Slavery and the southern econemy essays

Slavery and the southern econemy essays Slaves heavily supported the economy of the south due to the fact that so much money was invested into them and they produced a sizable chunk of cotton that was exported to the North and Europe. Since the economy was based on cotton, the more that you produced the more money you could make. Since almost everyone wanted to get richer they spent the money that they made on land and more slaves. Thus the south was heavily in debit at the time of the civil war. The cost of slaves was increased by the amount of money that the government and people had to spend on maintaining slavery. The government had to enforce the fugitive slave law and provide money and arms for the militias an troops stationed in the south to suppress any attempt at an uprising by slaves. Also the southern economy was heading toward a collapse due to rise in costs and a reduction in profits. As mentioned before the cost of maintaining slavery was increasing due cost to recapture slaves and the protection of whites. T he profit reduction is because of an over saturation of the cotton on to the global market. Another major factor was international pressures. By the 1830s slavery was being outlawed around the world. Importation was illegal and most countries abolished it all together. These nations began to sign treaties to enforce these laws that enabled the boycott of countries that imported or had slavery. The countries that would boycott slave areas were also some of the main consumers of cotton produced in the south. Due to these reasons slavery was a burden on the south. These however did not cause the civil war. The civil war was caused over states rights. However slavery still would of caused the downfall of the southern cash crop economy that was being practiced at the time leading up to the civil war. ...