Reference no: EM133636440
"Cotton is the fabric of civilization. It has built up peoples, and has riven them apart. It has brought to the world vast and permanent wealth. It has enlisted the vision of statesmen, the genius of inventors, the courage of pioneers, the forcefulness of manufacturers, the initiative of merchants and shipbuilders, and the patient toil of many millions. A whole library could be written on the economic aspects of cotton alone. It could be told in detail, how and why the domination of the field of its manufacture passed from India to Spain, to Holland, and finally to England, which now shares it chiefly with the United States. The interdependence of nations which it has brought about has been the subject of numerous books and articles. Nor is the history of the inventions which have made possible to-day's great production of cotton fabrics less impressive. From the unnamed Hindu genius of pre-Alexandrian days, through Arkwright and Eli Whitney, down to Jacquard and Northrop, the tale of cotton manufacture is a series of romances and tragedies, any one of which would be a story worth telling in detail. Yet, here is a work that is by no means finished. Great inventors who will apply their genius to the improvement of cotton growing and manufacture are still to be born."-From The Fabric of Civilization, 1919 The cultivation of cotton in the South during the early 1800s contributed to the .
- dramatic shifts in agriculture and manufacturing in the mid-19th century.
- evolution of farming equipment to slow its production and control economic growth.
- abandonment of livestock in preference for using the land to grow more cotton.
- decrease in the need for slave laborers in the South due to the influx of indentured laborers.