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King Cotton

January 18, 2023

For other uses, see King Cotton (disambiguation).

"King Cotton" is a slogan that summarized the strategy used before the American Civil War (of 1861–1865) by secessionists in the southern states (the future Confederate States of America) to claim the feasibility of secession and to prove there was no need to fear a war with the northern states. The theory held that control over cotton exports would make a proposed independent Confederacy economically prosperous, would ruin the textile industry of New England, and—most importantly—would force the United Kingdom and perhaps France to support the Confederacy militarily because their industrial economies depended on Southern cotton. The slogan, widely believed throughout the South, helped in mobilizing support for secession: by February 1861, the seven states whose economies were based on cotton plantations had all seceded and formed the Confederacy. Meanwhile, the other eight slave states, with little or no cotton production, remained in the Union.

Panoramic photograph of a cotton plantation from 1907, titled "King Cotton"

To demonstrate the alleged power of King Cotton, Southern cotton merchants spontaneously refused to ship out their cotton in early 1861; it was not a government decision. By summer 1861, the Union Navy blockaded every major Confederate port and shut down over 95% of exports. However, the British were able to acquire cotton from alternative sources such as India, Egypt and Brazil. Britain had already abolished slavery, and the public would not have tolerated the government militarily supporting a sovereignty upholding the ideals of slavery.[1]

Consequently, it proved a failure for the Confederacy, as the strategy did not succeed in making the new Confederate polity economically prosperous. The blockade prevented the earning of desperately needed gold. Most importantly, the false belief led to unrealistic assumptions that the war would be won through European intervention if only the Confederacy held out long enough.[2]

History

The American South is known for its long, hot summers, and rich soils in river valleys, making it an ideal location for growing cotton. The many southern seaports and riverside docks allowed shipping cotton to remote destinations. By 1860, Southern plantations supplied 75% of the world's cotton, with shipments from Houston, New Orleans, Charleston, Mobile, Savannah, and a few other ports.[3]

 
Adams & Bazemore Cotton Warehouse, Macon, GA, c. 1877

The insatiable European demand for cotton was a result of the Industrial Revolution which created the machinery and factories to process raw cotton into clothing that was better and cheaper than a handmade product. European and New England purchases soared from 720,000 bales in 1830 to 2.85 million bales in 1850, to nearly 5 million in 1860.[citation needed] Cotton production renewed demand for slavery after the tobacco market had declined in the late 18th century. The more cotton was grown, the more slaves were needed to harvest the crops. By 1860, on the eve of the American Civil War, cotton accounted for almost 60% of American exports, representing a total value of nearly $200 million a year.

Cotton's central place in the national economy and its international importance led Senator James Henry Hammond of South Carolina to make a famous boast in 1858:

Without firing a gun, without drawing a sword, should they make war on us, we could bring the whole world to our feet ... What would happen if no cotton was furnished for three years? ... England would topple headlong and carry the whole civilized world with her, save the South. No, you dare not to make war on cotton. No power on the earth dares to make war upon it. Cotton is king.[4]

Confederate leaders had made little effort to ascertain the views of European industrialists or diplomats until the Confederacy sent diplomats James Mason and John Slidell in November 1861. That led to a diplomatic blowup in the Trent Affair.[5]

British position

Main articles: Britain in the American Civil War and Cotton diplomacy
Further information: Lancashire Cotton Famine

When war broke out, the Confederate people, acting spontaneously without government direction, held their cotton at home, watching prices soar and an economic crisis hit Britain and New England, causing a backlash with British public opinion. Even if Britain did intervene, it would mean war with the United States, as well as loss of the American market, loss of American grain supplies, risk to Canada, and much of the British merchant marine, all in the slim promise of getting more cotton.[6] Besides that, in the spring of 1861, warehouses in Europe were bulging with surplus cotton, which later soared in price. So the cotton interests made their profits without a war.[7] The Union imposed a naval blockade, closing all Confederate ports to normal traffic; consequently, the South was unable to move 95% of its cotton. Yet, some cotton was slipped out by blockade runners, or through Mexico. Cotton diplomacy, advocated by the Confederate diplomats James M. Mason and John Slidell, completely failed because the Confederacy could not deliver its cotton, and the British economy was robust enough to absorb a depression in textiles from 1862–64.

As Union armies moved into cotton regions of the South in 1862, the U.S. acquired all the cotton available, and sent it to Northern textile mills or sold it to Europe. Meanwhile, cotton production increased in British India by 70% and also increased in Egypt. Between 1860 and 1870, Brazilian annual cotton exports rose 400%, from 12,000 to 60,000 tonnes.

Economics

When war broke out, the Confederates refused to allow the export of cotton to Europe. The idea was that this cotton diplomacy would force Europe to intervene. However, European states did not intervene, and following Abraham Lincoln's decision to impose a Union blockade, the South was unable to market its millions of bales of cotton. The production of cotton increased in other parts of the world, such as India and Egypt, to meet the demand, and new profits in cotton were among the motives of the Russian conquest of Central Asia. A British-owned newspaper, The Standard of Buenos Aires, in cooperation with the Manchester Cotton Supply Association succeeded in encouraging Argentinian farmers to greatly increase production of cotton in Argentina and export it to the United Kingdom.[8]

Surdam (1998) asks, "Did the world demand for American-grown raw cotton fall during the 1860s, even though total demand for cotton increased?" Previous researchers have asserted that the South faced stagnating or falling demand for its cotton. Surdam's more complete model of the world market for cotton, combined with additional data, shows that the reduction in the supply of American-grown cotton induced by the Civil War distorts previous estimates of the state of demand for cotton. In the absence of the drastic disruption in the supply of American-grown cotton, the world demand for such cotton would have remained strong.

Stanley Lebergott (1983) shows the South blundered during the war because it clung too long to faith in King Cotton. Because the South's long-range goal was a world monopoly of cotton, it devoted valuable land and slave labor to growing cotton instead of urgently needed foodstuffs.

In the end, "King Cotton" proved to be a delusion that misled the Confederacy into a hopeless war that it ended up losing.[9][10]

See also

References

  1. ^ Frank Lawrence Owsley. King Cotton Diplomacy: Foreign relations of the Confederate States of America (1931).
  2. ^ Eugene R. Dattel (July 2008). . mshistorynow.mdah.state.ms.us. Archived from the original on 2017-10-17. Retrieved 2017-10-12.
  3. ^ Yafa 2004.
  4. ^ TeachingAmericanHistory.org "Cotton is King" http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/index.asp?document=1722 2012-11-09 at the Wayback Machine
  5. ^ Ephraim Douglass Adams, Great Britain and the American Civil War (1924) online ch 7
  6. ^ Eli Ginzberg. "The Economics of British Neutrality during the American Civil War". Agricultural History. Vol. 10, No. 4 (Oct. 1936), pp. 147–156 in JSTOR
  7. ^ Charles M. Hubbard, The Burden of Confederate Diplomacy (1998)
  8. ^ Argentina Department of Agriculture (1904), Cotton Cultivation, Buenos Aires: Anderson and Company, General Printers, p. 4, OCLC 17644836
  9. ^ Donald, David (1996). Why the North won the Civil War. p. 97.
  10. ^ Ashworth, John (2008). Slavery, capitalism, and politics in the antebellum Republic. Vol. 2. p. 656.

Bibliography

  • Blumenthal, Henry. "Confederate Diplomacy: Popular Notions and International Realities." Journal of Southern History 1966 32(2): 151-171. ISSN 0022-4642 in Jstor
  • Hubbard, Charles M. The Burden of Confederate Diplomacy (1998)
  • Jones, Howard, Union in Peril: The Crisis over British Intervention in the Civil War (1992) online edition
  • Lebergott, Stanley. "Why the South Lost: Commercial Purpose in the Confederacy, 1861-1865." Journal of American History 1983 70(1): 58-74. ISSN 0021-8723 in Jstor
  • Lebergott, Stanley. "Through the Blockade: The Profitability and Extent of Cotton Smuggling, 1861-1865," The Journal of Economic History, Vol. 41, No. 4 (1981), pp. 867–888 in JSTOR
  • Owsley, Frank Lawrence. King Cotton Diplomacy: Foreign relations of the Confederate States of America (1931, revised 1959) Continues to be the standard source; online review
    • Frank Lawrence Owsley, "The Confederacy and King Cotton: A Study in Economic Coercion," North Carolina Historical Review 6#4 (1929), pp. 371–397 in JSTOR; summary
  • Scherer, James a.b. Cotton as a world power: a study in the economic interpretation of history (1916) online edition
  • Surdam, David G. "King Cotton: Monarch or Pretender? The State of the Market for Raw Cotton on the Eve of the American Civil War." Economic History Review 1998 51(1): 113-132. in JSTOR
  • Yafa, Stephen H. Big Cotton: How A Humble Fiber Created Fortunes, Wrecked Civilizations, and Put America on the Map (2004)

Further reading

  • An American (1855). Cotton is king: or, The culture of cotton, and its relation to Agriculture, Manufactures and Commerce; to the free colored people; and to those who hold that slavery is in itself sinful. Cincinnati.

External links

  • Cotton King Cartoon
  • King Cotton

January 18, 2023
king, cotton, other, uses, disambiguation, slogan, that, summarized, strategy, used, before, american, civil, 1861, 1865, secessionists, southern, states, future, confederate, states, america, claim, feasibility, secession, prove, there, need, fear, with, nort. For other uses see King Cotton disambiguation King Cotton is a slogan that summarized the strategy used before the American Civil War of 1861 1865 by secessionists in the southern states the future Confederate States of America to claim the feasibility of secession and to prove there was no need to fear a war with the northern states The theory held that control over cotton exports would make a proposed independent Confederacy economically prosperous would ruin the textile industry of New England and most importantly would force the United Kingdom and perhaps France to support the Confederacy militarily because their industrial economies depended on Southern cotton The slogan widely believed throughout the South helped in mobilizing support for secession by February 1861 the seven states whose economies were based on cotton plantations had all seceded and formed the Confederacy Meanwhile the other eight slave states with little or no cotton production remained in the Union Panoramic photograph of a cotton plantation from 1907 titled King Cotton To demonstrate the alleged power of King Cotton Southern cotton merchants spontaneously refused to ship out their cotton in early 1861 it was not a government decision By summer 1861 the Union Navy blockaded every major Confederate port and shut down over 95 of exports However the British were able to acquire cotton from alternative sources such as India Egypt and Brazil Britain had already abolished slavery and the public would not have tolerated the government militarily supporting a sovereignty upholding the ideals of slavery 1 Consequently it proved a failure for the Confederacy as the strategy did not succeed in making the new Confederate polity economically prosperous The blockade prevented the earning of desperately needed gold Most importantly the false belief led to unrealistic assumptions that the war would be won through European intervention if only the Confederacy held out long enough 2 Contents 1 History 2 British position 3 Economics 4 See also 5 References 6 Bibliography 7 Further reading 8 External linksHistory EditThe American South is known for its long hot summers and rich soils in river valleys making it an ideal location for growing cotton The many southern seaports and riverside docks allowed shipping cotton to remote destinations By 1860 Southern plantations supplied 75 of the world s cotton with shipments from Houston New Orleans Charleston Mobile Savannah and a few other ports 3 Adams amp Bazemore Cotton Warehouse Macon GA c 1877 The insatiable European demand for cotton was a result of the Industrial Revolution which created the machinery and factories to process raw cotton into clothing that was better and cheaper than a handmade product European and New England purchases soared from 720 000 bales in 1830 to 2 85 million bales in 1850 to nearly 5 million in 1860 citation needed Cotton production renewed demand for slavery after the tobacco market had declined in the late 18th century The more cotton was grown the more slaves were needed to harvest the crops By 1860 on the eve of the American Civil War cotton accounted for almost 60 of American exports representing a total value of nearly 200 million a year Cotton s central place in the national economy and its international importance led Senator James Henry Hammond of South Carolina to make a famous boast in 1858 Without firing a gun without drawing a sword should they make war on us we could bring the whole world to our feet What would happen if no cotton was furnished for three years England would topple headlong and carry the whole civilized world with her save the South No you dare not to make war on cotton No power on the earth dares to make war upon it Cotton is king 4 Confederate leaders had made little effort to ascertain the views of European industrialists or diplomats until the Confederacy sent diplomats James Mason and John Slidell in November 1861 That led to a diplomatic blowup in the Trent Affair 5 British position EditMain articles Britain in the American Civil War and Cotton diplomacy Further information Lancashire Cotton Famine When war broke out the Confederate people acting spontaneously without government direction held their cotton at home watching prices soar and an economic crisis hit Britain and New England causing a backlash with British public opinion Even if Britain did intervene it would mean war with the United States as well as loss of the American market loss of American grain supplies risk to Canada and much of the British merchant marine all in the slim promise of getting more cotton 6 Besides that in the spring of 1861 warehouses in Europe were bulging with surplus cotton which later soared in price So the cotton interests made their profits without a war 7 The Union imposed a naval blockade closing all Confederate ports to normal traffic consequently the South was unable to move 95 of its cotton Yet some cotton was slipped out by blockade runners or through Mexico Cotton diplomacy advocated by the Confederate diplomats James M Mason and John Slidell completely failed because the Confederacy could not deliver its cotton and the British economy was robust enough to absorb a depression in textiles from 1862 64 As Union armies moved into cotton regions of the South in 1862 the U S acquired all the cotton available and sent it to Northern textile mills or sold it to Europe Meanwhile cotton production increased in British India by 70 and also increased in Egypt Between 1860 and 1870 Brazilian annual cotton exports rose 400 from 12 000 to 60 000 tonnes Economics EditWhen war broke out the Confederates refused to allow the export of cotton to Europe The idea was that this cotton diplomacy would force Europe to intervene However European states did not intervene and following Abraham Lincoln s decision to impose a Union blockade the South was unable to market its millions of bales of cotton The production of cotton increased in other parts of the world such as India and Egypt to meet the demand and new profits in cotton were among the motives of the Russian conquest of Central Asia A British owned newspaper The Standard of Buenos Aires in cooperation with the Manchester Cotton Supply Association succeeded in encouraging Argentinian farmers to greatly increase production of cotton in Argentina and export it to the United Kingdom 8 Surdam 1998 asks Did the world demand for American grown raw cotton fall during the 1860s even though total demand for cotton increased Previous researchers have asserted that the South faced stagnating or falling demand for its cotton Surdam s more complete model of the world market for cotton combined with additional data shows that the reduction in the supply of American grown cotton induced by the Civil War distorts previous estimates of the state of demand for cotton In the absence of the drastic disruption in the supply of American grown cotton the world demand for such cotton would have remained strong Stanley Lebergott 1983 shows the South blundered during the war because it clung too long to faith in King Cotton Because the South s long range goal was a world monopoly of cotton it devoted valuable land and slave labor to growing cotton instead of urgently needed foodstuffs In the end King Cotton proved to be a delusion that misled the Confederacy into a hopeless war that it ended up losing 9 10 See also EditDiplomacy of the American Civil War Cotton production in the United States Black Belt in the American South Origins of the American Civil WarReferences Edit Frank Lawrence Owsley King Cotton Diplomacy Foreign relations of the Confederate States of America 1931 Eugene R Dattel July 2008 Cotton and the Civil War mshistorynow mdah state ms us Archived from the original on 2017 10 17 Retrieved 2017 10 12 Yafa 2004 sfn error no target CITEREFYafa2004 help TeachingAmericanHistory org Cotton is King http teachingamericanhistory org library index asp document 1722 Archived 2012 11 09 at the Wayback Machine Ephraim Douglass Adams Great Britain and the American Civil War 1924 online ch 7 Eli Ginzberg The Economics of British Neutrality during the American Civil War Agricultural History Vol 10 No 4 Oct 1936 pp 147 156 in JSTOR Charles M Hubbard The Burden of Confederate Diplomacy 1998 Argentina Department of Agriculture 1904 Cotton Cultivation Buenos Aires Anderson and Company General Printers p 4 OCLC 17644836 Donald David 1996 Why the North won the Civil War p 97 Ashworth John 2008 Slavery capitalism and politics in the antebellum Republic Vol 2 p 656 Bibliography EditBlumenthal Henry Confederate Diplomacy Popular Notions and International Realities Journal of Southern History 1966 32 2 151 171 ISSN 0022 4642 in Jstor Hubbard Charles M The Burden of Confederate Diplomacy 1998 Jones Howard Union in Peril The Crisis over British Intervention in the Civil War 1992 online edition Lebergott Stanley Why the South Lost Commercial Purpose in the Confederacy 1861 1865 Journal of American History 1983 70 1 58 74 ISSN 0021 8723 in Jstor Lebergott Stanley Through the Blockade The Profitability and Extent of Cotton Smuggling 1861 1865 The Journal of Economic History Vol 41 No 4 1981 pp 867 888 in JSTOR Owsley Frank Lawrence King Cotton Diplomacy Foreign relations of the Confederate States of America 1931 revised 1959 Continues to be the standard source online review Frank Lawrence Owsley The Confederacy and King Cotton A Study in Economic Coercion North Carolina Historical Review 6 4 1929 pp 371 397 in JSTOR summary Scherer James a b Cotton as a world power a study in the economic interpretation of history 1916 online edition Surdam David G King Cotton Monarch or Pretender The State of the Market for Raw Cotton on the Eve of the American Civil War Economic History Review 1998 51 1 113 132 in JSTOR Yafa Stephen H Big Cotton How A Humble Fiber Created Fortunes Wrecked Civilizations and Put America on the Map 2004 Further reading EditAn American 1855 Cotton is king or The culture of cotton and its relation to Agriculture Manufactures and Commerce to the free colored people and to those who hold that slavery is in itself sinful Cincinnati External links EditCotton King Cartoon King Cotton Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title King Cotton amp oldid 1125017367, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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