Thought that the American North and Great Britain depended on cotton. In 1858 the South produced 66 percent of all U.S. exports. In 1859 the Northern exports were $45 million compared to $193 million from the South, of which cotton accounted for $161 million.

Cotton revenues allowed American to develop her nascent industries and provide a basis for monetary affairs. In 1860 the Northern cotton textile industry led America’s other manufacturing sectors. Northern cotton mills manufactured goods valued at $115 million, “against $73 million for wool, and an almost equal amount for forged, rolled, wrought, and cast iron taken together.” Southern slave-grown cotton was responsible for the cheap raw material that fueled the Northern mills. Cotton yielded the revenue to enable the South to buy goods from Northern merchants.