Spindle pickers are used in areas of high rainfall where plants grow tall before they are defoliated. It dominated cotton production in the Mississippi River Valleyhome of the new slave states of Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Missourias well as in other states like Texas. The first mechanical harvester consisted of fence posts attached to a draft animal and dragged between rows to dislodge the cotton. Nearly all the exported cotton was shipped to Great Britain, fueling its burgeoning textile industry and making the powerful British Empire increasingly dependent on American cotton and southern slavery. Right: Unloading freshly harvested cotton using a mechanical, Left: Cotton farming in Mississippi using, Joyce E. Chaplin, "Creating a Cotton South in Georgia and South Carolina, 1760-1815. ", Meikle, Paulette Ann. However, following the War of 1812, a huge increase in production resulted in the so-called cotton boom, and by midcentury, cotton became the key cash crop (a crop grown to sell rather than for the farmers sole use) of the southern economy and the most important American commodity. Although the importation of enslaved Africans into the United States had been prohibited in 1808, the temptation of the astronomical profits of the international slave trade was too strong for many New Yorkers. This lucrative international trade brought new wealth and new residents to the city. How many bales of cotton were produced in Georgia? [17] Yet the cotton industry continued to be very important for blacks in the southern United States, much more so than for whites. New York: Charles Scribners Sons, 1970, Bowen, Catherine Drinker. Then you can access your favorite statistics via the star in the header. As a commodity, cotton had the advantage of being easily stored and transported. Cotton provoked a gold rush by attracting thousands of White men from the North and from older slave states along the Atlantic coast who came to make a quick fortune. Within a few years, boll weevil damage affected crops throughout Texas and the Cotton Belt, the cotton-growing states of the Deep South. [28] Four out of the top five importers of U.S.-produced cotton are in North America; the principal destination is Honduras, with about 33% of the total, although this has been in decline slightly over recent years. During the Great Depression of the 1930s, many former tenants and sharecroppers returned to farmwork, but after the United States entered World War II in 1941, farmworkers moved again to the cities for work in war-related industries. Some western states, such as Indiana, Ohio, and Illinois, tried to exclude African Americans at the same time they were aggressively recruiting millions of White European immigrants. Whenever new slave states entered the Union, white slaveholders sent armies of slaves to clear the land in order to grow and pick the lucrative crop. Major U.S. states for cotton production 2022, Cotton yield per harvested acre in the U.S. 2001-2022, Cotton price received by U.S. farmers 2007-2021, To download this statistic in XLS format you need a Statista Account, To download this statistic in PNG format you need a Statista Account, To download this statistic in PDF format you need a Statista Account. I know of none where is congregated so great a variety of the human species. Slaves, cotton, and the steamship transformed the city from a relatively isolated corner of North America in the eighteenth century to a thriving metropolis that rivaled New York in importance (Figure). This astonishing increase in supply did not cause a long-term decrease in the price of cotton. Not surprisingly, given these figures, the southern economy remained overwhelmingly agricultural. Cotton Extension Program, University of Missouri Agricultural Extension, USDA NASS (used total production in pounds to determine rank), University of Missouri Extension - Southeast Missouri Crop Budgets, Cinderella of the New South: A History of the Cottonseed Industry, 1855-1955, Newspaper clippings about Cotton production in the United States, Agriculture in the Southwestern United States, Agricultural Trade Development and Assistance Act of 1954, Food, Agriculture, Conservation, and Trade Act of 1990, Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act of 1996, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Cotton_production_in_the_United_States&oldid=1150392371, Agricultural production in the United States, Articles with unsourced statements from December 2017, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, Beckert, Sven. This is a drop of over 5 million bales from the previous year. In 1879 some 2,178,435 acres produced 805,284 bales. 3 million. Slow work pace, pilfer in-house goods, sabotaged crop production, and damaged tools. Cotton cultivation was begun by Anglo-American colonists in 1821. This spacing helps to make the plants fruit earlier than would a wider spacing and usually results in higher yields. The enslaved population in the United States was approximately 700,000 at the time of the signing of the Constitution. d. 1850-1860 In what decade was there the lowest increase in cotton production? In 1870 more than 725,000 bales of cotton were produced, largely by Black sharecroppers who were often compelled to farm the lands of former enslavers. New York City, not just Southern cities, was essential to the cotton world. Please create an employee account to be able to mark statistics as favorites. By the time of the Civil War, South Carolina politician James Hammond confidently proclaimed that the North could never threaten the South because cotton is king.. [citation needed] Texas produces approximately 25% of the country's cotton crop on more than 6 million acres, the equivalent of over 9,000 square miles (23,000km2) of cotton fields. Fred C. Elliott, "The rise of the cotton industry in California: A comparative perspective. The slave economy (article) | Khan Academy The Nobel Prize-winning economist, Douglass C. North, stated that cotton was the most important proximate cause of expansion in the 19th century American economy. The seed are planted from one to two inches deep, the depth depending upon the condition of the soil and the amount of moisture present at planting time. Every penny counts! A report of the missions at San Antonio in 1745 indicates that several thousand pounds of cotton were produced annually, then spun and woven by mission craftsmen. The cotton boom, however, was the main cause of the increased demand for enslaved labor the number of enslaved individuals in America grew from 700,000 in 1790 to 4,000,000 in 1860. "Globalization and Its Effects on Agriculture and Agribusiness in the Mississippi Delta: A Historical Overview and Prospects for the Future. The Civil War caused a decrease in production, but by 1869 the cotton crop was reported as 350,628 bales. . a. The North Carolina cotton crop began to grow between 1860 with 145,514 bales and 1870 with 203,000 bales (480-lb. Fortunately for Americans whose wealth depended upon the exploitation of slave labor, a fall in the price of tobacco had caused landowners in the Upper South to reduce their production of this crop and use more of their land to grow wheat, which was far more profitable. Create a standalone learning module, lesson, assignment, assessment or activity, Submit OER from the web for review by our librarians, Please log in to save materials. Georgia produced a record 2.8 million bales on 4.9 million acres in 1911. In 1879 some 2,178,435 acres produced 805,284 bales. As a Premium user you get access to the detailed source references and background information about this statistic. Between the years 1820 and 1860, approximately 80 percent of the global cotton supply was produced in the United States. Cotton and the Growth of the American Economy: 1790-1860. Eugene R. Dattel, a Mississippi native and economic historian, is a former international investment banker. By 1850, of the 3.2 million enslaved people in the country's fifteen slave states, 1.8 million were producing cotton. In general, planters expected a good hand, or slave, to work ten acres of land and pick two hundred pounds of cotton a day. Despite the rhetoric of the Revolution that all men are created equal, slavery not only endured in the American republic but formed the very foundation of the countrys economic success. New Orleans, the hub of commerce, boasted the largest slave market in the United States and grew to become the nations fourth-largest city as a result. [43], Missouri grows upland cotton, and cottonseed, which is a valuable livestock feed. In 2022, around 14.68 million bales of cotton were produced in the United States, a decrease from about 17.5 million bales in the previous year. The effort was laborious, and a white driver employed the lash to make slaves work as quickly as possible. Why did some southerners believe their region was immune to the effects of the market revolution? On each day of cotton picking, slaves went to the fields with sacks, which they would fill as many times as they could. How many bales of cotton were produced in 1860? - Answers When the international slave trade was outlawed in 1808, the domestic slave trade exploded, providing economic opportunities for whites involved in many aspects of the trade and increasing the possibility of slaves dislocation and separation from kin and friends. One thing, however, was clear cotton was bringing a good price, . How many bales of cotton did Georgia produce before the cotton gin? [29] Cotton exports to China grew from a value of $46 million in 2000 to more than $2 billion in 2010. Cotton production continued its steady increase until the 1920s, Post navigation. 1000. The cottonseed from Missouri cotton production is used as livestock feed. The second displays the spread of slavery during those same decades. Southern black cotton farmers faced discrimination and strikes often broke out by black cotton farmers. The U.S. cotton crop nearly doubled, from 2.1 million bales in 1850 to 3.8 million bales ten years later. at the war's end how many bales of raw cotton were available. Some slaveholders responded to this situation by freeing slaves; far more decided to sell their excess bondsmen. Cotton was first grown in Texas by Spanish missionaries. A high demand for cotton during World War I stimulated production, but a drop in prices after the war led many tenants and sharecroppers to abandon farming altogether and move to the cities for better job opportunities. The growth of Mississippis population before its admission to statehood and afterwards is distinctly correlated to the rise of cotton production. Left: Acres of upland cotton harvested as a percent of harvested cropland acreage (2007). Georgia had led the world in cotton production during the first boom in the 1820s, with 150,000 bales in 1826; later slumps led to some agricultural diversification. However, the very cotton that provided the South with such economic potency also increased its reliance on the larger U.S. and world markets, which suppliedamong other thingsthe food and clothes slaves needed, the furniture and other manufactured goods that defined the southern standard of comfortable living, and the banks from which southerners borrowed needed funds. Cotton was dependent on slavery and slavery was, to a large extent, dependent on cotton. After the war, when steel and rubber became available to manufacturers again, farmers began to mechanize their methods of planting, cultivating, and harvesting, thus eliminating the need for tenants and sharecroppers, many of whom did not return to farmwork, and leading to new practices in cotton production that remain in use today. He had obtained a patent on the cotton gin but it proved to be unenforceable. The United States is the world's top exporter of cotton. Handbook of Texas Online, How does he characterize Eliza? Farmers first saw the ravaging effect of the weevil, which had spread northward from Mexico, near Corpus Christi during the 1890s. Mechanical strippers, which followed, pulled the boll off the plant by means of revolving rollers or brushes. and Thus, the cotton economy controlled the destiny of enslaved Africans. Bad weather causes considerable shedding of the seed cotton from the bolls and lowers the grade and value of the fiber. [10] Prior to the U.S. Civil War, cotton production expanded from 750,000 bales in 1830 to 2.85 million bales in 1850. The crop grown in the South was a hybrid: Gossypium barbadense, known as Petit Gulf cotton, a mix of Mexican, Georgia, and Siamese strains. Thus, the market revolution transformed the South just as it had other regions. (January 12, 2023). Indeed, the number of southern cotton bales exported to Europe dropped from 3 million bales in 1860 to mere thousands. These bales, weighing about four hundred to five hundred pounds, were wrapped in burlap cloth and sent down the Mississippi River. Americans were well aware of the fact that the economic value placed on an enslaved person generally correlated to the price of cotton. By 1850, six mills were in operation in and around Petersburg and they employed approximately 700 female workers. [20] By 1929, the cotton ranches of California were the largest in the US (by acreage, production, and number of employees). "The rise of the cotton industry in California: A comparative perspective. According to the University of Missouri, cotton production per acreage in this state peaked in the 1953 and decreased to its lowest point in 1967. Although the Jeffersonian vision of the settlement of new U.S. territories entailed white yeoman farmers single-handedly carving out small independent farms, the reality proved quite different. California is the largest producer of Pima cotton in the United States. This machine does not strip cotton from the stalk but pulls locks of cotton from the bolls by means of revolving grooved or barbed spindles. The introduction of barbed wire in the 1870s and the building of railroads further stimulated the industry. Farmers used calcium arsenate dust and other pesticides to reduce the damage from boll weevils and such pests as the pink bollworm. Increasingly often, however, high-volume instrument classing occurs at offices near the gins. [18] Three out of four black farm operators earned at least 40% of their income from cotton farming during this period. Natchez, Mississippi, had the second-largest market. Overview and forecasts on trending topics, Industry and market insights and forecasts, Key figures and rankings about companies and products, Consumer and brand insights and preferences in various industries, Detailed information about political and social topics, All key figures about countries and regions, Market forecast and expert KPIs for 600+ segments in 150+ countries, Insights on consumer attitudes and behavior worldwide, Business information on 70m+ public and private companies, Detailed information for 35,000+ online stores and marketplaces. The phrase to be sold down the river, used by Harriet Beecher Stowe in her 1852 novel Uncle Toms Cabin, refers to this forced migration from the upper southern states to the Deep South, lower on the Mississippi, to grow cotton. In addition to dominating the slave trade, New York denied voting rights to its small free Black population, which comprised only one percent of the population. The slaves day didnt end after they picked the cotton; once they had brought it to the gin house to be weighed, they then had to care for the animals and perform other chores. The standard for cotton bales is supposed to be 480 pounds per bale, so twenty bales will weigh 9,600 lbs., divided by 2000 lbs. Former tobacco farmers in the older states of Virginia and Maryland found themselves with surplus slaves whom they were obligated to feed, clothe, and shelter. West Texas farmers usually plant a smaller quantity of seed per acre than East Texas growers. If the plants are too close together they are thinned when they have four to six leaves. Many of the trappings of domestic life, such as carpets, lamps, dinnerware, upholstered furniture, books, and musical instrumentsall the accoutrements of comfortable living for southern whiteswere made in either the North or Europe. Those who sold their slaves could realize great profits, as could the slave brokers who served as middlemen between sellers and buyers. Show publisher information devoting their attention to the production of this staple crop. Southern cotton, picked and processed by American slaves, helped fuel the nineteenth-century Industrial Revolution in both the United States and Great Britain. The ship, Glad Tidings, with a cargo of American cotton entering the port of Liverpool in the mid-1800s. The following, adapted from the Chicago Manual of Style, 15th edition, is the preferred citation for this entry. [13] Although there was some work involved in planting the seeds, and cultivating or holding out the weeds, the critical labor input for cotton was in the picking. The highest acreage recorded was in 1930 (4.163 million acres); the highest production year was 1937 (2.692 million bales produced over 3.421 million acres); the highest cotton yields were in 2004 (1034 pounds of lint produced per acre).[39]. ", US Department of Agriculture, Cotton production in the U.S. from 2001 to 2022 (in 1,000 bales)* Statista, https://www.statista.com/statistics/191500/cotton-production-in-the-us-since-2000/ (last visited May 01, 2023), Cotton production in the U.S. from 2001 to 2022 (in 1,000 bales)* [Graph], US Department of Agriculture, January 12, 2023. Legal Notices. You need at least a Starter Account to use this feature. ", This page was last edited on 17 April 2023, at 22:50. Steamboats, a crucial part of the transportation revolution thanks to their enormous freight-carrying capacity and ability to navigate shallow waterways, became a defining component of the cotton kingdom. Mississippis social and economic histories in early statehood were driven by cotton and slave labor, and the two became intertwined in America. Why was this thinking misguided? By 1860, Great Britain, the worlds most powerful country, had become the birthplace of the industrial revolution, and a significant part of that nations industry was cotton textiles. Primary, cotton - related items manufactured in the late 1850s included gunny cloth, hoop iron for cotton bales, and cotton machinery. Over the next several months, from April to August, they carefully tended the plants. Tenants lived in houses on the landowners' property and supplied their own draft animals, tools, and seed; for their year of work, after the cotton was ginned, they received two-thirds of the value of the cotton. Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. Northern mills depended on the South for supplies of raw cotton that was then converted into textiles. New York investors financed New York-based slave ships that sailed to West Africa to pick up African captives that were then sold in Cuba and Brazil. [36], In the late 19th and early 20th century, federal agricultural engineers worked in the Arizona Territory on an experimental farm in Sacaton. A specially designed plow made it possible to break up the thick black sod, and the fertile prairie soil produced as much as one bale per acre in some areas. Texas State Historical Association (TSHA). After this date, importing slaves from Africa became illegal in the United States. By 1860, some thirty-five hundred vessels were steaming in and out of New Orleans, carrying an annual cargo made up primarily of cotton that amounted to $220 million worth of goods (approximately $6.5 billion in 2014 dollars). Except where otherwise noted, content on this site is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 License. [34], Cotton was grown in Mexican California. The Economics of Cotton - U.S. History about how many millions of bales of cotton were produced in the south Cotton dictated the Souths huge role in a global economy that included Europe, New York, other New England states, and the American west. [Online]. The trade with the South, which has been estimated at $200,000,000 annually, was an impressive sum at the time. Only Mississippi (1,195,699 bales), Alabama (997,978 bales) and Louisiana (722,218 bales) produced more cotton. How did the invention of the cotton gin affect the economies of the North and South in the years between 1800 and 1850? Fred C. Elliott, and According to the United States Department of Agriculture, upland cotton in Missouri was valued at 0.751 $ / pound in 2017. During the baling process a sample is automatically removed. On the eve of the Civil War, cotton provided the economic underpinnings of the Southern economy. Leading States for cotton production Over 50% of the Santa Rosa County's harvest is of cotton. [7], Native Americans were observed growing cotton by the Coronado expedition in the early 1540s. Cotton | South Carolina Encyclopedia The Mississippi River Valley slave states became the epicenter of cotton production, an area of frantic economic activity where the landscape changed dramatically as land was transformed from pinewoods and swamps into cotton fields. In, US Department of Agriculture. Mississippi was, therefore, both a captive of the cotton world and a major player in the 19th century global economy. As the cotton industry boomed in the South, the Mississippi River quickly became the essential water highway in the United States. The 1914-1915 season totaled 16.5 million bales. The North also supplied the furnishings found in the homes of both wealthy planters and members of the middle class. After emancipation, African Americans were still identified with cotton production. On September 25, 1961, Herbert Lee, a black cotton farmer and voter-registration organizer, was shot in the head and killed by white state legislator E. H. Hurst in Liberty, Mississippi. The Rise of New York Port, 1815-1860. New York's poor Black population was effectively disfranchised. Why Was Cotton 'King'? - PBS Strippers are used to harvest cotton in the Plains region, where plants are small and grow close to the ground. Cotton has many uses besides clothing, linens, draperies, upholstery, and carpet. The state was swept along by the global economic force created by its cotton production, the demand by cotton textile manufacturing in Europe, and New Yorks financial and commercial dealings. Although the larger American and Atlantic markets relied on southern cotton in this era, the South depended on these other markets for food, manufactured goods, and loans. Nevertheless, Georgians raised 500,000 bales in 1850, second only to Alabama, and nearly 702,000 bales in 1860, behind Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana. The slave states of South Carolina and Georgia were adamant about having slavery protected by the Constitution. 2,250,000 Which decade experienced the greatest increase in the number of slaves? The landowner received one-third. Cotton planting took place in March and April, when slaves planted seeds in rows around three to five feet apart.