American History A Survey

Cotton, Slavery, and the Old South Trades in the south included sugar, rice, tobacco, and COTTON created substantial wealth in the region Growth without Development The south remained agricultural through the 1860s Began the 19th century with few important cities and little industry. Plantation industry had been dependent on slave labor ?The south grew, but it did not develop.? Decline of the Tobacco Economy Market for Tobacco was notoriously unstable. Prices were subject to frequent depressions. Tobacco rapidly exhausted the land on which it grew. By 1830s many southern farmers were shifting their crops ? notably to wheat. Southern regions of coastal south continued to rely on rice, more stable and lucrative, however required substantial irrigation.