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When people think about the Civil War, they think about a war between the Anti-slavery Union and the pro-slavery Confederacy. What people don`t always know or think about is the effect cotton production had on the war and the changes that occurred afterward. At the time of the Civil War, home grown cotton was primarily cultivated in the South where ideal climates and the use of plantations as well as slave labor was held. Little did America know that cotton would actually play a role in capitalism and global trade. Since the South had trade relations with England, the North set up a blockade to prevent the cotton from being shipped overseas, thus cutting a supply network to the agrarian South. In relation to Viktoriya’s Post, I agree on the fact imported cotton declined and led to unemployment in the South. So, a divided America needed some other way to revive its cotton industry.
Not only did cotton production greatly influence trade, it led to Emancipation because the Union`s victory freed the slaves. It also caused turmoil and needed a supply of laborers to pick up the pieces. As a result, Great Britain needed to find other producers overseas. So, they looked to “West Africa and India (Beckert, 1420).” This allowed the structure of slavery to change and America depended on cotton production in other countries to fill the void in the wake of Emancipation at the end of the Civil War. Inventions like the cotton gin were exported to Europe and helped to accelerate cotton production in the United Kingdom. The Union, however, had relations with other cotton growers like “Egypt, South America and even India which aided Northern victory (Beckert, 1418).” Finally, England didn`t have to depend entirely on one country for one commodity, they could use others for cotton production. In conclusion, I have learned emancipation and the Civil War actually created a more diverse trade network across the globe.