The History of Cotton in the United States

ECON 1010/Spring Semester

Cotton has been a staple product in the United States for as long as most of us
can remember. Although, it is not totally clear when cotton was actually first
discovered, its discovery has created an industrial revolution.
What is cotton anyways? Its obvious what we use it for, but if you asked the
average person they would most likely not know the make up of this product. Cotton
derives from a plant source and grows in what we call a boll, or in other words, a
protective case. The boll grows around the seeds of the cotton plants and can be
harvested as a soft and fluffy fiber used for many common things that we use every
single day.
The United States was not the first country to embrace this new trend. In fact,
cotton has been used in other parts of the world for thousands of years now. For
example, one of the first places that cotton was known to be used was in India,
scientists have found small bits of cotton bolls and pieces of cotton cloth in Mexican
caves that have been proven to be 7,000 years old, cotton cloth was believed to be
brought to Europe around 800 A.D., and when Christopher Columbus discovered
America in 1492 he had found cotton growing in the Bahamas. By about 1500 cotton
was generally known throughout the entire world.

As cotton grew increasingly popular and useful in other countries around the
world The United States really embraced this new product around the 1600s and by
1607 the first cotton seed was planted by colonists along the James River, which
was found in Virginia. For many years, cotton was hand picked without any
mechanical know how. The process was slow, in fact, it brought virtually no profit to
the United States because it simply could not be picked fast enough. That is until
Samuel Slater, who was a former English Mill worker built the first Cotton Mill
completely from memory. With this new technology, cotton just became much more
accessible.
Very shortly after the Cotton Mill, Eli Whitney invented the Cotton Gin. This is
known to be one of the most revolutionary machines invented at this time and is still
used today. The Gin (which is short for engine) was used to pull the cotton fibers off
of the seeds. Before this machine, it was all done by hand. This was an effective
way of harvesting the cotton, but it was by no means fast. With the help of the
Cotton Gin, each workers cotton production volume dramatically increased from
about 1 lb. per day to nearly 50 lbs. per day.
As cotton production became increasingly more popular in The United States it
was eventually dubbed as King Cotton around the 1800s. This is also when the
use of black slaves became a huge asset in the industry. Unfortunately, the big
cotton boom catapulted the need/use of slaves in the states just as slavery was
beginning to become less and less. To make a comparison of how valuable slaves
were at this time Steven Deyle of PBS shows that slaves in the 1860s were
roughly three times great than the total amount invested in banks. (Deyle) This was

all because the cotton industry was growing immensely hence the term King
Cotton. With the use of the Cotton Gin and free labor from slavery, multiple
plantations were producing mass amounts of cotton throughout the South which in
turn, put The United States on the map. In the first year, Southern states were able
to produce 10,000 lbs of cotton and in years to come, nearly 1,000,000 lbs of cotton
were being produced. In fact, Cotton was the leading American export from 18031937 (Deyle).
Obviously slavery did eventually end in 1865 after the Civil War, but cotton was
still being mass produced through a process called sharecropping from about 1865
to the 1950s. Sharecropping is an agricultural system in which a land owner allows
a tenant to use their land in exchange for a share of the tenants crops that are
produced on the land. So essentially, the tenant is paying rent to use the land
owners property, but instead of paying with money they are paying with crops.
Sharecropping at this time was not a new concept around the globe. It occurred
extensively in countries such as Africa, Scotland, and Ireland before it was
introduced to The United States. It came into wide use during what we call the
Reconstruction Period (post Civil War period). After the war, the South was left in
ruins. Planters had plenty of land, but no money to pay wages or laborers or taxes.
On the other hand, former slaves had the labor experience, but no money or land
and they typically rejected any kind of gang labor work at this time. One solution for
this ongoing problem was a sharecropping system whos main focus was on cotton
production. This was the only crop at the time that could essentially generate income
for planters, landowners, merchants, and the tax collector at the end of the day.

Sharecropping however, was by no means the perfect system. When hiring many
individual workers (tenants) to plant on the larger farms, they no longer benefit from
the economies from scale. Sharecropping was not nearly as economically efficient
as the slave plantation system used for years before, but it was a way for the very
poor white and black farmers to make a living.
The production of cotton in The United States is extensive and it has truly made
a big mark in this countrys history books and it still continues to make a huge impact
in each of our daily lives. The cotton industry is still thriving and will continue to do
so for many years to come. The industry, however, in the eighteen and nineteen
hundreds compared to now is very different. From the way the cotton is harvested to
the general use of the crop is very obviously advanced.
Cotton is grown in 17 states according to the National Cotton Council. A
combined total of about 19,000 square miles which in turn brings harvesting totals to
about 7.3 billion pounds a year. (cotton.org) The cotton industry alone has
contributed to a huge increase in the U.S. economy. Revenue has been estimated at
about $100 billion. (cotton.org) Its hard to imagine that The United States would
even use that much cotton because I think most people assume its used for
clothing, towels, sheets, etc. which is true to an extent. About 75% of the crop goes
towards apparel and home goods, but these things only require the actual cotton
fiber. There is still a vast amount of cottonseed produced along with the fiber (about
5.2 million tons according to the National Cotton Council). The cottonseeds are then
used for a range of things including feed for livestock, dairy cows, and poultry. In
fact, about 6 billion pounds of cottonseed a year goes to livestock alone. Much of the

cottonseed is also converted into an oil and 90 million gallons of this is used in tons
of food products including margarine, hot dog casings, and salad dressings
(cotton.org).
Personally for me, I was not at all interested in this subject whatsoever and I
honestly did not think it would be possible to write an entire essay on the history of
one crop, but I was definitely wrong. After watching the History Channel
documentary about the history, harvesting process, and use of cotton I was actually
very intrigued about learning more about it and realized I could probably write an
entire book just about the history of where it came from alone. One of the first things
that I took away from the movie was the fact that we still use the Cotton Gin today!
Obviously, a much more advanced version than when it was first invented, but still
the exact same concept. I also didnt realize that cotton has been used all over the
world for literally thousands of years! I had thought that it was discovered in The
United States back in Civil War times, but in reality its still somewhat of a mystery
how long it has actually been used for various things around the globe. The last
interesting part of the movie that I took away was just how much cotton is used in
our daily lives. I always knew I had clothes made from cotton as well as sheets,
towels, and blankets too, but I wasnt aware that cottonseed oil is used in a lot of the
foods that I have in my pantry and fridge right now! I did a little experiment and
actually went through my house just to see how much cotton I actually own and was
surprised at the results. At least half of my clothes that I looked at have some
percentage of cotton in them and I also found multiple oils and dressings in my
fridge that contain cottonseed oil. Just by that alone, I think its safe to say that the

cotton industry directly affects my daily life and most likely the general public these
days as well!