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The USA was linked to England and Africa by the 'transatlantic trade triangle' during the late 17th, the 18th and early 19th centuries. British ships sailed to Africa with cargoes of cotton cloth, firearms, trinkets and brandy. These would be sold to African slave traders in return for a human cargo of slaves. Once the slaves were on board they were branded with red hot irons and put into the ship's hold where they lay side by side like sardines in a can. The ship then sailed across the Atlantic to America where the slaves were sold to provide cheap labour for work on the plantations. Money paid to the captain for the slaves was spent on cargoes of rum, tobacco and sugar, and later perhaps cotton, before the ship returned to England, thereby completing the third side of the triangle. Like Europe the USA was quick to take advantage of the new technological innovations from Britain and developed its own cotton manufacturing industry during the 19th century. In 1832 a table of the factory spindleage of the world cotton industry showed the USA as having 1.2 million spindles. By 1895 this had risen to 16.1 million. Consequently USA importance as a market for cotton piece-goods ('fabrics made and sold in standard lengths') peaked early, in 1795; though for sheer quantity it peaked around 1860 when over 104 million yards of cotton piece-goods were imported by the USA from England. However between 1873-1896 alone USA imports of piece-goods slumped by over a third so that by 1896 the export figures for English cotton piece-goods to the USA was around 55 million yards; just over half what it had been 35 years earlier; although cotton thread remained a valuable British export to the USA. The major trading factor between Britain and the USA was of course the supply of raw cotton. Demand for raw cotton as a result of mechanised spinning methods had trebled its price in the twenty years between 1770-1790. In 1793 Eli Whitney invented the cotton saw gin which greatly increased the speed with which raw cotton could be cleaned of its seeds, especially the shorter stapled varieties which grew on the upland territories. This opened up the southern states of the USA such as Georgia and South Carolina for cotton growing as well. Enterprising planters sank their capital into cheap cotton production using slave labour to keep down their costs. Raw cotton became cheaper and much more plentiful, thus enabling manufacturers to reduce their costs and expand their markets. In 1803 the USA became the main source for raw cotton. In 1830-31 the USA supplied 77.8% of the raw cotton to England's cotton manufacturing trade; 77.5% from 1851-1859; and 80% in 1860, a boom year which saw the USA producing two thirds of the world's raw cotton and supplied three quarters of the raw cotton in the world markets. Liverpool acted as a central clearing house and market for USA raw cotton by importing all supplies and then re-exporting to other countries that raw cotton not required by the English market. England also imported raw cotton from India and South America, and some from Egypt and Turkey, but the bulk of her raw cotton imports came from the USA. Thus, when raw cotton production in the USA was severely curtailed by the American Civil War (1861-1865), Lancashire suffered great hardship for those four years and the English cotton industry was dealt a blow from which it would never fully recover. Further Reading: (The English Cotton Industry and the World Market 1815-1896. Farnie.D.A. 1979). GG View the USA collection to find out more > |
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| Related Narratives |
The life of a slave on a Louisiana Cotton Plantation New Cotton Lands 1836 |
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