Review History

SOUTHERN HISTORY --A BRIEF OVERVIEW of others views


Production of plantation cotton had become so successful that the region's economy was dominated by this one crop. Other crops were grown - tobacco, rice, sugarcane, and hemp, for example - but primarily as a local food supply or a secondary cash alternative. In 1860, cotton dominated not only the South's economy but also, at least in terms of export income, the entire country's; over 60 percent of the total value of goods exported from the United States during that year was from cotton. Currently produced in significant quantity outside the South, cotton still ranked fifth in value of U.S. agricultural exports in 1996.
With the loss of the Civil War, the South's economic underpinnings were badly damaged. Railroads were torn up and equipment confiscated, shipping terminals disrupted, and most of the scattered industrial base destroyed. Confederate currency and bonds were worthless. Cotton stocks awaiting postwar sale in warehouses and ports were confiscated by northern forces. Farms and fields were in disrepair, and implements and livestock were often stolen or lost. The slave labor supply was formally eliminated, and large landholdings broken up or heavily taxed.