existed between different
regions of the United States.
The revolutionary changes in industry and transportation
deepened the difference between the North and the South.
The South remained mainly agricultural. New technology
helped the region become the Cotton Kingdom.
Reviving the South’s Economy
Before the American Revolultion, three crops dominated
southern agriculture – tobacco, rice, and indigo.
These crops a central role in the southern economy and
culture.
After the American Revolution prices for these crops
dropped. When the crop prices fell, the demand for, and
the price of, slaves also went down.
Cotton Becomes Profitable
Cotton had been grown in the New World for
centuries, but it had not been a very profitable crop.
Before cotton could be spun into thread for weaving
into cloth, the seeds had to be removed from the
cotton fibers – a very costly procedure.
Long-Staple vs. Short-Staple
Cotton
Long-staple (black-seed) cotton was fairly easy to process,
but grew well in only a few places in the South.
Short-staple (green seed) cotton was more common.
Removing the seeds from green seed cotton was difficult
and very time consuming – workers could spend an entire
day processing just one pound of cotton.
Eli Whitney’s Cotton Gin
Eli Whitney had visited a Georgia plantation where
workers were using a machine that effectively
removed the seeds from long-staple cotton (LSC), but
not as well for short-staple cotton (SSC).
Whitney was asked to see if he could make
improvements on the machine’s design.
He patented a machine in 1793 that worked on SSC.
The Cotton Boom
Whitney’s Cotton Gin made cotton so profitable that
southern farmers abandoned other crops in favor of
growing cotton.
Cotton production quickly spread throughout the
South and as far west as Texas.
Cotton production increased from about 2 million
pounds in 1791 to roughly a billion pounds by 1860.
Advantages of Cotton
Cotton had many advantages as a cash crop.
 It cost little to market.
 It could be stored for a long.
 Because of its weight, it cost less to transport long
distances.
Disadvantage of Cotton
The one major disadvantage of cotton as a crop is that
it rapidly used up the nutrients in the soil.
 After a few years of growing cotton, it could make the
land useless for growing anything else.
 Crop rotation became a process in which different crops
were planted in a field from year to year. Different crops
needed nutrients and thus would keep the land fertile.
Cotton Trade
The cotton boom made the South a major play in world
trade.
Great Britain became the South’s most valued foreign
trading partner.
Southerners also sold tons of cotton to the growing
textile industry in the northeastern United States.
Transportation Issues
The increased cotton trade led to the growth of major
port cities in the South, including Charleston, SC;
Savannah, GA; and New Orleans, LA.
The biggest problem that faced the cotton growers was
getting the cotton to the port cities.
Few major roads existed in the South and farmers
relied on shipping their cotton on riverboats.
Other Southern Crops
Other cash crops existed in the South, among them
corn, rice, sweet potatoes, wheat, and sugarcane.
Production of tobacco, the first major southern cash
crop, was very time consuming – tobacco had to be
cured (dried) before it could be shipped to market.
Southern Industry
Many of the first factories in the South were built to
serve the needs of farmers.
In 1803, the nation’s first steam-powered sawmill was
built in Donaldsonville, Louisiana.
By the 1840s, cotton mills were being built in Georgia.
Tredegar Iron Works
In 1848 Joseph R. Anderson became the owner of the
Tredegar Iron Works in Richmond, Virginia.
It became one of the most productive iron works in the
nation and was the only factory to produce bridge
materials, cannons, steam engines, and other products
in the South.