Why Was Cotton King?

Isabel Wagner
December 13, 2015
Cotton, one of the worlds most necessary crops, has been around
and thriving forever. Since the beginning of our countries time and
beyond, about 7,000 years ago cotton has been growing in America
abundantly. Interestingly, cotton did not originate in America. Cotton
began in India a very long time ago, it then spread to South America,
Central America and finally East Africa before it even landed in
America. Although it originated in other countries it really has worked
to change the whole nation of the United States. For a few examples,
cotton not only helped the movement to get rid of slavery it also
supplied many jobs and promoted the industrial revolution. Aside from
being a major contributor to our society and economy, it has provided
many household items that many people find as necessities. Simply
one bale of cotton can produce 1,217 mens undershirts, 765 mens
dress shirts, 21,960 handkerchiefs, 313,600 one hundred dollar bills,
215 pairs of jeans, or 4,312 mid calf socks. Cotton has become the
primary source for all textiles and clothing industries and not to
mention it is also found in products such as plastics, explosives, film,
and the oil in potato chips. It also has given the English language
interesting words such as pajama, dungaree, and khaki. Other than just
our country using all of the cotton we produce, cotton for a long time
was 2/3 of Americas exports and many cotton gins began appearing in

many countries all over the world to help filter and create better
cotton. Cotton over time has changed, transformed, and even
expanded to the many new things it has become. From this movie it
showed many things that cotton has done to improve our lives such as:
being one of the biggest and fastest growing industries in the United
States, has emerged as the main focus of the industrial revolution and
many wars, and most importantly essential to many of our daily lives
necessities.
Since the early stages of our countries existence cotton has been
one of the dominant crops in the United States. Initially cotton farming
became a huge industry in the south. In 1619 the first slaves arrived in
America, initially being the work force on tobacco farms. When the
cotton industry picked up, around the 18th century, slaves shifted from
being the primary help on tobacco farms to being the essential part to
cotton farms in the south. With the help of the slaves the cotton
industry could be one of the biggest and fastest growing industries in
the United States. Most of the cotton farms at the time were in the
south-east area of the U.S and also along the Mississippi river because
of the vast flat lands and the moisture in that region. The only problem
with cotton throughout its history has been that it depletes the soil
rapidly. Many southern farms now have moved slowly westward
because the land in the south has been sucked of nutrients. This
however never stopped the farmers, as they continuously increased

production year after year. Up until the year 1940 cotton was still
picked by hand.
Cotton being picked by hand was still not the most efficient way
to get enough bang for the buck in the united states. There had to be
other mechanisms that would somewhat increase the production. Eli
Whitney is one of the main people to thank for the increase in cotton
production. Whitney created a cotton gin in 1793, this machine helped
to speed up cotton production by removing the seeds from the cotton
fiber. Up to the year 1793 the U.S was making about 10,000 bales a
year, after the invention of the cotton gin however the U.S was making
about 1 million bales of cotton a year. The amount of cotton that could
be produced compared to the time it took was astonishing. Since the
cotton gin there were thousands of other machines invented as well
that helped to speed up the production of cotton. Around 1940s new
machines were invented that would reduce the amount of manual
laborers were needed in the cotton field. There was a new machine in
the field that would pick the cotton up using wet spindles; it then would
suck the cotton to the basket in the back of the machine using the
powerful vacuum located inside. This machine was very useful and
furthermore reduced the amount of slave labor in the fields. One of the
most important things that the cotton industry brought to the U.S. was
the abolition of slavery. When the industry began increasing in
production many cotton mills formed in the Northern states. The

northern society did not like the way the southern society had things
set up socially in the cotton industry. Slavery was still existent and the
northern democrats did not think that it was fair and many arguments
arose. In 1861, one of the major influences of the north and south to go
to war was the issue over slavery. The civil war lasted 4 years, and out
of it the slow abolition of slavery and equal respect for all races arose.
This created a huge difference the U.S. had never seen before. To that
time manual slave labor was one of the main reasons why many farms
were so successful, now it was a new world to have to pay everyone to
work for the farms or the cotton mills. Thankfully, this was one of the
best times that this could have happened. The cotton mill was the
initiator of the industrial revolution. Because cotton had so many
technological advancements that could be made to it, the cotton
industry boomed. Many things were done to speed up the picking time,
to clean the cotton, and to make the cotton in to objects. Because of
these things we saw the emergence of textile mills and gins. One of
the first industrial towns was built in Massachusetts by Francis Lowe.
These new businesses and technology boomed the industrial revolution
in America. After this several other industries popped up to be able to
support the high demand of its citizens and America became one of
the first industrial countries in the world.

Cotton in our daily lives can be found in everything. From the

pants we wear when we wake up, to the chips we eat throughout the
day and the movies we watch, even down to the sheets we sleep in at
night cotton is the primary giver of every day necessities. Almost
everything we use is made of cotton, and unlike most other farm
products cotton will most likely never stop being made. Due to new
technology and insight, the cotton industry will always be growing as
well. In the movie some scientists describe how there are now cotton
seed factories which utilize the seed from the cotton plant to make
things. In earlier history, the seed of the cotton was seen as useless
and most of the time would be thrown away once the cotton was taken
off of it. Recently scientists have found that the seeds of the cotton
create fiber and cellulose that can be useful to make products. A
couple uses of the seed include to make cottonseed oil, which is used a
lot in our foods, and explosives. This was the coolest part of the movie
to me because I never realized how many different things cotton was
used for in our lives. It honestly is a necessity. It also opened my eyes
to see that there may be endless other things that cotton or the seeds
from cotton can be useful for that we havent discovered yet.
In conclusion, I thoroughly enjoyed learning about everything cotton
related in this movie. It really connected to every aspect of our class, it
showed the initial trials with slavery and the civil war, how new
machinery was invented that helped production, how industry

awakened during cotton production, and most importantly the

consumer market and how it has affected cotton. It encompassed
everything economics related with how well the economy did during
this time and how different social features and aspects helped to shape
the cotton industry. Cotton will always be a necessity and luckily there
will always be an unlimited supply in our country. In the end of the
movie they state, In the 21st century no matter where cotton is grown,
ginned, woven, and sown it will continue to clothe the world. Has
woven itself in to wars, revolutions, and has become to fabric of
history which is very true. Cotton has shaped the United States in to
the industry run country that it is today and it also has provided our
citizens with jobs and daily life necessities. To this we have to thank
cotton, the industrial revolution, and our civil wars for getting us to the
place we are today in America.