HIS271Y1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Wage Labour, Interchangeable Parts, Market Economy
Document Summary
Tobacco dropped off because britain stopped importing during revolution. Biggest share of staple crop production, biggest export of the us. Started off slowly b/c no means to remove seeds. Eli whitney cotton gin (engine) 1790, helped develop us economy. Huge impact - interchangeable parts in n, cotton gin in s. Cotton becomes commercially viable, pushes out tobacco more slavery. Become 50% of all us export by 1840, 58% in 1860. 75% made by plantations, rest by small farmers. Wage labor vs slave labor debage if factories came south. <10% of industrial workers were in s, s made 100% of cotton. S urban settings were mostly ports & shipping centers. S didnt attract immigrants b/c no way to get good life w/o land. S population stayed anglo protestant, not much differentiation b/w white races. N thinks slavery costs more than wage labor b/c have to house slaves and feed them.
