Skip to main content

How did social life develop in the South between 1830 and 1860 as a result of dependence on cotton?

Because the cotton gin was highly efficient and slavery made the cost of producing cotton (from the owner's perspective) artificially cheap, cotton was a highly profitable industry, more than it really should have been if workers had been free to choose other jobs.

As a result, almost all of the investment in the South during this period (what we now call "antebellum," meaning "before the war") was in cotton production; while the North had a diversified economy with many agricultural products as well as industrial manufacturing, the South became almost entirely dependent upon cotton exports for its whole economy---and hence, on slavery.

Without the need for skilled engineers and factory workers, there was little incentive to invest in education; so literacy rates were low. Cotton was profitable enough on its own, so aside from some minor improvements in the cotton gin there was little incentive to invest in technology.

Inequality in the South was extraordinarily high. Of course there were the slaves themselves, who owned next to nothing; but the majority of the population was quite poor as well, as the wealth from selling slave-picked cotton was funneled upward into a small number of rich families. This concentrated wealth came with concentrated power, and the plantation owners essentially ran the government.


Besides being obviously unjust, this economic and social system was also extremely inefficient; the South lagged behind the North economically because of the unwillingness of Southern elites to transition away from slave-based cotton plantations to more productive industries. Yet the elites themselves were doing quite well under the current system, so they had little reason to change, and fiercely resisted not only the abolition of slavery but also the establishment of new industries.  This state of affairs likely would have continued for decades more, had not the conflict over slavery with the North erupted in the Civil War.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

etymology - Origin of the greeting "Sweet dreams".

Does anybody know the etymology of the phrase "sweet dreams"? I tried googling but did not find anything satisfying. Is this a relatively new phrase of the modern world or has this been in use for some time? I think it's the latter one. Answer The OED has the interjection as "a farewell to someone going to bed" from the 20th century: 1908 Sears Roebuck Catal. 198/1 Tenor Solos..Good Bye, Sweet Dreams, Good Bye. But it goes back until at least the 19th and possibly 18th centuries. John Wolcot, writing under the pseudonym of Peter Pindar, used it in his poem "Orson and Ellen; A Legendary Tale" published in 1801: Also from 1801 in The infernal Quixote (Page 287) by Charles Lucas: In the March 1776 of The Universal Magazine was published "The Serenade. A Pastoral Tale. From the German of Gesner" , where the shepherd Daphnis watches over his beloved as she sleeps and sings: The same tale appears in 1776's as Idyl XI, " Daphnis ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Is there a word/phrase for "unperformant"?

As a software engineer, I need to sometimes describe a piece of code as something that lacks performance or was not written with performance in mind. Example: This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. Based on my Google searches, this isn't a real word. What is the correct way to describe this? EDIT My usage of "performance" here is in regard to speed and efficiency. For example, the better the performance of code the faster the application runs. My question and example target the negative definition, which is in reference to preventing inefficient coding practices. Answer This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. In my opinion, reads more easily as: This coding style leads to unmaintainable and poorly performing code. The key to well-written documentation and reports lies in ease of understanding. Adding poorly understood words such as performant decreases that ease. In addressing the use of such a poorly ...
Post a Comment
Read more

What are the similarities between the relationships of the characters in The Outsiders and Romeo and Juliet?

At first glance, it might appear as if the characters in  The Outsiders  by S. E. Hinton and  Romeo and Juliet  by William Shakespeare do not have much in common; however, when one isolates the core of the conflicts, it becomes clear that the relationships in both stories are rooted in rivalry and secrecy.  In both  The Outsiders  and  Romeo and Juliet , an overarching theme is rivalry. While   socioeconomic status separates the greasers from the Socs in The Outsiders , last names separates the Montagues from the Capulets, who appear to be relatively equal in terms of socioeconomic status. Due to these rivalries, there are instances of deadly interactions in both stories. In  The Outsiders , Johnny kills Bob (whether his actions were justified or not is debatable). In  Romeo and Juliet , Romeo kills Tybalt and Paris, and Tybalt kills Mercutio. These deaths have profound effects on the main characters. In Ponyboy's case, the Johnny's death and other events in the novel inspire h...
Post a Comment
Read more