
History of America between 1800 and 1860
Question
How did plantation crops and the slavery system change between 1800 and 1860? Why did these changes occur?
History of America between 1800 and 1860
The plantation crops and the slavery system underwent remarkable changes between 1800 and 1860. In the early 1800, the cotton industry experienced rapid expansion in the South. This was mainly driven by the invention of cotton gin, a machine that could easily process fine fibers from cotton seeds (Henretta and Brody, 2010). With the invention of the machine, the area under cotton cultivation increased drastically. This resulted to the ripple effect of increased demand for labor, which was dependent on slaves. It is worth noting that the development of the Southern states’ economies was hinged on cotton production and exportation (Henretta and Brody, 2010).
With the high demand for slavery, the southern states were overzealous to acquire more slaves from the neighboring states such as the western territories, with the hope that the trade would not die. In...