Topic-Cotton Kingdom: Fertile Land
Background/Context:
In 1790 the South seemed to be an underdeveloped agricultural
region with little prospect for future growth. Most Southerners lived
along the Atlantic coast in Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina in
what came to be known as the Upper South. After 1815, cotton
became important economically in the South. Investments in new
cotton lands and slaves brought higher returns than anything else.
During the next few decades cotton was a crucial factor in the
developing national market economy. It accounted for more than half
of the country's exports. As a result, it paid for a large part of its
imports. The cotton plantations also provided an important market for
manufactured goods from the Northeast.
Cotton had not always been the South's leading cash crop. In
colonial times tobacco was the most profitable crop in Virginia.
Georgia and South Carolina produced ever-increasing quantities of
rice and indigo. Both tobacco and rice had drawbacks. Tobacco
depended on foreign markets, so its price varied wildly. Tobacco also
wore out land quickly because it stripped the soil of important
nutrients. Rice could not be grown in the dry climate of inland areas.
The removal of Native Americans from the Southeast in the early
1800s opened the way for expanding cotton production across the
Deep South. Settlers swept into the regions of Alabama and
Mississippi after 1815. With wet springs and summers and dry
autumns, the Deep South was well suited for cotton production.
Farmers without cotton gins or slaves could make a profit growing
cotton even on small farms. They could succeed without
actually owning a cotton gin because gins could be rented, and
enslaved African Americans could be hired from slaveholders.
Letter describing new cotton lands from Fredrick Norcom to James C.
Johnston, January 24, 1836
Source from the Hayes Collection, Southern Historical Collection, University of North Carolina at Chapel
Hill
“I have met with I suppose between 50 to 100 men that five years ago
could not afford a pair of shoes, and are now worth one hundred thousand
to a million dollars. I have seen a great number who came here rich, and
now incredibly rich; I have not seen but one single soul who has failed. It is
in truth the only country I ever read or heard of, where a poor man could, in
2 or 3 years, without any help, become wealthy.
At the Pontotoc River in the Chickasaw Nation, there was 4 to 5
millions of dollars worth of available in land. Land sales was worth more
than 5 millions….All the lands obtained from the Choctaw Indians in 1832
have now been offered for sale. You can see how easy it was to get rich
here.
Map-Cotton Gin Region.