US History › Section F · Westward expansion and the cotton South › Topic F.6
The economics of cotton
Between 1800 and 1860 cotton became the most valuable thing the United States sold to the world, and enslaved people grew and picked most of it. Following that crop explains how slavery expanded, why the South grew rich, and how deeply the North and Britain were tied to the system.
In this topic
- From a minor crop to king
- Land taken for cotton
- Work in the cotton fields
- Worked example: why did picking rates rise?
- The domestic slave trade
- Slavery as capital
- Worked example: following a bale
- A national and global crop
- A dependent economy
- Common mistakes to avoid
- Key takeaways
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