What was the role of cotton in the Civil War?

Answer 1

It wasn't. It was important to the plantation owners. The slaves, if their "master" happened to own a cotton plantation and they were told to pick cotton, they picked it or got a beating.

The slaves were brought here unwillingly, bought and sold like cattle. They did what they were told to do to avoid punishment or death.

Answer 2

Cotton was important because it was traded by the South (The Confederacy) with France for war supplies such as ammunition, weapons, and clothes. This was because the South was fighting the North and the North had the majority of the factories that created products like the ones listed above.

Answer 3

Cotton was a very profitable commodity in the US, before, during and later on, after the US Civil War.Blockade runners were able to smuggle cotton over to Europe during the war. Although Great Britain had an excess of cotton in 1861, later on that supply was gone. The English textile mills required cotton from Egypt, India and even the South. Also, New England textile mills required cotton. The cost of importing it from Egypt as an example was too expensive. As it turned out, the US Treasury department allowed brokers to receive a special permit to buy cotton from the South and sell it to Northern textile mills.

The dependence on Southern cotton was larger than most economists understood in 1861. The previously mentioned surplus did exist on the docks of Liverpool, however, not for long. The need for cotton placed a large amount of pressure on Great Britain. 75% of Britain's cotton imports came from the US's Southern plantations. And, a full 20 % of Great Britain's population earned their living from cotton and related services that worked from cotton imports.

Answer 4

to be a cash crop (crops sold for a profit)