Examples of King Cotton in the following topics:
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- The cotton gin made cotton a cornerstone of the Southern economy and one of the ultimate causes of the American Civil War.
- In 1793, Eli Whitney introduced "teeth" into the cotton gin; the teeth combed the cotton and separated the seeds, allowing cotton to become a tremendously profitable business.
- King Cotton was a slogan used by southerners (1860–61) to support secession from the United States.
- King Cotton did not help the new nation.
- King Cotton was a slogan used by southerner (1860-61) to support secession from the United States.
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- During the Civil War, the leaders of the Confederacy used the slogan "King Cotton" to convince Southerners that succession from the North was feasible and desirable.
- The idea was that control over cotton exports would make an independent Confederacy economically prosperous, ruin the textile industry of New England, and—most importantly—force Great Britain and perhaps France to support the Confederacy militarily because their industrial economies depended on Southern cotton.
- The British never believed in "King Cotton," and they never intervened.
- Consequently, the strategy proved a failure for the Confederacy—"King Cotton" did not help the new nation, but the spontaneous blockade caused the loss of desperately needed gold.
- The Confederacy's gamble on cotton was not only disastrous for its war efforts, but also for its economic stability.
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- In 1861, Southerners voluntarily embargoed cotton shipments, hoping to start an economic depression in Europe that would force Britain to enter the war in order to get cotton.
- Though the Confederates believed that Britain had to support the Confederacy to obtain cotton, the British had ample stocks to last over a year and had been developing alternative sources of cotton.
- Cotton diplomacy proved a failure as Europe had a surplus of cotton, while the 1860–62 crop failures in Europe made the North's grain exports of critical importance.
- It was said that "King Corn was more powerful than King Cotton," as U.S. grain went from a quarter of the British import trade to almost half.
- When Britain did face a cotton shortage, it was temporary and replaced by increased cultivation in Egypt and India.
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- These considerations outweighed
the European powers' interest in Southern cotton.
- The Confederates
relied on European interest in Southern cotton exports, believing that “cotton
is king.”
- The
Confederacy had overestimated British demand for Southern cotton.
- In fact,
Britain had stocks to last more than a year and had been developing alternative
sources of cotton, most notably India and Egypt.
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- King Charles II of England began taking steps in the early 1680s to reorganize the New England colonies.
- The religious leaders of Massachusetts, Cotton and Increase Mather, opposed Andros's rule and organized dissent to influence the court in London.
- After King James II published the Declaration of Indulgence in 1687, establishing some freedom of religion, Increase Mather sent a letter of appreciation to the king and suggested to other Massachusetts pastors that they also do so as a means to gain favor and influence.
- This was particularly problematic for Massachusetts because its long frontier with New France was exposed to French and Indian raids with the 1689 outbreak of King William's War.
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- Eli Whitney's invention of the cotton gin in 1793 resulted in massive growth in the cotton industry in the American South.
- In 1793, Eli Whitney revolutionized the production of cotton when he invented the cotton gin, a device that separated the seeds from raw cotton.
- The cotton gin (short for "cotton engine") quickly and easily separated cotton fibers from their seeds, a job that otherwise had to be performed painstakingly by hand—most often by slaves.
- Whitney's introduction of "teeth" in his cotton gin to comb out the cotton and separate the seeds revolutionized this process.
- With the invention of Whitney's cotton gin, cotton became a tremendously profitable industry, creating many fortunes in the antebellum South.
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- Cotton, for example, was one of the first and most extensively commercialized crops.
- Following the invention of the cotton gin in the late 1790s, cotton came to dominate southern plantations and became the quintessential example of a commercialized crop.
- Cotton prices continued to increase as the South remained the primary supplier in the world.
- International markets were important for commercial agriculture, especially for cotton.
- The invention of the cotton gin revolutionized the cotton industry in the South and increased economic dependence on slave labor.
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- Many African-American slaves became politically active during these years in support of the King, as they thought Great Britain might abolish slavery in the colonies at the end of the conflict.
- The demand for slaves in the South rose with the growth of cotton as a commodity crop, especially after the invention of the cotton gin, which enabled widespread cultivation of short-staple cotton in the upland regions.
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- The European demand for New World cash crops, especially sugar, tobacco, rice, and cotton, led to a demand for labor to cultivate these crops.
- Under both these kings, the Royal African Company enjoyed a monopoly to transport slaves to the English colonies.
- In the North American colonies, the importation of African slaves was directed mainly southward, where extensive tobacco, rice, and later, cotton plantation economies, demanded extensive labor forces for cultivation.
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- Plantation economy in the Old South was based on agricultural mass production of crops such as cotton, rice, indigo, and tobacco.
- Crops cultivated on antebellum plantations included cotton, tobacco, indigo, and rice.
- Cotton became dominant in the lower South after 1800 .
- After the invention of the cotton gin, short staple cotton could be grown more widely.
- Early 20th-century U.S. photo: "Negroes picking cotton on a plantation in the South"