As South Carolina seceded from the Union on December 20, 1860, the ports at
Charleston bustled with activity as the leading export, cotton, was delivered in 400-pound bales 1 by farmers and middlemen, crowded onto steamboats by the thousands, and shipped off to ports in New York, Liverpool, and other cities. As other Southern states seceded and the Confederate
States of America was established, the centrality of cotton to the Southern economy informed political, diplomatic, and military decisions made by Confederate leaders. Facing Civil War against the industrial North and desperately in need of foreign support, particularly that of Great
Britain, the Confederacy adopted a trade embargo known as “cotton diplomacy.” Instead of bringing the cotton textile industry to its knees, as was intended, this strategy prevented the …show more content…
Despite short-term cotton shortages, the British economy proved formidable in the face of cotton diplomacy, opting to source its needed raw materials from India, Egypt, and South America.
Upon formally re-entering the raw cotton industry after the conclusion of the Civil War, the former Confederate States found a fundamentally changed market. The legacy of the changes to the cotton industry resulting from the Civil War had a major impact on migration, labor practices, and economic mobility in the United States and around the world at the end of the 19th
Charleston bustled with activity as the leading export, cotton, was delivered in 400-pound bales 1 by farmers and middlemen, crowded onto steamboats by the thousands, and shipped off to ports in New York, Liverpool, and other cities. As other Southern states seceded and the Confederate
States of America was established, the centrality of cotton to the Southern economy informed political, diplomatic, and military decisions made by Confederate leaders. Facing Civil War against the industrial North and desperately in need of foreign support, particularly that of Great
Britain, the Confederacy adopted a trade embargo known as “cotton diplomacy.” Instead of bringing the cotton textile industry to its knees, as was intended, this strategy prevented the …show more content…
Despite short-term cotton shortages, the British economy proved formidable in the face of cotton diplomacy, opting to source its needed raw materials from India, Egypt, and South America.
Upon formally re-entering the raw cotton industry after the conclusion of the Civil War, the former Confederate States found a fundamentally changed market. The legacy of the changes to the cotton industry resulting from the Civil War had a major impact on migration, labor practices, and economic mobility in the United States and around the world at the end of the 19th