State

Industrial Revolution and 20th Century

Ginette Mea – 20th Century

Cotton also contributed to the national economy. The crop comprised more than half the total value of domestic exports in the period 1815-1860, and in 1860, earnings from cotton paid for 60 percent of all imports. Cotton also built up domestic capital, attracted foreign investment, and contributed to the industrial growth of the North. In the early 1800s, northeastern merchants began channeling commercial profits into industrial production of cloth (using southern cotton). These early textile factories and the concomitant growth of the working class created political and social problems in the new Republic; reactions ranged from fears about the fragmentation of the polity into distinct economic classes to celebrations of free labor as the strongest foundation for the nation.Just as cotton mills revealed the problem of inequality among white Americans, cotton fields expressed the racial inequality inherent in black slavery. The relation of cotton to slavery is complex. Except in the Upper South slavery was not declining in the 1790s. The crop was, therefore, not responsible for perpetuating slavery where it already existed, though it certainly was responsible for the continuing expansion of the institution westward. Whites’ acceptance of black slavery, combined with their gradual removal of southern Indians from cotton lands, demonstrated the extent to which they assumed that the political and economic liberties of whites were inversely related to those of people of color.

Simon Komlos – Industrial Revolution

The Industrial Revolution proved to be a busy time for lawmakers, especially when it came to factories and labor. In 1819 an act was established named ‘The 1819 Cotton Mills and Factories Act’, which forbade children under the age of 9 to be employed, and children between 9-16 were not allowed to work more than 12 hours per day.

Several years later the ‘Labor in Cotton Mills Act 1831’ was created. This act allowed no person under the age of 21 to work during the night.

Half a century later, almost 30 new laws had been created. Some of which include:

• Ages must be verified by surgeons.
• Machinery was to be fenced in.
• Accidental death must be reported to a surgeon and investigated.
• Factory owners must wash factories with lime every fourteen months.

“Early Factory Legislation.” UK Parliament. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Dec. 2013.

Early Modern Era

Abbey Marsh – Laws

When the English began to send home cotton from India, the people loved the fabric, however, the Indian cotton was a threat to the English wool. So in response, “By 1700, thoroughly alarmed and undoubtedly under pressures from their constituents, members of Parliament had decided to put a stop to it all by passing a law limiting the importation of cotton fabrics.” (Dodge, Cotton, The Plant That Would Be King, 14.). This did not stop the importation of cotton however, cotton lovers found a loophole in which raw cotton fiber could be imported, since it was not mentioned in the law. “By 1719 this industry had grown to such proportions that the woolen interests, through Parliament, again tried to have the importation of raw cotton interdicted, this time meeting with no success whatever.” (Dodge, Cotton, The Plant That Would Be King, 16.).

Lenora Chambers –