Question

By the mid-nineteenth century, the South had become a “cotton kingdom.” How did cotton’s profitability shape the region’s antebellum (1815-1860) economic and social development? How did this affect the institution of slavery for blacks and whites?  

Answer 1

The Antebellum Period of American History is commonly considered to be the period before the Civil War and after the War of 1812, although some historians extend it to all the years from the ratification of the Constitution of 1789 until the beginning of the Civil War. It was marked by the rise of abolition and the country's gradual division between the abolitionists and slavery supporters. At the same time, the country's economy started to change to manufacturing in the north as the Industrial Revolution started, while a cotton boom made plantations the center of the economy in the south

Demand for slave labor and the US ban on importing more slaves from Africa have pushed up slave prices, making it lucrative for smaller farmers to sell their slaves further south and west in older settled areas such as Virginia. Many farmers in the South had small to medium-sized farms with few slaves, but the riches of the large plantation owner, mostly expressed in the number of slaves they held, provided them with tremendous influence and political control. As land quality deteriorated from over-cultivation, slave owners found that the majority of their wealth remained in the form of their slaves; they started searching for new lands in Texas and westward.

Advances in engineering were not limited to only the textile industry. Similar developments have occurred in many sectors, including machines, machinery, furniture, paints, paper, and glass manufacturing. It influenced any aspect of American manufacturing and industry.

The Antebellum Period's technological advancements and religious and social movements had a profound impact on the trajectory of American history, including western expansion to the Pacific, demographic shift from farms to urban centres, sectional tensions that ended in civil war, abolition of slavery, and development of feminist and temperance movements.