Cotton, Slavery, and the Sectional Crisis of the
1850s
Cotton and Slavery
To appreciate how the cotton gin enabled the expansion of the
South's cotton economy, look at the table below that presents the
number of slaves in each southern state and the agricultural
products from 1790 to 1860.
From William H. Shepherd, Historical Atlas (New York: Henry Holt and
Company, 1911), 204. Image provided by Perry-Castañeda Library
Map Collection, University of Texas Libraries
(http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/)
Slavery and the Sectional Crisis of the 1850s
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James O. Horton, Benjamin Banneker Professor Emeritus of
American Studies and History at George Washington University,
in this 3-minute video, discusses the relationship between slavery
and the sectional crisis of the 1850s. He refers to the KansasNebraska Act, the Dred Scott decision, and the Lincoln-Douglas
debates, and the build-up to war by the end of the decade.
To view the video, please click here.
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