COTTON’S MEANING TODAY
Cotton is a soft, fluffy fiber that grows in a protective capsule, and the fiber in the plant is almost pure cellulose. When under natural conditions, those cotton bolls usually tend to increase the dispersion of the seeds. The Americas, Africa, and India is where this shrub is native to, which is tropical and subtropical regions around the world. In Mexico, Australia, and Africa you find the best diversity of wild cotton species. The fiber in the plant is used to make soft breathable textile, and is most often spun into yarn or thread. Although cultivated since antiquity, it was the invention of the cotton gin that lowered the cost of production that led to its widespread use, and it is the most widely used natural fiber cloth in clothing today.
COTTON’S MEANING DURING THE CIVIL WAR
Civil War history is remarkably clear about the fact that maintaining slavery was the primary motivation for Southern Secession in 1860 and 1861. The agricultural South was dependent on cotton production and the economic and political elite there feared that as more new states entered the union they would choose to be free-states, shift the balance of power in Washington, and ultimately lead to higher tariffs for the South as well as threats to the institution of slavery. But harvesting cotton remained a very labor-intensive undertaking. Thus, bigger cotton farms meant the need for more slaves. The slave population in the United States increased nearly five-fold in the first half of the 19th Century, and by 1860, the South provided about two-thirds of the world’s cotton supply. Southern wealth had relied on this one crop and thus was completely dependent on slave-labor.
In terms of understanding what the cotton gin means for Civil War history, the connection to the growth of slavery and its economic centrality for the South is clear. Between the political conflict of the 1820s to 1850s regarding new states and slavery, the election of Lincoln, whom Southerners perceived to be anti-slavery, and the high tariffs imposed on cotton and cotton goods by laws written in the North, the fact that the cotton states of the Deep South chose to succeed seems far less surprising.
Cotton is a soft, fluffy fiber that grows in a protective capsule, and the fiber in the plant is almost pure cellulose. When under natural conditions, those cotton bolls usually tend to increase the dispersion of the seeds. The Americas, Africa, and India is where this shrub is native to, which is tropical and subtropical regions around the world. In Mexico, Australia, and Africa you find the best diversity of wild cotton species. The fiber in the plant is used to make soft breathable textile, and is most often spun into yarn or thread. Although cultivated since antiquity, it was the invention of the cotton gin that lowered the cost of production that led to its widespread use, and it is the most widely used natural fiber cloth in clothing today.
COTTON’S MEANING DURING THE CIVIL WAR
Civil War history is remarkably clear about the fact that maintaining slavery was the primary motivation for Southern Secession in 1860 and 1861. The agricultural South was dependent on cotton production and the economic and political elite there feared that as more new states entered the union they would choose to be free-states, shift the balance of power in Washington, and ultimately lead to higher tariffs for the South as well as threats to the institution of slavery. But harvesting cotton remained a very labor-intensive undertaking. Thus, bigger cotton farms meant the need for more slaves. The slave population in the United States increased nearly five-fold in the first half of the 19th Century, and by 1860, the South provided about two-thirds of the world’s cotton supply. Southern wealth had relied on this one crop and thus was completely dependent on slave-labor.
In terms of understanding what the cotton gin means for Civil War history, the connection to the growth of slavery and its economic centrality for the South is clear. Between the political conflict of the 1820s to 1850s regarding new states and slavery, the election of Lincoln, whom Southerners perceived to be anti-slavery, and the high tariffs imposed on cotton and cotton goods by laws written in the North, the fact that the cotton states of the Deep South chose to succeed seems far less surprising.