Cotton Trade's Role In The Civil War

In 1793, the American Eli Whitney invented a machine that was to completely change the course of the history of the United States, the cotton gin. From now on, the once tenuous task of separating the seed from the fibre of cotton would be accomplished much faster, hence considerably improving cotton production and most importantly rendering the culture of cotton on American soil a profitable business. As textile industry blossomed in Europe, the world demand for cotton rose steeply and America would play a leading role in providing the priced resource, leaving the country’s economic landscape forever changed. This growing world demand for American cotton also plays a crucial part in the outbreak the Civil War, because it bridged a definitive gap between the estranged worlds of the Northern and Southern part of the country. Cotton trade’s role in bringing about the Civil War will be explored through its resulting economic, political and moral divisions.
The economic boom of cotton in America: the Lower South’s rapid expansion

First, widespread demand for cotton gave planters disproportionate power over the US government and economy, which led to rising tensions between the Southern states who wanted to hold on to their vast capital and the Northerners who wished to invest
The landowning class stubbornly refuted the abolitionist movement for fear that the US economy might collapse if the principal labour force for its most valuable commodity was to be emancipated. Equally in the North and South, investors and planters were afraid of losing the huge market for cotton around the world. This fear that would later devastate the unity of the country raises an important question: why slavery was such an essential component to the success of the cotton industry? Part of the answer lays in the fact that slaves were much more productive than waged