Expansion of Cotton Production


    There were many factors that accounted for the enormous expansion of cotton production in the south and this expansion opened the door for slavery.   This expansion was connected to slavery and the advocates for slavery tried to justify the human oppression during this time. The largest invention during this time was the cotton gin and it revolutionized the entire process of cleaning raw cotton.
    Cotton was grown in both Asia and the New World for centuries before the Europeans decided to make their home in America. The colonists first made cotton to help them make their own clothing and then the American Revolution cut off the supply of European cloth. The demand by the British textile industry for raw cotton greatly increased production and in the early 1790’s, slavery was a fading institution. Slave imports were decreasing into the New World and the prices of a slave were falling.
    The crops that the slaves were growing, tobacco, rice, and indigo, did not produce enough money to pay for their living arrangements. Some of the planters were replacing tobacco, which required a large slave work force, with wheat and corn because it was not as labor intensive.   Thomas Jefferson was one of the many southerners that said slavery was a huge source of debt and economic unproductivity. There was even talk of getting rid of slavery and coming up with other ways of generating income from their estates.
    Cotton was a very important economic development but it was also a source of conflict before the Civil War. There was conflict racially and between the different levels of social classes. After the war, the cotton fields and factories caused a debate over the amount that the government could change the economy.   The discussion was that the government was using centralized planning to change the way society and the economy functioned.   The population growth in the United States grew with the influx of immigrants, which fed consumer demand for...