COTTON IS KING:
ts
OR THE
CULTURE OF COTTON, AND ITS RELATION  TO
3g'nicltt, t' tanfattcrs sli  (Eomane;t
TO THE
FREE COLORED PEOPLE; AND TO THOSE WHO HOLD
THAT SLAVERY IS IN ITSELF SINFUL
BY AN AMERICAN.
~ 1), a_/
-' An i_ X
,_ tz'
CINCINNATI:
MIOORE, WILSTACHI, KEYS & CO.,
25 WEST FOURTH STREET.
1 8 5 5.
,as-       n t rm,
t" -,  c       
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1855, by
MOORE, WILSTACH, KEYS & CO.,
In the Clerk's office of the District Court for the Southern
District of O~IiO.
WM.  OVEREND & CO., PRINTRs,
C I N ID. I 1 A, I I,~ 
'bli;ft c, 
PREFACE.
IN the preparation of the following pages, the
Author has aimed at clearness of statement, rather
than elegance of diction. He sets up no claim to
literary distinction; and, even if he did, every man
of classical taste knows, that a work, abounding in
facts and statistics, affords little opportunity for any
display of literary ability.
The greatest care has been taken, by the Author,
to secure perfect accuracy in the statistical information supplied and in all the facts stated.
The authorities consulted, are Brande's Dictionary of Science, Literature and Art; Porter's Progress
of the British Nation; McCullough's Commercial
Dictionary; Encyclopsedia Americana; London Economist; De Bow's Review; Patent Office Reports;
Congressional Reports on Commerce and Navigation;
Abstract of the Census Reports, 1850; and Compendiutm of the Census Reports. The extracts from the
.0
904  
PREFACE.
Debates in Congress, on the Tariff Question, are
copied from the National Intelligencer.
The tabular statements appended, bring together
the principal facts, belonging to the questions examined, in such manner, that their relations to each
other can be seen at a glance.
The first of these Tables, shows the date of the
origin of Cotton Manufactories in England, and the
amount of Cotton annually consumed, down to S1853;
the origin and amount of the exports of Cotton
from the United States to Europe; the sources of
England's supplies of Cotton, from countries other
than the United States; the dates of the discoveries
which have promoted the production and manufacture of Cotton; the commencement of the movements
made to meliorate the condition of the African race;
and the occurrence of events that have increased the
value of slavery and led to its extension.
The second and third of the tables, relate to the
exports and imports of the United States; and illustrate the relations sustained by slavery, to the other
industrial interests and the commerce of the country.
iv
., 4
. 1, 
IV f 
CONTENTS.
PREFACE..............................................3
INTRODUCTION-Character of the Slavery controversy in the
United States-In Great Britain-Its influence in modi   fying the policy of Anti-slavery men in America-Course
of the Churches-Political Parties-Review of the move   ment in behalf of the African race................ 9
I.
Emancipation in the United States-First Abolition Society
organized-Progress of Emancipation-Elements of Sla  very expansion-Franklin's Appeal-Condition of Free
Colored People-Suppression of the Slave Trade-Organ  ization of the American Colonization Society-Its objects
and policy-First Emigrants-Emigrants to Hayti  Value of Slave labor in the South-Warfare against Colo  nization-Wm. Lloyd Garrison, James G. Birney, Gerritt
Smith-Effect of Opposition-Exports of Cotton-Politi   cal action- Effect of Anti-slavery action-Fred. Dou   glass.......................................... 13 
CONTENTS.
II.
Present relations of American Slavery to the Industrial in  terests of the country-Present condition of Slavery  Manufacture of Cotton-Fusion of Interests-Census
returns of 1850-Products of United States-Thompson's
predictions-Exports of Cotton-Imports-Slave labor  Hon. Henry Clay-Protective Tariff-Mr. Hayne of South
Carolina-Mr. Govan-Carter-Martindale-Buchanan
— McDuffie-Hamilton - Rankin - Garnett- Cuthbert
-Wickliffe-Benton —Results of the contest on Protec  tion and Free Trade-Consumption of Cotton-Western
Trade —Monopoly of Foreign Markets-Tripartite Alli  ance-Nebraska bill-Value of foreign articles in 1853  Statistics-Slavery not self-sustaining-Annexation of
Texas-War with Mexico-Limits of the Controversy on
Slavery..................................... 36
III.
Social and moral condition of the Free people of Color in the
British colonies-In the United States-Hostility of
Abolitionists to the Colonization cause-Sentiments of
the Colonizationists-Canada colonization-Results  Testimony of American Missionary Association-Mis  sions in Jamaica-Report of the American and Foreign
Anti-Slavery Society-MIoral condition of Colored People
in the West Indies-London Times-Gov. Wood's Testi  mony in regard to Kingston and Jamaica-Who are the
friends of the Slave?-Republic of Liberia-Testimony
of Abolitionists in relation to the results of their own
vi 
CONTENTS.
policy-iHon. Gerritt Smith-Gov. Hunt of New YorkLogical conclusion-Important discriminatioj-Enlightenment of the Free Colored population of the United
States - Disappointment of Abolitionists- Miserable
Subterfuge-True cause of African degradation-Jay's
inquiry-Effect  of Colonization - American Reform
Tract and Book Society-Tract on Colonization-Population of Colored People in the Sugar and Cotton StatesPractical results of Abolition policy-Liberia, the field for
the moral and intellectual advancement of the Colored
man-The four great leading denominations, pledged to
the support of its educational and religious institutions...................................... 130
IV.
Moral relations of Slavery-Relations which the consumer
of Slave-labor products sustains to Slavery-Great error
of all Anti-slavery effort-Design of the Abolition move  ment-Law ofparticeps criminis-Speech of Daniel O'Con   nell-Malum in se doctrine —English Emancipationists  Commercial argument-Difference between the Govern  ments of Great Britain and the United States-Consist   ency of British Manufacturers-Classification of opin   ions in the United States, in regard to the morality of
the institution of Slavery-World's Christian Evangeli   cal Alliance-The Scotchman-Effect of the adoption of
the per se doctrine by ecclesiastical bodies-Denunciation
-King Cotton-Quadruple  alliance-Divine right of
Kings- Extreme parties harmonizing-Treatment of
vii 
CONTENTS.
Slaves by their masters-Tribute to Cesar-Bible in
Common Schools-Palladium of American Liberty,.. 162
COxCLUSION....................................... 184
APPENDIX.
STATIsTICs-Growth, manufacture and influence of Cotton
on Commerce, Slavery, Emancipation, etc., chronologi  cally arranged-Great  Britain-Annual imports and
consumption of Cotton, from the earliest dates to 1853  United States - Annual exports of Cotton to Great
Britain and Europe generally-Great Britain's sources
of supplies —West Indies-South America-Countries
around the Eastern part of the Mediterranean-British
West Indies-French and Spanish Colonies-Dutch  Portuguese-Turkey and Smyrna-Brazil-Dates of In  ventions for promoting the growth and manufacture of
Cotton-Movements for the elevation of the African race
-Tabular statement of Agricultural products, and the
products of Domestic Animals exported from the United
States-Total value of products and animals raised in
the country-Home consumption and use-Total imports
of the more prominent Groceries for the year 1853-Re  exports-Proportion of from Slave-labor countries,..202
Vlll 
COTTON IS KING.
THE controversy on SLAVERY in the United
States, has been one of an exciting and complicated character.   The power to emancipate
existing, in fact, in the States separately, and
not in the General Government, the efforts to
abolish it, by appeals to public opinion, have
been fruitless, except when confined to single
States. In Great Britain, the question was
simple. The power to abolish Slavery in her
WYest Indian colonies was vested in Parliament.
To agitate the people of England, and call out
a full expression of sentiment, was to control
Parliament, and secure its abolition. The success of the English Abolitionists, in the employment of moral force, had a powerful influence
1 
COTTON IS KING.
in modifying the policy of American Antislavery men. Failing to discern the difference
in the condition of thie two countries, they
attempted to create a public sentiment throughout the United States, adverse to Slavery, in
the confident expectation of speedily overthrowing the institution.   The  issue taken,  that
Slavery is rnalur in se-a sin in itself-was
prosecuted with all the zeal and eloquence they
could command. Churches, adopting the per se
doctrine, inquired of their converts, not whether
they supported Slavery, by the use of its products, but whether they believed the institution
itself sinful. Could public sentiment be brought
to assume the proper ground; could the Slaveholder be convinced that the world denounced
him as equally criminal with the robber and
murderer; then, it was believed, he would
abandon  the system.   Political parties, subsequently organized, taught, that to vote for a
Slaveholder, or a Pro-slavery man, was sinful,
and could not be done without violence to conscience; while, at the same time, they made no
scruples of using the products of Slave labor
10 
COTTON IS KING.
the exorbitant demand for which was the great
bulwark of the institution. This was a radical
error. It laid all who adopted it open to the
charge of practical inconsistency, and left them
without any moral power over the consciences
of others. As long as all used their products,
so long the Slaveholders found the per se doctrine working them no harm; as long as no
provision was made for supplying the demand
for tropical products, by free labor, so long
there was no risk in extending the field of
their operations. Thus, the very things necessary to the overthrow of American Slavery,
were left undone, while those essential to its
prosperity, were continued in the most active
operation; so that, now, after nearly a "thirty
years' war," we may say, emphatically, COTTON
IS KING, and his enemies are vanquished.
Under these circumstances, it is due to the
age-to the friends of humanity-to the cause
of liberty-to the "safety of the Union "that we should review the movements made in
behalf of the African race, in our country; so
that errors of principle may be abandoned;
'II 
COTTON IS KING.
mistakes in policy corrected; incompetent leaders discharged; the free colored people induced
to change their relations to the industrial
interests of the world; the rights of the slave,
as well as the master, secured; and the principles of our Constitution established and
revered. We propose, therefore, to examine
this subject, as it stands connected with the
history of our country; and especially to afford
some light to the free colored man, on the true
relations he sustains to African Slavery, and to
the redemption of his race. The facts and
arguments we propose to offer, will be embraced
under the following heads:
I. The circumstances under which the American Colonization Society took its rise; the
relations it sustained to Slavery, and to the
schemes projected for its abolition; the origin
of the elements which have given to American
Slavery its commercial value, and consequent
powers of expansion; and the futility of the
means used to prevent the extension of the
institution.
II. The present relations of American Slav
12 
COTTON IS KING.
cry to the Industrial interests of our own
country; to the demands of Commerce; and to
the present Political crisis.
III. The social and moral condition of the
free colored people in the British Colonies, and
in the United States; and the new field opening in Liberia, for the display of their powers.
IV. The moral relations of persons holding
the per se doctrine, on the subject of Slavery, to
the purchase and consumption of Slave labor
products.
1. Four years after the Declaration of American Independence, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts had emancipated  their slaves; and,
eight years thereafter, Connecticut and Rhode
Island followed their example.
Three years after the last-named event, an
Aboliton Society was organized by the citizens
of the State of New York, with JoIN JAY at its
head.  Two years  subsequently, the Pennsylvanians did the same thing, electing BENJAMIN
FRANKLIN to the presidency of their association.
The same year, too, Slavery was forever ex
13 
COTTON IS KING.
eluded, by Act of Congress, from the Northwest territory.
During the year that the New York Abolition Society was formed, WATTS, of England,
had so far perfected the steam engine as to use
it in propelling machinery for spinning cotton;
and the year the Pennsylvania Society was organized, witnessed the invention of the Power
Loom. The Cardzng M!achine and the Spznning
Jenny having been invented twenty years
before, the Power Loom completed the machinery necessary to the indefinite extension of
the manufacture of cotton.
The work of emancipation, begun by the
four States named, continued to progress, so
that, in seventeen years from the adoption of
the Constitution, New Hampshire, Vermont,
New York, and New Jersey, had also enacted
laws, to free themselves from the burden of
Slavery.
As the work of manumission proceeded, the
elements of Slavery expansion were multiplied.
When the four States first named liberated
14 
COTTON IS KING.
their slaves, no regular exports of cotton to
Europe had yet commenced; and the year New
Hampshire set hers free, only 138,328 pounds
of that article were shipped from the country.
Simultaneously with the action of Vermont, in
the year following, the Cotton Gin was invented,
and an unparalleled impulse given to the cultivation of cotton. At the samne time, Louisiana,
with her immense territory, was added to the
Union, and room for the extension of Slavery
vastly increased. New York lagged behind
Vermont for six years, before taking her first
step to free her slaves, when she found the
exports of cotton to England had reached
9,500,000 pounds; and New Jersey, still more
tardy, fell five years behind New York; at
which time the exports of that staple -so
rapidly had its cultivation progressed, were
augmented to 38,900,000 pounds.
Four years after the emancipations, by States,
had ceased, the Slave trade was prohibited; but,
as if each movement for freedom must have its
counter-movement to stimulate Slavery, that
same year the manufacture of cotton goods was
15 
COTTON IS KING.
commenced in Boston. Two years after that
event, the exports of cotton amounted to 93,900, 000 lbs. War with Great Britain, soon after ward, checked both our exports and her manu facture of the article; but the year 1817,
memorable in this connection, from its being
the date of the organization of the Colonization
Society, found our exports augmented to 95, 660,000 lbs., and her consumption enlarged to
126,240,000 lbs. Carding and spinning machinery had now reached a good degree of perfection,
and the power-loom was brought into general
use in England, and was also introduced into
the United States.  Steamboats, too, were coming into use, in both countries; and great activity prevailed in commerce, manufactures, and
the cultivation of cotton.
But how fared it with the free colored people,
during all this time? We must revert to the
days of the Pennsylvania Abolition Society, to
obtain a true answer to this question.
With freedom to the slave, came anxieties
among the whites as to the results. Nine years
after Pennsylvania and Massachusetts had taken
16 
COTTON IS KING.
the lead in the trial of emancipation, FRANKLIN
issued an Appeal for aid to enable his Society to
form a plan for the promotion of industry, intelligence, and morality among the free blacks;
and he zealously urged the measure on public
attention, as essential to their well-being, and
indispensable  to the safety of society.   He
expressed his belief, that such is the debasing
influence of Slavery on human  nature, that its
very extirpation, if not performed with care,
may sometimes open a source of serious evils;
and that so far as emancipation should be promoted by the Society, it was a duty incumbent
on its members to instruct, to advise, to qualify
those restored to freedom, for the exercise and
enjoyment of civil liberty.
How far Franklin's influence failed to promnote the humane object he had in view, maybe
inferred from the fact, that forty-seven years
after Pennsylvania struck off the shackles from
her slaves, and thirty-eight after he issued his
Appeal, one-third of the convicts in her penitentiary were colored men, while few of the other
free States were more fortunate; and some of
17 
COTTON IS KING.
them even worse-one-half of New Jersey's convicts being colored men.::
Hlad the freedmen, in the Northern States, improved their privileges; had they established a
reputation for industry, integrity, and virtue,
far other consequences would have followed
their  emancipation.   Their  advancement  in
moral character, would have put to shame the
advocate for the perpetuation of Slavery. Indeed, there could have been no plausible argument found for its continuance. No regular
exports of cotton, no cultivation of cane sugar
(to give a profitable character to Slave labor),
had any existence when JAY and FRANKLIN commenced their labors, and when Congress took
its first step for the suppression of the Slave
trade.
Unfortunately, the free colored people persevered in their evil habits. This not only served
to fix their own social and political condition on
the level of the slave, but it reacted with fearful
effect upon their brethren remaining in bondage. Their refusing to listen to the counsel of
"See Boston Prison Discipline Society's Reports, 1826-7.
18 
COTTON IS KING.
the philanthropists, who urged them to forsake
their indolence and vice, and their frequent violations of the laws, more than all things else,
put a check to the tendencies, in public sentiment, toward general emancipation. The failure  of FRANKLIN'S plan for their elevation,
confirmed the popular belief, that such an undertaking was impracticable; and the whole African race, freedmen as well as slaves, were viewed
as an intolerable burden-such as the imports
of foreign paupers are now considered. Thus
the free colored people themselves, ruthlessly
threw the car of emancipation from the track,
and tore up the rails upon which, alone, it could
move.
The opinion that the African race would become a growing burden had its origin long
before the Revolution, and led the colonists to
oppose the introduction of slaves; but, failing
in this, through the opposition of England, as
soon as they threw off the foreign yoke, many
of the States at once crushed the system-among
the first acts of sovereignty by Virginia, being
the prohibition of the Slave trade. In the deter
19 
COTTON IS KING.
mination to suppress this traffic all the States
united-but in emancipation their policy differed. It was found easier to manage the slaves
than the free blacks-at least it was claimed to
be so-and, for this reason, the Slave States,
not long after the others had completed their
work of manumission, proceeded to enact laws prohibiting emancipations, except on condition that
the persons liberated should be removed.   The
newly organized Free States, too, taking alarm
at this, and dreading the influx of the free
colored people, adopted measures to prevent the
ingress of this proscribed and helpless race.
These movements, so distressing to the reflecting colored man, be it remembered, were not
the effect of the action of Colonizationists, but
took place, mostly, long before the organization
of the American Colonization Society; and,
at its first annual meeting, the importance
and humanity of colonization was strongly
urged, on the very ground that the Slave States,
as soon as they should find that the persons liberated could be sent to Africa, would relax
their laws against emancipation.
20 
21
COTTON IS KING.
The slow progress made by the great body of
the free blacks in the North, or the absence,
rather, of any evidences of improvement in industry, intelligence, and morality, gave rise to
the notion, that before they could be elevated to
an equality with the whites, Slavery must be
wholly abolished throughout the Union.  The
constant ingress of liberated slaves from the
South, to commingle with the free colored people of the North, tended to perpetuate the low
moral standard originally existing among the
blacks; and universal emancipation was believed
to be indispensable to the elevation of the race.
Those who adopted this view, seem to have overlooked the fact, that the Africans, of savage
origin, could not be elevated at once to an equality with the American people, by the mere force
of legal enactments. Mlore than this was needed,
for their elevation, as all are now, reluctantly,
compelled to acknowledge.
The Slave States adopted opinions, as to the
negro character, opposite to those of the Free
States, and would not risk the experiment of
emancipation. They said, if the Free States feel 
COTTON IS KING.
themselves burdened by the few persons, of African descent, they have freed, and find it impracticable to educate and elevate, how much greater
would be the evil the Slave States must bring
upon themselves, by letting loose a population
nearly twelve times as numerous. Such an act,
they argued, would be suicidal-it would crush
out all progress in civilization; or, in the effort
to elevate the negro with the white man-allowing him equal freedom of action-would be to
make the more energetic Anglo-Saxon the slave
of the indolent African. Such a task, onerous
in the highest degree, they could not, and would
not undertake-such an experiment, on their
social system, they dared not hazard.
Another question, " How shall the Slave trade
be suppressed? began to be agitated near the
close of the last century. The moral desolation
existing in Africa, was without a parallel among
the nations of the earth. When the last of our
Northern States had freed its slaves, not a
single Christian Church had been successfully
established in Africa, and the Slave trade was
still legalized to the citizens of every Christian
.
22 
COTTON IS KING.
nation. Even its subsequent prohibition, by the
United States and England, had no tendency to
check the traffic, nor ameliorate the condition of
the African. The other European powers, having now the monopoly of the trade, continued
to prosecute it with a vigor it never felt before.
The institution of Slavery, while lessened in the
United States, where it had not yet been made
profitable, was rapidly acquiring an unprecedented enlargement in Cuba and Brazil, where
its profitable character had been more fully
realized. How shall the Slave trade be annihilated, Slavery extension prevented, and Africa
receive a Christian civilization? were questions
that agitated the bosom of many a philanthropist, long after WILBERFORCE had achieved his
triumphs.
At this period in the history of Africa, and of
public sentiment on Slavery, the American
Colonization Society was organized. It began
its labors when the eye of the statesman, the
philanthropist, and the Christian, could discover
no other plan of overcoming the moral desolation, the universal oppression, of the colored
23 
COTTON IS KING.
race, than by restoring the most enlightened of
their number to Africa itself. Emancipation,
by States, had been at an end for a dozen of
years. The improvement of the free colored
people, in the presence of the slave, was considered impracticable. Slave labor had become so
profitable, as to leave little ground to expect
general emancipation, even though all other
objections had been removed. The Slave trade
had increased twenty-five per cent. during the
preceding ten years. Slavery was rapidly extending itself in the tropics, and could not be
arrested but by the suppression of the Slave
trade. The foothold of the Christian missionary was yet so precarious in Africa, as to
leave it doubtful whether he could sustain his
position.
The Colonization of the free colored people
in Africa, under the teachings of the Christian
men who were prepared to accompany them, it
was believed, would as fully meet all the conditions of the race, as was possible in the
then existing state of the world. It would
separate those who should emigrate from all
24 
COTTON IS KING.
further contact with Slavery, and from its contaminating influences; it would relax the laws
of the Slave States against emancipation, and
lead to the more frequent liberation of slaves;
it would stimulate and encourage the colored
people remaining here, to engage in efforts for
their own elevation; it would establish free
republics along the coast of Africa, and drive
away the Slave-trader; it would prevent the
extension of Slavery, by means of the Slave
trade, in tropical America; it would introduce
civilization and Christianity among the people
of Africa, and overturn their barbarism and
bloody superstitions; and, if successful, it would
react upon slavery at home, by pointing out to
the States and General Government, a mode by
which they might free themselves from the
whole African race.
The Society had thus undertaken as great an
amount of work as it could perform. The field
was broad enough, truly, for an association that
hoped to obtain an income of but five to ten
thousand dollars a year, and realized annually
an average of only $3,276 during the first six
2
25 
COTTON IS KING.
years of its existence. It did not, therefore,
include the destruction of American Slavery
among the objects it labored to accomplish.
That subject had been fully discussed; the
ablest men in the nation had labored for its
overthrow; more than half the original States
of the Union had emancipated their slaves; the
advantages of freedom to the colored man had
been tested: the results had not been as favorable as anticipated; the public sentiment of
the country was adverse to an increase of the
free colored population; the few of their number who had risen to respectability and affluence, were too widely separated to act in concert
in promoting measures for the general good;
and, until better results should follow the liberation of slaves, further emancipations, by the
States, were not to be expected. The friends of
the Colonization Society, therefore, while affording every encouragement to emancipation by
individuals, refused to agitate the question of
the general abolition of Slavery. Nor did they
thrust aside any other scheme of benevolence in
behalf of the African race. Forty years had
26 
COTTON IS KING.
elapsed from the commencement of emancipation in the country, and thirty from the date of
FRANTKLIN'S APPEAL, before the Society sent off
its first emigrants. At that date, no extended
plans were in existence, promising relief to the
free colored man. A period of lethargy among
the benevolent, had succeeded the State emancipations, as a consequence of the indifference
of the free colored people, as a class, to their
degraded condition. The public sentiment of
the country, therefore, was fully prepared to
adopt Colonization as the best means, or rather,
as the only means for accomplishing anything
for them, or for the African race. Indeed, so
general was the sentiment in favor of Colonization, somewhere beyond the limits of the
United States, that those who disliked Africa,
commenced a scheme of emigration to Hayti,
and prosecuted it, until 8,000 free colored persons were removed to that island —a number
nearly equaling the whole emigration to Liberia up to 1850. Haytian emigration, however, proved a most disastrous experiment.
But the general acquiescence in the objects of
27 
COTTON IS KING.
the Colonization Society did not long continue.
The exports of cotton from the South were then
rapidly on the increase.   Slave  labor  had
become profitable, and slaves, in the cotton growing States, were no longer considered a
burden. Seven years after the first emigrants
reached Liberia, the South exported 294,310,115
pounds of cotton; and, the year following, the
total cotton crop reached 325,000,000 pounds.
But a great depression in prices;:' was now upon
the planters, and alarmed them for their safety.
They had decided against emancipation, and
now to have their slaves rendered valueless, was
an evil they were determined to avert.
At this juncture, a warfare against Colonization was commnenced at the South, and it was
pronounced an Abolition scheme in disguise.
In defending itself, the Society re-asserted its
principles of neutrality in relation to Slavery,
and that it had only in view the Colonization of
the free colored people. In the heat of the
contest, the South were reminded of their for
t;& See Table I, Appendix.
28 
COTTON IS KING.
mer sentiments in relation to the whole colored
population, and that Colonization merely proposed removing one division of a people they
had pronounced a public burden."'
The Emancipationists at the North had only
lent their aid to Colonization, in the hope that
it would prove an able auxiliary to Abolition;
but when the Society declared its unlalterable
purpose to adhere to its original position of
neutrality, they withdrew their support, and
: The  sentiment  of the  Colonization  Society, was expressed in the following resolution, embraced in its
Annual Report of 1826:
"' Resolved, That the Society disclaims, in the most unqualified terms,
the designs attributed to it, of interfering, on the one hand, with the
legal rights and obligations of Slavery; and, on the other, of perpetuating its existence within the limits of the country."
On another occasion MR. CLAY, in behalf of the Society,
defined its position thus:
"It protested, from the commencement, and throughout all its
progress, and it now protests, tlat it entertains no purpose, on its
own authority, or by its own means, to attempt emancipation, partial
or general; that it knows the General Government has no constitutional power to achieve such an object; that it believes that the
States, and the States only, which tolerate Slavery, can accomplish
the work of emancipation; and that it ought to be left to them
exclusively, absolutely, and voluntarily, to decide the question."Tenth Annual Report, p. 14, 1828.
29 
COTTON IS KING.
commenced hostilities against it. " The Antislavery Society," said a distinguished Abolitionist, "began with a declaration of war against
the Colonization Society."-:  This  feeling of
hostility was greatly increased by the action of
the Abolitionists of England. The doctrine of
"Immediate, not Gradual Abolition," was announced by them, as their creed; and the Antislavery men of the United States adopted it as
the basis of their action. Its success in the
English Parliament, in procuring the passage
of the Act for West India Emancipation, in
1833, gave a great impulse to the Abolition
cause in the United States.
In 1832, Mr. LLOYD GARRISON declared hostilities against the Colonization Society; in
1834, JAMES G. BIRNEY followed his example;
and, in 1836, GERRITT SMITH also abandoned
the cause. The North everywhere resounded
with the cry of "Immediate Abolition;" and, in
1837, the Abolitionists numbered 1,015 societies; had seventy agents under commission,
I GERRITT SMITH, 183,.
30 
COTTON IS KING.
and an income, for the year, of $36,000.'
The Colonization Society, on the other hand,
was greatly embarrassed.  Its inlcome, in 1838,
was reduced to $10,900; it was deeply in debt;
the parent Society did not send a single emigrant, that year, to Liberia; and its enemies
pronounced it bankrupt and dead.t
But did the Abolitionists succeed in forcing
Emancipation upon the South, when they had
thus rendered Colonization powerless? Did the
fetters fall from the slave at their bidding?
Did fire from heaven descend, and consume the
Slaveholder  at  their invocation?   No  such
thing! They had not touched the true cause of
the extension of Slavery. They had not discovered the secret of its power; and, therefore,
its locks remained unshorn, its strength unabated. The institution progressed as triumph
: LUNDY'S LIFE.
t On the floor of an Ecclesiastical Assembly, one minister pronounced Colonization a "dead horse;" while another
claimed that his "old mare was giving freedom to more
slaves, by trotting off with them to Canada, than the
Colonization Society was sending of emigrants to Liberia.
31 
COTTON IS KING.
antly as if no opposition existed. The planters
were progressing steadily, in securing to themselves the monopoly of the cotton markets of
Europe, and in extending the area of Slavery
at home.    In  the same  year that  GERRIMTT
SMITi declared for Abolition, the title of the
Indians to fifty-five millions of acres of land,
in the Slave States, was extinguished, and the
tribes removed. The year that Colonization
was depressed to the lowest point, the exports
of cotton, from the United States, amounted to
595,952,297 pounds,'and the consumption of
the article in England, to 477,206,108 pounds.
When Mir. BIRNEY seceded from Colonization,
he encouraged his new allies with the hope,
that West India free labor would render our
slave labor less profitable, and emancipation, as
a consequence, be more easily effected. How
stood this matter six years afterward? This
will  be  best  understood  by  contrast.   In
1800, the West Indies exported 17,000,000 lbs.
of cotton, and the United States, 17,789,803
lbs. They were then about equally productive in that article. In 1840, the West India 
COTTON IS KING.
exports had dwindled down to 427,529 lbs., while
those of the United States had increased to
743,941,061 lbs.
And what was England doing all this while?
Having lost her supplies from the West Indies,
she was quietly spinning away at American
Slave-labor cotton; and, to ease the public
conscience of the kingdom, was loudly talking
of a Free-labor supply of the commodity from
the banks of the Niger! But the expedition
up that river failed, and 1845 found her manufacturing 626,496,000 lbs. of cotton, mostly the
product of American slaves! The strength of
American Slavery at that moment, may be inferred from the fact, that we exported, that year,
872,905,996 lbs. of cotton, and our production
of cane sugar had reached over 200,000,000 lbs.;
while, to make room for Slavery extension, we
were busied in the annexation of Texas, and in
preparations for the consequent war with Mexico!
But Abolitionists themselves, some time before this, had mostly become convinced of the
feeble character of their efforts against Slavery,
and allowed politicians to enlist them in a
3
33 
COTTON IS KING.
political crusade, as the last hope of arresting
the progress of the system.  The cry of" Immediate Abolition" died away; reliance upon
moral means was mainly abandoned; and the
limitation of the institution, geographically,
became the chief object of effort.  The results
of more than a dozen years of political action
are before the public, and what has it accomplished! We are not now concerned in the
inquiry of how far the strategy of politicians
succeeded in making the votes of Abolitionists
subservient to Slavery extension. That they
did so, in at least one prominent case, will never
be denied by any candid man. All we intend
to say, is, that the cotton planters, instead of
being crippled in their operations, were able, in
the year ending the last of June, 1853, to export
1,111,570,370 lbs. of cotton, beside supplying
over 400,000,000 lbs. for home consumption;
and that England, the year ending the last of
January 1853, consumed the unprecedented
quantity of 817,998,048 lbs. of that staple. The
year 1854, instead of finding Slavery perishing
under the blows it had received, has witnessed
34 
COTTON IS KING.
the destruction of all the old barriers to its extension, and beholds it expanded widely enough
for the profitable employment of the slave population, with all its natural increase, for a hundred
years to come!!
If political action against Slavery has been
thus disastrously unfortunate, how is it with
Anti-Slavery action, at large, as to its efficiency
at this moment? On this point hear the testimony of a correspondent of FREDERICK DOUGLASS'
Paper, January 26, 1855:
" How gloriously did the Anti-Slavery cause
arise s:  in 1833-4!  And now what
is it, in our  agency!              What is it
through the errors or crimes of its advocates variously-probably quite as much as through the
brazen, gross, and licentious wickedness of its
enemies. Alas! what is it but a mutilated,
feeble, discordant and half-expiring instrument,
at which Satan and his children, legally and
illegally scoff! Of it I despair."
Such are the crowning results of both political
and Anti-Slavery action, for the overthrow of
Slavery! Such are the demonstrations of their
35 
COTTON IS KING.
utter impotency as a means of relief to the bond
and free of the colored race!
Surely, then, it is a time for work, in some
other mode, than that hitherto adopted. Surely,
too, it is a time for the American people to
rebuke that class of politicians, both North and
South, whose only capital consists in keeping up
a fruitless warfare upon the subject of Slaveryfruitless, truly, to the colored man - nay!
abundant in fruits; but to him, "their vine is
of the vine of Sodom, and of the fields of Gomorrah; their grapes of gall, their clusters are bitter; their wine is the poison of dragons, and the
cruel venom of asps."-:'
The application of this language, to the case
under consideration, will be fully justified, when
the facts are presented in the remaining pages
of this work.
2. The present relations of American Slavery
to the Industrial interests of our own country;
to the demands of Commerce, and to the present
Political crisis.
The institution of Slavery, at this moment,
Deuteronomy xxxii, 32, 33.
36 
COTTON IS KING.
gives indications of a vitality that was never
anticipated by its friends or foes. Its enemies
often supposed it about ready to expire, from
the wounds they had inflicted, when in truth it
had taken two steps in advance; while they had
taken twice the number in an opposite direction.
In each successive conflict, its assailants have been
weakened, while its dominion has been extended.
This has arisen from causes too generally
overlooked. Slavery is not an isolated system,
but is so mingled with the business of the world,
that it derives facilities from the most innocent
transactions. Capital and labor, in Europe and
America, are largely employed in the manufacture of cotton. These goods, to a great extent,
may be seen freighting every vessel, from
Christian nations, that traverses the seas of the
globe; and filling the warehouses and shelves
of the merchants, over two-thirds of the world.
By the industry, skill, and enterprise, employed
in the manufacture of cotton, mankind are better clothed; their comfort  better promoted;
general industry more highly stimulated; commerce more widely extended; and civilization
37 
COTTON IS KING.
more rapidly advanced, than in any preceding
age.
To the superficial observer, all the agencies,
based upon the manufacture and sale of cotton,
seem to be legitimately engaged in promoting
human happiness; and he, doubtless, feels like
invoking Heaven's choicest blessings upon them.
When he sees the stockholders in the cotton
corporations receiving their dividends, the operatives their wages, the merchants their profits,
and civilized people everywhere clothed comfortably in cottons, he can not refrain from explaining: "The lines have fallen unto them in
pleasant places; yea, they have a goodly heritage!"
But turn a moment to the source whence the
raw cotton, the basis of these operations, is obtained, and observe the aspect of things in that
direction. When the statistics on the subject
are examined, it appears that nearly all the
cotton consumed in the Christian world, is the
product of the Slave labor of the United States.'*
It is this monopoly that has given Slavery its
commercial value; and, while this monopoly is
0: See Appendix, Table I.
38 
COTTON IS KING.
retained, the institution will continue to extend
itself wherever it can find room to spread. He
who looks for any other result, must expect that
nations, which, for centuries, have waged war to
extend their commerce, will now abandon their
means of aggrandizement, and bankrupt themselves, to force the abolition of American Slavery!
This is not all. The economical value of
Slavery as an agency for supplying the means
of extending manufactures and commerce, has
long been understood by statesmen. The discovery of the power of steam, and the inventions
in machinery, for preparing and manufacturing
cotton, revealed the important fact, that a single
Island, having the monopoly secured to itself,
could supply the world with clothing.   reat
Britain attempted to gain this monopoly; and,
to prevent other countries from rivaling her,
she long prohibited all emigration of skillful
mechanics from the kingdom, as well as all exports of machinery. As country after country
was opened to her commerce, the markets for
her manufactures were extended, and the de mand  for the raw material increased.   The
39 
COTTON IS KING.
benefits of this enlarged commerce of the world,
were not confined to a single nation, but
mutually enjoyed by all. As each had products
to sell, peculiar to itself, the advantages often
gained by one, were no detriment to the others.
The principal articles demanded by this increasing commerce, have been coffee, sugar, and
cotton-in the production of which Slave labor
has greatly predominated. Since the enlargement of manufactures, cotton has entered more
extensively into commerce than coffee and sugar,
though the demand for all three has advanced
with the greatest rapidity. England could only
become a great commercial nation, through the
agency of her manufactures. She was the best
supplied, of all the nations, with the necessary
capital, skill, labor, and fuel, to extend her commerce by this means. But, for the raw material,
to supply her manufactories, she was dependent
upon other countries.   The  planters of the
United States were the most favorably situated
for the cultivation of cotton, and attempted to
monopolize the markets for that staple. This led
to a fusion of interests between them and the
40 
COTTON IS KING.
manufacturers of Great Britain; and to the invention of notions, in political economy, that
would, so far as adopted, promote the interests
of this coalition. With the advantages possessed
by  the English manufacturers, "Free Trade"
would render all other nations subservient to
their interests; and, so far as their operations
should be increased, just so far would the
demand for American cotton be extended. The
details of the success of the parties to this combination, and the opposition they have had to
encounter, are left to be noticed more fully hereafter. To the cotton planters, the copartnership has been eminently advantageous.
How far the other agricultural interests of
the United States are promoted, by extending
the cultivation of cotton, may be inferred from
the Census returns of 1850, and the Congressional Reports on Commerce and Navigation,
for 1854.': Cotton and tobacco, only, are largely
exported.   The production of sugar does not
yet equal our consumption of the article, and
we import, chiefly from Slave-labor countries,
' See Appendix, Table ILI.
41 
COTTON IS KING.
445,445,680 lbs. to make  up the deficiency."
But of cotton and tobacco, we export more
th     an two-thirds  of the amount produced; while of
oth     er   products, of the agriculturists, less than the
one-forty-sixth part is exported. Foreign nations,
generally, can grow their provisions, but can
n ot g       row their tobacco and cotton.  Our surplus
provisions, not exported, go to the villages,
towns,         and cities, to feed the mechanics, manufacturers, merchants, professional men, and
oth ers;        or t o the  cotton and sugar districts of
the          South,  t o f eed the planters and their slaves.
The          increase of    mechanics and manufacturers
at th        e       North, and the expansion of Slavery at
th      e   South,  therefore, augment the markets for
provisions, a    nd promote the prosperity of the
farmer.           As th e mechanical population increases,
th      e   implements of husbandry, and articles of
furniture, a    re multiplied, so that both farmer
a nd        planter can  be supplied with them on easier
terms. As foreign nations open their markets
to cotton fabrics, increased demands, for the raw
material, are made. As new grazing and grain
!:' Table III.
42 
COTTON IS KING.
growing States are developed, and teem with
their surplus productions, the mechanic is benefited, and the planter, relieved from food-raising,
can employ his slaves more extensively upon
cotton. It is thus that our exports are increased;
our foreign commerce advanced; the home markets of the mechanic and farmer extended, and
the wealth of the nation promoted. It is thus,
also, that the Free labor of the country finds
remunerating markets for its products-though
at the expense of serving as an efficient auxiliary in the extension of Slavery! 
But more. So speedily are new grain-growing
States springing up; so vast is the territory
owned by the United States, ready for settlement; and so enormous will soon be the amount
of products demanding profitable markets, that
the national government has been seeking new
outlets for them, upon our own continent, to
which, alone, they can be advantageously transported.   That such  outlets, when  our vast
possessions, Westward, are brought under cultivation, will be an imperious necessity, is known
to every statesman. The farmers of these new
43 
COTTON IS KING.
States, after the example of those of the older
sections of the country, will demand a market for
their products. This can be furnished, only, by
the extension of Slavery; by the acquisition of
more tropical territory; by opening the ports
of Brazil, and other South American countries,
to the admission of our provisions; or by a vast
enlargement of domestic manufactures, to the
exclusion of foreign goods from the country.
Look at this question as it now stands, and then
judge of what it must be twenty years hence.
The class of products under consideration, in the
whole country, in 1853, were valued at $1,551,176,490; of which there were exported to foreign countries, to the value of only $33,809,126.-:  The planter will not assent to any check
upon the foreign imports of the country, for-the
benefit of the farmer. This demands the adoption of vigorous measures to secure a market
for his products by some of the other modes
stated.  Hence, the orders of our Executive, in
1851, for the exploration of the valley of the
Amazon; the efforts, in 1854, to obtain a treaty
aSee Appendix, Table II.
44 
COTTON IS KING.
with Brazil for the free navigation of that immense river; the negotiations for a military
foothold in St. Domingo, and the determination
to acquire Cuba. But we must not anticipate topics
to be considered at a later point in our discussion.
Antecedent to all these movements, Great
Britain had foreseen the coming increased demand for tropical products. Indeed, her West
Indian policy, of a few years previous, had hastened the crisis; and, to repair her injuries, and
meet the general outcry for cotton, she made
the most vigorous efforts to promote its cultivation in her own tropical possessions. The motives
prompting her to this policy, need not be referred to here, as they will be noticed hereafter.
The Hon. GEORGE THOMPSON, it will be remembered, when urging the increase of cotton cultivation in the East Indies, declared that the
scheme must succeed, and that, soon, all Slavelabor cotton would be repudiated by the British
manufacturers. Mr. GARRISON indorsed the
measure, and expressed his belief that, with its
success, the American Slave system must inevitably perish, from starvation   But England's
45 
COTTON IS KING.
efforts signally failed, and the golden apple,
fully ripened, dropped into the lap of our cotton
planters.   The  year  that heard  THOMPSON'S
pompous predictions,:- witnessed the consumption of but 445,744,000 lbs. of cotton, by England, while, fourteen years later, she used
817,998,048 lbs., nearly 700,000,000 lbs. of
which were obtained from America!
That we have not overstated her dependence
upon our Slave labor for cotton, is a fact of
world-wide notoriety. Blackwood's Magazine,
January, 1853, in referring to the cultivation
of the article, by the United States, says:
"With its increased growth has sprung up
that mercantile navy, which now waves its
stripes and stars over every sea, and that
foreign influence, which has placed the internal
peace-we may say the subsistence of millions,
in every manufacturing country in Europewithin the power of an oligarchy of planters."
In reference to the same subject, the London
Economist quotes as follows:
"Let any great social or physical convulsion
:'1839.
46 
COTTON IS KING.
visit the United States, and England would feel
the shock from Land's End to John O'Groats.
The lives of nearly two millions of our countrymen are dependent upon the cotton crops of
America; their destiny may be said, without
any kind of hyperbole, to hang upon a thread.
Should any dire calamity befall the land of
cotton, a thousand of our merchant ships would
rot idly in dock; ten thousand mills must
stop their busy looms; two thousand thousand
mouths would starve, for lack of food to feed
them."
A more definite statement of England's
indebtedness to cotton, is given by McCuLLOUGE; who shows, that as far back as 1832,
her exports of cotton fabrics were equal in
value to about two-thirds of all the woven
fabrics exported from the empire. The same
state of things, nearly, existed in 1849, when
the cotton fabrics exported were valued at
about 140,000,000, while all the other woven
fabrics exported did not quite reach to the value
of o$68,000,000."
A London Economist, 1850.
47 
COTTON IS KING.
There was a time when American Slave labor
sustained no such relations to the manufactures
and commerce of the world as it now so firmly
holds; and when, by the adoption of proper
measures, on the part of the Free colored people
and their friends, the emancipation of the
slaves, in all the States, might have been
effected. But that period has passed forever
away, and causes, unforeseen, have come into
operation, which are too powerful to be overcome by any agencies that have since been
employed.  What Divine Providence may have
in store for the future, we know not; but, at
present, the institution of Slavery is sustained
by numberless pillars, too massive for human
power and wisdom to overthrow.
Take another view of this subject.  To say
nothing now of the tobacco, rice, and sugar,
which are the products of' our slave labor, we
exported raw cotton to the value of $109,456,404
in 1853. Its destination was, to Great Britain,
768,596,498 lbs.; to the Continent of Europe,
335,271,434 lbs.; to countries on our own Continent, 7,702,438 lbs.; making the total ex
48 
COTTON IS KING.
ports, 1,111,570,370 lbs. The entire crop of
that year being 1,600,000,000 lbs., gives, for
home consumption, 488,429,630 lbs. Of this,
there was manufactured into cotton fabrics to
the value of $61,869,274;::': of which there was
retained, for home markets, to the value of
$53,100,290.   Our imports of cotton fabrics
from Europe, in 1853, for consumption, amounted in value to $26,477,950: thus making our
cottons, foreign and domestic, for that year,
cost us $79,578,240.
This, now, is what becomes of our cotton;
this is the way in which it so largely constitutes
the basis of commerce and trade; and this is
the nature of the relations existing between
the Slavery of the United States and the
material interests of the world.
But have the United States no other great
leading interests, except those which are involved in the production of cotton? Certainly,
This estimate is probably too low, being taken from
the census of 1850. The exports of cottons for 1850 were,
$4,734,424, and for 1853, $8,768,894; having nearly
doubled in four years.
4
90+t
49 
COTTON IS KING.
they have.   Here  is a great field for the
growth of provisions. In ordinary years, exclusive of tobacco and cotton, our agricultural
property, when added to the domestic animals
and their products, amounts in value to
$1,551,176,490.   Of  this, there is exported
only to the value of $33,809,126; which leaves
for home consumption and use, a remainder to
the value of $1,517,367,364.':,  The portions of
the property represented by this immense sum
of money, which pass from the hands of the
agriculturists, are distributed throughout the
Union, for the support of the day-laborers,
sailors, mechanics, manufacturers, traders, merchants, professional men, planters, and the
slave population. This is what becomes of the
provisions.
Beside this annual consumption of provisions,
most of which is the product of free labor, the
people of the United States use a vast amount
of groceries, which are mainly of Slave labor
origin. Boundless as is the influence of cotton,
+: See Table II, Appendix.
50 
COTTON IS KING.
in stimulating Slavery extension, that of the
cultivation of groceries falls but little short of
it; the chief difference being, that they do not
receive such an increased value under the hand
of manufacturers. The cultivation of coffee, in
Brazil, employs as great a number of slaves as
that of cotton in the United States.
But, to comprehend fully our indebtedness to
slave labor for groceries, we must descend to
particulars.   Our  imports of coffee, tobacco,
sugar, and molasses, for 1853, amounted in
value to $38,479,000; of which the hand of the
slave, in Brazil and Cuba mainly, supplied to
the value of $34,451,000.:c  This shows the
extent to which we are sustaining foreign Silavery, by the consumption of these four products.
But this is not our whole indebtedness  to
Slavery for groceries. Of the domestic grown
tobacco, valued at $19,975,000, of which we
retain nearly one-half, the Slave States produce
to the value of $16,787,000; of domestic rice,
the product of the South, we consume to the
~' See Table III, Appendix.
51 
COTTON IS KING.
value of $7,092,000; of domestic Slave grown
sugar and molasses, we take, for home consumption, to the value of 834,779,000; making our
grocery account with dornestic Slavery, foot up
the sum of $50,449,000. Our whole indebtedness, then; to Slavery, foreign and domestic, for
these four commodities, after deducting two
millions of re-exports, amounts to $82,607,000.
By adding the value of the foreign and
domestic cotton fabrics, consumed annually in
the United States, to the yearly cost of the
groceries which  the country  uses, our total
indebtedness, for articles of Slave labor origin,
will be found swelling up to the enormous sum
of $162,185,240.
We have now seen the channels through
which our cotton passes off into the great sea of
commerce, to furnish the world its clothing.
We have seen the origin and value of our
provisions, and to whom they are' sold. We
have seen the sources whence our groceries are
derived, and the millions of money they cost.
To ascertain how far these several interests are
sustained by one another, will be to determine
52 
COTTON IS KING.
how far any one of them becomes an element of
expansion to the others. To decide a question
of this nature, with precision, is impracticable.
The statistics are not attainable. It may be
illustrated, however, in various ways, so as to
obtain a conclusion proximately accurate. Suppose, for example, that the supplies of food
from the North were cut off, the manufactories
left in their present condition, and the planters
forced to raise their provisions and draught
animals: in such circumstances, the export of
cotton must cease, as the lands of these States
could not be made to yield more than would
subsist their own population, and supply the
cotton demanded by the Northern States. Now,
if this be true of the agricultural resources of
the cotton States-and it is believed to be the
full extent of their capacity-then the surplus
of cotton, to the value of more than a hundred
millions of dollars, now annually sent abroad,
stands as the representative of the yearly supplies which the cotton planters receive from the
farmers north of the cotton line. This, therefore, as will afterward more fully appear, may
53 
COTTON IS KING.
be taken as the probable extent to which the
supplies from the North serve as an element of
Slavery expansion, in the article of cotton alone.
But this subject demands a still closer scrutiny, as to its past connections with national
politics, in order that the causes of the failure
of Abolitionism to arrest the progress of Slavery, as well as the present relations of the
institution to the politics of the country, may
fully appear.
Slave labor has seldom been made profitable
where it has been wholly employed in grazing
and grain growing; but it becomes remunerative in proportion as the planters can devote
their attention to cotton, sugar, rice, or tobacco.
To render Southern Slavery profitable in the
highest degree, therefore, the slaves must be
employed upon some one of these articles, and
be sustained by a supply of food and draught
animals from Northern agriculturists; and,
before the planter's supplies are complete, to
these must be added cotton gins, implements of
husbandry, furniture, and tools, from Northern
54 
COTTON IS KING.
mechanics.   This  is a point of the utmost
moment, and must be considered more at
length.
It has long been a vital question to the success of the Slaveholder, to know how he could
render the labor of his slaves the most profitable.
The grain growing States had to emancipate
their slaves, to rid themselves of a profitless
system. The cotton growing States, ever after
the invention of the cotton gin, had found the
production of that staple, highly remunerative.
The logical conclusion, from these different
results, was, that the less provisions, and the
more cotton grown by the planter, the greater
would be his profits. Markets for the surplus
products  of the farmer  of the North,  were
equally as important to him as the supply of
provisions was to the planter. But the planter,
to be eminently successful, must purchase his
supplies, at the lowest possible prices; while
the farmer, to secure his prosperity, must sell
his products at the highest possible rates.  Few,
indeed, can be so ill informed, as not to know,
~55 
COTTON IS KING.
that these  two topics, for many  years, were
involved in the "Free Trade" and "Protective
Tariff" doctrines, and afforded the materiel of
the political contests between the North and the
South-between free labor and slave labor.
A very brief notice of the history of that
controversy, will demonstrate the truth of this
assertion.
The attempt of the agricultural States, thirty
years since, to establish the protective policy,
and promote "Domestic Manufactures," was a
struggle to create such a division of labor, as
would afford a " Home Market " for their products, no longer in demand abroad. The first
decisive action on the question, by Congress,
was in 1824; when the distress in these States,
and the measures proposed for their relief, by
national legislation, were discussed on the pas- 
sage of the "Tariff Bill" of that year.  The
ablest men in the nation were engaged in the
controversy. As provisions are the most important item on the one hand, and cotton on the
other, we shall use these two terms as the
56 
COTTON IS KING.
representatives of the two classes of products,
belonging, respectively, to Free labor and to
Slave labor.
Mr. CLAY, in the course of the debate, said:
"What, again, I would ask, is the CAuSE of the
unhappy condition of our country, which I have
fairly depicted? It is to be found in the fact
that, during almost the whole existence of
this government, we have shaped our industry,
our navigation, and our commerce, in reference
to an extraordinary war in Europe, and to foreign markets which no longer exist; in the fact
that we have depended too much on foreign
sources of supply, and excited too little the
native; in the fact that, while we have cultivated, with assiduous care, our foreign resources,
we have suffered those at home to wither, in a
state of neglect and abandonment. The consequence of the termination of the war of Europe,
has been the resumption of European commerce,
European navigation, and the extension of European agriculture, in all its branches. Europe,
therefore, has no longer occasion for anything
like the same extent as that which she had
5
57 
COTTON IS KING.
during her wars, for American commerce, American navigation, the produce of American industry.   Europe  in  commotion,  and  convulsed
throughout all her members, is to America no
longer the same Europe as she is now, tranquil,
and watching with the most vigilant attention,
all her own peculiar interests, without regard to
their operation on us. The effect of this altered
state of Europe upon us, has been to circumscribe the employment of our marine, and
greatly to reduce the value of the produce of
our territorial labor.  -:    The greatest want
of civilized society is a market for the sale and
exchange of the surplus of the products of the
labor of its members. This market may exist
at home or abroad, or both, but it must exist
somewhere, if society prospers; and, wherever
it does exist, it should be competent to the absorption of the entire surplus production. It is
most desirable that there should be both a home
and a foreign market. But with respect to their
relative superiority, I can not entertain a doubt.
The home market is first in order, and paramount in importance. The object of the bill
58 
COTTON IS KING.
under consideration, is to create this home market, and to lay the foundations of a genuine
American policy. It is opposed; and it is incumbent on the partisans of the foreign policy
(terms which I shall use without any invidious
intent) to demonstrate that the foreign market
is an adequate vent for the surplus produce of
our labor. But is it so? 1. Foreign nations
can not, if they would, take our surplus produce.
:  2. If they could, they would not.   * A
We have seen, I think, the causes of the distress
of the country. We have seen that an exclusive
dependence upon the foreign market must lead
to a still severer distress, to impoverishment, to
ruin. We must, then, change somewhat our
course. We must give a new direction to some
portion of our industry. We must speedily
adopt a genuine American policy. Still cherishing a foreign market, let us create also a home
market, to give further scope to the consumption of the produce of American industry. Let
us counteract the policy of foreigners, and
withdraw the support which we now give to
their industry, and stimulate that of our own
59 
COTTON IS KING.
country.   The creation of a home market
is not only necessary to procure for our agriculture a just reward of its labors, but it is indispensable to obtain a supply of our necessary
wants. If we can not sell, we can not buy.
That portion of our population (and we have
seen that it is not less than four-fifths) which
makes comparatively nothing that foreigners
will buy, has nothing to make purchases with
from foreigners.  It is in vain that we are told
of the amount of our exports, supplied by the
planting interest. They may enable the planting interest to supply all its wants; but they
bring no ability to the interests not planting,
unless, which can not be pretended, the planting interest was an adequate vent for the
surplus produce of all the labor of all other
interests.  G:   But this home market, highly
desirable as it is, can only be created and cherished by the PROTECTION of our own legislation
against the inevitable prostration of our industry,
which must ensue from the action of FOREIGN
policy and legislation.   I'd  The sole object
of the tariff is to tax the produce of foreign
60 
COTTON IS KING.
industry, with the view of promoting American
industry.':~:  But it is said by the honorable
gentleman from Virginia, that the South, owing
to the character of a certain portion of its population, can not engage in the business of manufacturing.::   The circumstances of its
degradation unfits it for the manufacturing
arts.   The well-being of the other, and  the
larger part of our population, requires the introduction of those arts.
"What is to be done in this conflict? The
gentleman would have us abstain from adopting
a policy called for by the interests of the greater
and freer part of the population. But is that
reasonable? Can it be expected that the interests of the greater part should be made to bend
to the condition of the servile part of our population?  That, in effect, would be to make us
the slaves of slaves.  -:  I am sure that the
patriotism of the South may be exclusively relied
upon to reject a policy which should be dictated
by considerations altogether connected with that
degraded class, to the prejudice of the residue
of our population. But, does not a perseverance
61 
COTTON IS KING.
in the foreign policy, as it now exists, in fact,
make all parts of the Union, not planting, tributary to the planting parts? What is the argument? It is, that we must continue freely to
receive the produce of foreign industry without
regard to the protection of American industry,
that a market may be retained for the sale
abroad of the produce of the planting portion
of the country; and that, if we lessen the consumption, in all parts of America, those which
are not planting, as well as the planting sections, of foreign manufactures, we diminish to
that extent the foreign market for the planting
produce.  The existing state of things, indeed,
presents a sort of tacit compact between the
cotton-grower and the British manufacturer,
the stipulations of which are, on the part
of the cotton-grower, that the whole of the
United States, the other portions as well as
the cotton-growing, shall remain open and
unrestricted in the consumption of British manufactures;  and, on  the part of the British
manufacturer, that, in consideration thereof, he
will continue to purchase the cotton of the South.
62 
COTTON IS KING.
Thus, then, we perceive, that the proposed measure, instead of sacrificing the South to the other
parts of the Union, seeks only to preserve them
from being absolutely sacrificed under the operation of the tacit compact which I have described."
The opposition to the Protective tariff, by
the South, arose from  two causes - the first
openly avowed at the time, and the second
clearly deducible from the policy it pursued:
the one to secure the foreign market for its cotton, the other to obtain a bountiful supply of
Provisions at cheap rates.  Cotton was admitted
free of duty into foreign countries, and Southern
statesmen feared its exclusion, if our government increased the duties on foreign fabrics.
The South exported about twice as much of that
staple, as was supplied to Europe by all other
countries, and there were indications favoring
the desire it entertained of monopolizing the
foreign markets. The West India planters could
not import food, but at such high rates as to
make it impracticable to grow cotton at prices
low enough to suit the English manufacturer.
To purchase cotton cheaply, was essential to the
63 
COTTON IS KING.
success of his scheme of monopolizing its manufacture, and supplying the world with clothing.
The close proximity of the provision and cottongrowing districts, in the United States, gave its
planters advantages over all other portions of
the world. But they could not monopolize the
markets, unless they could obtain a cheap supply
of food and clothing for their negroes, and raise
their cotton at such reduced prices as to undersell their rivals. A manufacturing population,
with its mechanical coadjutors, in the midst of
the provision growers, on a scale such as the
Protective policy contemplated, it was conceived,
would create a permanent market for their products, and enhance the price; whereas, if this
manufacturing could be prevented, and a system
of free trade adopted, the South would constitute
the principal Provision market of the country, and
the fertile lands of the North supply the cheap
food demanded for its slaves. As the tariff policy,
in the outset, contemplated the encouragement
of the production of iron, hemp, whisky, and the
establishment of woolen manufactories, principally, the South found its interests but slightly
64 
COTTON IS KING.
identified with the system-the coarser qualities
of cottons, only, being manufactured in the
country, and, even these, on a diminished scale,
as compared with the cotton crops of the South.
Cotton, up to the date when this controversy
had fairly commenced, had been worth, in the
English market, an average price of from 29 7-10
to 48 4-10 cents per lb.   But at this period a
wide-spread and ruinous depression, both in the
culture and manufacture of the article, occurred-otton in 1826, having fallen, in England,
as low as 11 9-10 to 18 9-19 cents per lb. The
home market, then, was too inconsiderable to be
of much importance, and there existed little
hope of its enlargement to the extent demanded
by its increasing cultivation.   The  planters,
therefore, looked abroad to the existing markets, rather than to wait for tardily creating
one at home.  For success in the foreign markets, they relied, mainly, upon preparing themselves to produce cotton at the reduced prices
then prevailing in Europe. All agricultural
: This includes the period from 1806, to 1826, though the
decline began a few years before the later date.
65 
COTTON IS KING.
products, except cotton, being excluded from
foreign markets, the planters found themselves
almost the sole exporters of the country; and it
was to them a source of chagrin, that the North
did not, at once, co-operate with them in augmenting the commerce of the nation.
At this point in the history of the controversy, politicians found it an easy matter to
produce feelings of the deepest hostility between the opposing parties. The planters were
led to believe that the millions of revenue
collected off the goods imported, was so much
deducted from the value of the cotton that
paid for them, either in the diminished price
they received abroad, or in the increased price
which they paid for the imported articles. To
enhance the duties, for the protection of our
manufactures, they were persuaded, would be
so much of an additional tax upon themselves,
for the benefit of the North; and, beside, to
give the manufacturer such a monopoly of the
home market for his fabrics, would enable him
to charge purchasers an excess over the true
value of his stuffs, to the whole amount of the
66 
COTTON IS KING.
duty. By the protective policy, the planters
expected to have the cost of both provisions and
clothing increased, and their ability to monopolize the foreign markets diminished in a
corresponding degree. If they could establish
Free trade, it would insure the American market to foreign manufacturers; secure the foreign
markets for their leading staple; repress home
manufactures; force a larger number of the
Northern men into agriculture; multiply the
growth, and diminish the price of provisions;
feed and clothe their slaves at lower rates;
produce their cotton for a third or fourth of
former prices; rival all other countries in its
cultivation; monopolize the trade in the article
throughout the whole of Europe; and build up
a commerce and a navy that would make us the
ruler of the seas.
But, to understand the sentiments of the
South, on the Protective policy, as expressed by
its statesmen, we must again quote from the
Congressional Debates of 1824:
Mr. HAYNE, of South Carolina, said: "But
how, I would seriously ask, is it possible for
67 
COTTON IS KING.
the home market to supply the place of the
foreign market, for our cotton? We supply
Great Britain with the raw material, out of
which she furnishes the Continent of Europe,
nay, the whole world, with cotton goods. Now,
suppose our manufactories could make every
yard of cloth we consume, that would furnish a
home market for more than 20,000,000 lbs. out
of the 180,000,000 lbs. of cotton now shipped
to Great Britain; leaving on our hands 160,000,000 lbs., equal to two-thirds of our whole
produce.:  A    -: 0:'0  Considering this
scheme of promoting certain employments, at
the expense of others, as unequal, oppressive,
and unjust-viewing prohibition as the  neans,
and the destruction of all foreign commerce as
the end of this policy-I take this occasion to
declare, that we shall feel ourselves justified in
embracing the very first opportunity of repealing all such laws as may be passed for the
promotion of these objects."
Mr. CARTER, of South Carolina, said: "Another danger to which the present measure
would expose this country, and one in which
68 
COTTON IS KING.
the Southern States have a deep and vital
interest, would be the risk we incur, by this
system of exclusion, of driving Great Britain
to countervailing measures, and inducing all
other countries, with whom the United States
have any considerable trading connections, to
resort to measures of retaliation. There are
countries possessing vast capacities for the production of rice, of cotton, and of tobacco, to
which England might resort to supply herself.
She might apply herself to Brazil, Bengal, and
Egypt, for her cotton; to South America, as
well as to her colonies, for her tobacco; and to
China and Turkey for her rice."
Mr. GovAN, of South Carolina, said: "The
effect of this measure on the cotton, rice, and
tobacco growing States, will be pernicious in
the extreme:-it will exclude them from those
markets where they depended almost entirely
for a sale of those articles, and force Great
Britain to encourage the cottons, (Brazil, Rio
Janeiro, and Buenos Ayres,) which, in a short
time, can be brought in competition with us.
Nothing but the consumption of British goods
69 
COTTON IS KING.
in this country, received in exchange, can support a command of the cotton market to the
Southern planter. It is one thing very certain,
she will not come here with her gold and silver
to trade with us. And should Great Britain,
pursuing the principles of her reciprocal duty
act, of last June, lay three or four cents on our
cotton, where would, I ask, be our surplus of
cotton? It is well known that the United
States can not manufacture one-fourth of the
cotton that is in it; and should we, by our
imprudent legislative enactments, in pursuing
to such an extent this restrictive system, force
Great Britain to shut her ports against us, it
will paralyze the whole trade of the Southern
country. This export trade, which composes
five-sixths of the export trade of the United
States, will be swept entirely from the ocean,
and leave but a melancholy wreck behind."
It is necessary, also, to add a few additional
extracts, from the speeches of Northern statesmen, during this discussion.
Mr. MARTINDALE, of New York, said: "Does
not the agriculture of the country languish,
70 
COTTON IS KING.
and the laborer stand still, because, beyond the
supply of food for his own family, his produce
perishes on his hands, or his fields lie waste and
fallow; and this because his accustomed market
is closed against him?  It does, sir.:  
A twenty years' war in Europe, which drew
into its vortex all its various nations, made our
merchants the carriers of a large portion of the
world, and our farmers the feeders of immense
belligerent armies. An unexampled activity
and increase in our commerce followed-our
agriculture extended itself; grew, and flourished.
An unprecedented demand gave the farmer an
extraordinary price for his produce.'  
Imports kept pace with exports, and consumption with both.::  Peace came  into
Europe, and shut out our exports, and found us
in war with England, which almost cut off our
imports.'      o:  Now we felt how comfortable it was to have plenty of food, but no
clothing.  o:-:      Now we felt the imperfect
organization of our system. Now we saw the
imperfect distribution and classification of labor.
71 
COTTON IS KING.
l  Here is the explanation of our opposite views. It is employment, after all, that
we are all in search of. It is a market for our
labor and our produce, which we all want, and
all contend for.'Buy foreign goods, that we
may import,' say the merchants: it will make
a market for importations, and find employment
for our ships. Buy English manufactures, say
the cotton planters; England will take our
cotton in exchange. Thus the merchant and
the cotton planter fully appreciate the value of
a market when they find their own encroached
upon. The farmer and manufacturer claim to
participate in the benefits of a market for their
labor and produce; and hence this protracted
debate and struggle of contending interests.
It is a contest for a market between the cotton
grower and mnerchant on one side, and the
farmer and mnanufacturer on the other. That
the manufacturer would furnish this market to
the farmer, admits no doubt.   The farmer
should reciprocate the favor; and government
is now called upon to render this market acces
72 
COTTON IS KING.
sible to foreign fabrics for the mutual benefit
of both.:En:  This, then, is the remedy
we propose, sir, for the evils which we suffer.
Place the mechanic by the side of the farmer,
that the manufacturer who makes our cloth,
should make it from our farmers' wool, flax,
hemp, etc., and be fed by our farmers' provisions.   Draw  forth our iron from our own
mountains, and we shall not drain our country in the purchase of the foreign.::
We propose, sir, to supply our own wants
from our own resources, by the means which
God and Nature have placed in our hands.
::  But here is a question of sectional
interest, which elicits unfriendly feelings and
determined hostility to the bill.::  The
cotton, rice, tobacco, and indigo growers of the
Southern States, claim to be deeply affected
and injured by this system.  eLet us
inquire if the Southern planter does not
demand  what, in fact, he denies to others.
And now, what does he require? That the
North  and  West should buy- what?  Not
their cotton, tobacco, etc., for that we do
6
73 
COTTON IS KING.
already, to the utmost of our ability to consume, or pay, or vend to others; and that is to
an immense amount, greatly exceeding what
they purchase of us. But they insist that we
should buy English wool, wrought into cloth,
that they may pay for it with their cotton;
that we should buy Russia iron, that they may
sell their cotton; that we should buy Holland
gin and linen, that they may sell their tobacco.
In fine, that we should not grow wool; and dig
and smelt iron of the country; for, if we did,
they could not sell their cotton." [On another
occasion, he said]: "Gentlemen  say they will
oppose every part of the Bill. They will, therefore, move to strike out every part of it. And,
on every such motion, we shall hear repeated,
as we have done already, the same objections:
that it will ruin trade and commerce; that it
will destroy the revenue, and prostrate the
navy; that it will enhance the prices of articles
of the first necessity, and thus be taxing the
poor; and that it will destroy the cotton market, and stop the further growth of cotton."
Mr. BucHANAN, of Pennsylvania, said: "No
74 
COTTON IS KING.
nation  can  be perfectly independent, which
depends upon foreign countries for its supply of
iron.  It is an article equally necessary in
peace and in war. Without a plentiful supply
of it, we can not provide for the common
defense. Can we so soon have forgotten the
lesson which experience taught us during the
late war with Great Britain? Our foreign
supply was then cut off, and we could not
manufacture in sufficient quantities for the
increased domestic demand. The price of the
article became extravagant, and both the Government and the agriculturist were compelled
to pay double the sum for which they might
have purchased it, had its manufacture, before
that period, been encouraged by proper protecting duties."
Sugar cane, at that period, had become an
article of culture in Louisiana, and efforts were
made to persuade her planters into the adoption
of the Free trade system. It was urged that
they could more effectually resist foreign competition, and extend their business, by a cheap
supply of food, than by protective duties. But
75 
COTTON IS KING.
the Louisianians were too wise not to know,
that though they would certainly obtain cheap
provisions by the destruction of Northern manu factures; still, this would not enable them to
compete with the cheaper labor supplied by the
Slave-trade to the Cubans.
The West, for many years, gave its undivided
support to the manufacturing interests, thereby
obtaining a heavy duty on hemp, wool, and
foreign distilled spirits: thus securing encouragement to its hemp and wool growers, and the
monopoly of the home market for its whisky.
The distiller and the manufacturer, under this
system, were equally ranked as public benefactors, as each increased the consumption of the
surplus products of the farmer. The grain of
the West could find no remunerative market,
except as fed to domestic animals, for droving
East and South, or distilled into whisky, which
would bear transportation. Take a fact in
proof of this assertion.  Ion. HENRY BALDWIN,
of Pittsburgh, at a public dinner given him by
the friends of General Jackson, in Cincinnati,
May, 1828, in referring to the want of markets,
76 
COTTON IS KING.
for the farmers of the West, said, "iHe was
certain, the aggregate of their agricultural
produce, finding a market in Europe, would not
pay for the pins and needles they imported."
The markets in the Southwest, now so important, were  then  quite  limited.   As  the
Protective system, coupled with the contemplated internal improvements, if successfully
accomplished, would inevitably tend to enhance
the price of agricultural products; while  the
Free trade and anlti-internal improvement policy,
would as certainly reduce their value; the two
systems were long considered so antagonistic,
that the success of the one must sound the
knell of the other. Indeed, so fully was Ohio
impressed with the necessity of promoting
manufactures, that all capital, thus employed,
was for many years entirely exempt from taxation.
It was in vain that the friends of protection
appealed to the fact, that the duties levied on
foreign goods did not necessarily enhance their
cost to the consumer;  that  the competition
among home manufacturers, and between them
77 
COTTON IS KING.
and foreigners, had greatly reduced the price
of nearly every article properly protected; that
foreign manufacturers always had, and always
would advance their prices according to our
dependence upon them; that domestic competition was the only safety the country had against
foreign imposition; that it was necessary we
should become our own manufacturers, in a
fair degree, to render ourselves independent of
other nations in times of war, as well as to
guard against the vacillations in foreign legislation; that the South would be vastly the
gainer by having the market for its products at
its own doors, to avoid the cost of their transit
across the Atlantic; that, in the event of the
repression or want of proper extension of our
manufactures, by the adoption of the free trade
system, the imports of foreign goods, to meet
the public wants, would soon exceed the ability
of the people to pay, and, inevitably, involve
the country in bankruptcy.
Southern politicians remained inflexible, and
refused to accept any policy except free trade,
to the utter abandonment of the principle of
78 
COTTON IS KING.
protection.  Whether they were jealous of the
greater prosperity of the North, and desirous
to cripple its energies, or whether they were
truly fearful of bankrupting the South, we
shall not wait to inquire. Justice demands,
however, that we should state, that the South
was suffering from the stagnation in the cotton
trade existing throughout Europe. The planters had been unused to the low prices, for that
staple, they were compelled to accept. They
had no prospect of an adequate home market
for many years to come, and there were indications that they might lose the one they already
possessed. The West Indies was still Slave
territory, and attempting to recover its early
position in the English market. This it had to
do, or be forced into emancipation. The powerful Viceroy of Egypt, Mehemet Ali, was endeavoring to compel his subjects to grow cotton on
an enlarged scale. The newly organized South
American republics were assuming an aspect of
commercial consequence, and might commence
its cultivation. The East Indies and Brazil
were supplying to Great Britain from one-third
79 
COTTON IS KING.
to one-half of the cotton she was annually
manufacturing. The other half, or two-thirds,
she might obtain from other sources, and repudiate all traffic with our planters. Southern
men, therefore, could not conceive of anything
but ruin to themselves, by any considerable
advance in duties on foreign imports. They
understood the protective policy as contemplating the supply of our country with home
manufactured articles, to the exclusion of those
of foreign countries. This would confine the
planters in the sale of their cotton, mainly to
the American market, and leave them in the
power of moneyed corporations; which, possessing the ability, might control the prices of their
staple, to the irreparable injury of the South.
With Slave labor they could not become manufacturers, and must, therefore, remain at the
mercy of the North, both as to food and
clothing, unless the European markets should
be retained.  Out of this conviction grew the
war upon Corporations; the hostility to the
employment of foreign capital in developing
the mineral. agricultural, and manufacturing
80 
COTTON IS KING.
resources of the country; the efforts to destroy
the banks and the credit system; the attempts
to reduce the currency to gold and silver; the
system of collecting the public revenues in
coin; the withdrawal of the public moneys from
all banks, as a basis of paper circulation; and
the sleepless vigilance of the South, in resisting
all systems of internal improvements by the
General Government. Its statesmen foresaw,
that a paper currency would keep up the price
of Northern products one or two hundred per
cent. above the specie standard; that combinations of capitalists, whether engaged in manufacturing wool, cotton, or iron, would draw off
labor from the cultivation of the soil, and cause
large bodies of the producers to become consumers; and that roads and canals, connecting
the West with the East, were effectual means
of bringing the agricultural and manufacturing
classes into closer proximity, to the serious
limitation  of the foreign  commerce  of the
country, the checking of the growth of the
navy, and the manifest injury of the planters.
This tariff and free trade controversy was
7
81 
COTTON IS KING.
far from what it is now imagined to have been.
People, on both sides, were often in great
straits to know how to obtain a livelihood, much
less to amass fortunes. The word ruin was no
unmeaning phrase to the people of that day.
The news, now, that a bank has failed, carries
with it, to the depositors and holders of its
notes, no stronger feelings of consternation,
than did the report of the passage or repeal of
tariff laws, then affect the minds of the opposing
parties. We have spoken of the peculiar condition of the South in this respect. In the
West, for many years, the farmers often
received no more than twenty-five cents, and
rarely over forty cents per bushel for their
wheat, after conveying it, on horseback, or in
wagons, not unfrequently a distance of fifty
miles, to find a market. Other products were
proportionally low in price; and such was the
difficulty in obtaining money, that people could
not pay their taxes but with the greatest sacrifices. So deeply were the people interested in
these questions of national policy, that they
became the basis of political action during
82 
COTTON IS KING.
several Presidential elections.   This  led  to
much vacillation in legislation on the subject,
and gave alternately, to one and then to the
other section of the Union, the benefits of its
favorite policy.
The vote of the West, during this struggle,
was of the first importance, as it possessed the
balance of power, and could turn the scale at
will. It was not left without inducements to
co-operate with the South, in its measures for
extending slavery, that it might create a market among the planters for its products. This
appears from the particular efforts made by the
Southern members of Congress, during the
debate of 1824, to win over the West to the doctrines of Free trade.
Mr. McDUFFIE, of South Carolina, said: "I
admit that the Western people are embarrassed,
but I deny that they are distressed, in any other
sense of the word.:  I am well assured
that the permanent prosperity of the West depends more upon the improvement of the means
of transporting their produce to market, and of
receiving the returns, than upon every other
83 
COTTON IS KING.
subject to which the legislation of this government can be directed.:  Gentlemen (from
the West) are aware that a very profitable trade
is carried on by their constituents with the
Southern country, in live stock of all descriptions,
which they drive over the mountains and sell
for cash. This extensive trade, which, from its
peculiar character, more easily overcomes the
difficulties of transportation than any that can
be substituted in its place, is about to be put in
jeopardy for the conjectural benefits of this measure. When I say this trade is about to be put
in jeopardy, I do not speak unadvisedly. I am
perfectly convinced that, if this bill passes, it
will have the effect of inducing the people of
the South, partly from the feeling and partly
from the necessity growing out of it, to raise
within themselves, the live stock which they
now  purchase from  the West.:  If we
cease to take the manufactures of Great Britain,
she will assuredly cease to take our cotton to
the same extent. It is a settled principle of her
policy-a principle not only wise, but essential
to her existence-to purchase from those nations
84 
COTTON IS KING.
that receive her manufactures, in preference to
those who do not. You have, heretofore, been
her best customers, and therefore, it has been
her policy to purchase our cotton to the full
extent of our demand for her manufactures.
But, say gentlemen, Great Britain does not
purchase your cotton from affection, but from
interest. I grant it, sir; and that is the very
reason of my decided hostility to a system which
will make it her interest to purchase from other
countries in preference to our own. It is her
interest to purchase cotton, even at a higher
price, from those countries which receive her
manufactures in exchange. It is better for her
to give a little more for cotton, than to obtain
nothing for  her manufactures.   It will  be
remarked that the situation of Great Britain is,
in this respect, widely different from that of the
United States. The powers of her soil have
been already pushed very nearly to the maximum of their productiveness. The productiveness of her manufactures, on the contrary, is as
unlimited as the demand of the whole world.
:  In fact, sir, the policy of Great Britain is
85 
COTTON IS KING.
not, as gentlemen seem to suppose, to secure the
home, but the foreign market for her manufactures. The former she has without an effort.
It is to attain the latter, that all her policy and
enterprise are brought into requisition. The
manufactures of that country are the basis of her
commerce; our manufactures, on the contrary,
are to be the destruction of our commerce.  "
It can not be doubted, that, in pursuance of the
policy of forcing her manufactures into foreign
markets, she will, if deprived of a large portion
of our custom, direct all her efforts to South
America. That country abounds in a soil admirably adapted to the production of cotton, and
will, for a century to come, import her manufactures from foreign countries."
Mr. HAMITON, of South Carolina, said: "That
the planters in his section shared in that depression which is common to every department of
the industry of the Union, excepting those from
which we have heard the most clamor for relief.
This would be understood when it was known
that sea-island cotton had fallen from 50 or 60
cents, to 25 cents-a fall even greater than that
86 
COTTON IS KING.
which has attended wheat, of which we had
heard so much-as if the grain-growing section
was the only agricultural interest which had
suffered.:  While  the  planters  of this
region do not dread competition in the foreign
markets on equal terms, from the superiority of
their cotton, they entertain a well-founded apprehension, that the restrictions contemplated will
lead to retaliatory duties on the part of Great
Britain, which must  end in ruin.:  In
relation to our upland cottons, Great Britain
may, without difficulty, in the course of a very
short period, supply her wants from Brazil.?:
How long the exclusive production, even of the
sea-island cotton, will remain to our country, is
yet a doubtful and interesting problem. The
experiments that are making on the Delta of
the Nile, if pushed to the Ocean, may result in
the production of this beautiful staple, in an
abundance which, in reference to other productions, has long blest and consecrated Egyptian
fertility.:: We are told by the honorable
Speaker (Mr. Clay), that our manufacturing
establishments will, in a very short period,
87 
COTTON IS KING.
supply the place of the foreign demand. The
futility, I will not say mockery of this hope, may
be measured by one or two facts. First, the
present consumption of cotton, by our manufactories, is about equal to one-sixth of our whole
production.     l::: "  How long it will take to
increase these manufactories to a scale equal to
the consumption of this production, he could not
venture to determine; but that it will be some
years after the epitaph will have been written
on the fortunes of the South, there can be little
doubt."   ~:  [After speaking of the tendency
of increased manufactures in the East, to check
emigration to the West, and thus to diminish
the value of the public lands and prevent the
growth of the Western States, Mr. HI. proceeded
thus:] "That portion of the Union could participate in no part of the bill, except in its burdens, in spite of the fallacious hopes that were
cherished, in reference to cotton-bagging for
Kentucky, and the woolen duty for Steubenville,
Ohio. He feared that to the entire region of
the West, no  cordial drops of comfort' would
come, even in the duty on foreign spirits. To a
88 
COTTON IS KING.
large portion of our people, who are in the habit
of solacing themselves with Hollands, Antigua,
and Cogniac, whisky, would still have'a most
villainous twang.' The cup, he feared, would
be refused, though tendered by the hand of
patriotism as well as conviviality. No, the
West has but one interest, and that is, that its
best customer, the South, should be prosperous."
Mr. RANKIN, of Mississippi, said: "With the
West, it appears to me like a rebellion of the
members against the body. It is true, we export,
but the amount received from those exports is
only apparently, largely in our favor, inasmuch
as we are the consumers of your produce, dependent on you for our implements of husbandry,
the means of sustaining life, and almost everything except our lands and negroes; all of which
draws much from the apparent profits and advantages. In proportion as you diminish our
exportations, you diminish our means of purchasing from you, and destroy your own market.
You will compel us to use those advantages of
soil and of climate which God and Nature have
placed within our reach, and to live, as to you,
89 
COTTON IS KING.
as you desire us to live as to foreign nations dependent on our own resources."
Mr. GARNETT, Of Virginia, said: " The West ern States can not manufacture. The want of
capital (of which they, as well as the Southern
States, have been drained by the policy of government), and other causes, render it impossible.
The Southern States are destined to suffer more
by this policy than any other - the Western
next; but it will not benefit the aggregate
population of any State. It is for the benefit of
capitalists only. If persisted in, it will drive
the South to ruin or resistance."
Mr. CUTHBERT, of Georgia, said: "lHe hoped
the market for the cotton of the South was not
about to be contracted within a little miserable
sphere, the [home  market], instead of being
spread throughout the world.  If they should
drive the cotton-growers from the only source
from whence their means were derived [the foreign market], they would be unable to take any
longer their supplies from the West-they must
contract their concerns within their own spheres,
and begin to raise flesh and grain for their own
90 
COTTON IS KING.
consumption. The South was already under a
severe pressure-if this measure went into effect,
its distress would be consummated."
In 1828, the West found still very limited
means of communication with the East. The
opening of the New York canal, in 1825, created
a means of traffic with the seaboard, to the people of the Lake region; but all of the remaining territory, west of the Alleghanies, had gained
no advantages over those it had enjoyed in 1824,
except so far as steamboat navigation had progressed on the Western rivers. In the debate
preceding the passage of the tariff of 1828,
usually termed the " Woolens' Bill," allusion is
made to the condition of the West, from which
we quote as follows:
Mr.  WICKLIFFE, of Kentucky, said:  "My
constituents may be said to be a grain-growing
people.   They raise stock, and their surplus
grain is converted into spirits.  Where, I ask,
is our market?  -:  Our market is where
our sympathies should be, in the South. Our
course of trade, for all heavy articles, is down
the Mississippi. What breadstuffs we find a
91 
COTTON IS KING.
market for, are principally consumed in the
States of Mississippi, Louisiana, South Alabama,
and Florida. Indeed, I may say, these States
are the consumers, at miserable and ruinous
prices to the farmers in my State, of our exports
of spirits, corn, flour, and cured provisions.  
We have had a trade of some value to the South
in our stock. We still continue it under great
disadvantages.   It is a ready-money trade-I
might say it is the only money trade in which
we are engaged.::  Are gentlemen  acquainted with the extent of that trade? It may
be fairly stated at three millions per annum."
Mr. BENTON, urged the Western members to
unite with the South, "for the purpose of enlarging the market, increasing the demand in the
South and its ability to purchase the horses,
mules, and provisions, which the West could sell
nowhere else."
The tariff of 1828, created great dissatisfaction at the South. Examples of the expressions
of public sentiment, on the subject, adopted at
conventions, and on other occasions, might be
multiplied indefinitely. Take a case or two, to
92 
COTTON IS KING.
illustrate the whole. At a public meeting in
Georgia, held subsequently to the passage of
the "Woolens' Bill," the following resolution
was adopted:
Resolved, That to retaliate as far as possible upon
our oppressors, our Legislature be requested to impose taxes, amounting to prohibition, on the hogs,
horses, mules, and cotton-bagging, whisky, pork, beef,
bacon, flax, and hemp cloth, of the Western, and on
all the productions and manufactures of the Eastern
and Northern States."
Mr. HAMILTON, of South Carolina, in a speech
at the Waterborough Dinner, given subsequently
to the passage of the tariff of 1828, said: "It
becomes us to inquire what is to be our situation
under this unexpected and disastrous conjuncture of circumstances, which, in its progress, will
deprive us of the benefits of a free trade with
the rest of the world, which formed one of the
leading objects of the Union. Why, gentlemen,
ruin, unmitigated ruin, must be our portion, if
this system continues.   -:     From 1816 down
to the present time, the South has been drugged,
by the slow poison of the miserable empiricism
93 
COTTON IS KING.
of the prohibitory system, the fatal effects of
which we could not so long have resisted, but
for the stupendously valuable staples with which
God has blessed us, and the agricultural skill
and enterprise of our people."
The opening of the year 1832, found the
parties to this controversy once more engaged
in earnest debate, on the floor of Congress; and
midsummer witnessed the passage of a new
Tariff Bill, including the principle of Protection. Its enactment led to the movements in
South Carolina toward secession; and, to avert
the threatened evil, the Bill was modified, in
the following year, so as to make it acceptable
to the South; and, so as, also, to settle the
policy of the Government for the succeeding
nine years. A few extracts from the debates of
1832, will serve to show what were the sentiments of the members of Congress, as to the
effects of the protective policy on the different
sections of the Union, up to that date:
Mr. HAYNE, of South Carolina, said:" When
the policy of'24 went into operation, the South
was supplied from the West, through a single
94 
COTTON IS KING.
avenue, (the Saluda Mountain Gap,) with live
stock, horses, cattle, and hogs, to the amount of
considerably upward of a million of dollars a
year. Under the pressure of the system, this
trade has been regularly diminishing. It has
already fallen more  than one-half.::
In consequence of the dire calamities which
the system has inflicted on the South-blasting
our commerce, and withering our prosperitythe West has been very nearly deprived of her
best  customer.:  And what was  found
to be the result of four years' experience at
the South? Not a hope fulfilled; not one
promise performed; and our condition infinitely
worse than it had been four years before. Sir,
the whole South rose up as one man, and
protested against any farther experiment with
this system.:  Sir, I seize  the opportunity to dispel forever the delusion that the
South can derive any compensation, in a home
market,  for the  injurious operations  of the
protective system.::   What a spectacle
do you even now exhibit to the world? A
large portion of your fellow citizens, believing
95 
COTTON IS KING.
themselves to be grievously oppressed, by an
unwise and unconstitutional system, are clamoring at your doors for justice; while another
portion, supposing that they are enjoying rich
bounties under it, are treating their complaints
with scorn  and  contempt.'  This  system may destroy the South, but it will not
permanently advance the prosperity of the
North. It may depress us, but can not elevate
them. Beside, sir, if persevered in, it must
annihilate that portion of the country from
which the resources are to be drawn. And it
may be well for gentlemen to reflect, whether
adhering to this policy would not be acting
like the man who' killed the goose which laid
the  golden  eggs.'    Next  to the Christian
religion, I consider Free Trade, in its largest
sense, as the greatest blessing that can be
conferred on any people."
Mr. MCDUFFIE, of South Carolina, said: " At
the close of the late war with Great Britain,
everything in the political and commercial
changes resulting from the general peace, indicated unparalleled prosperity to the Southern
96 
COTTON IS KING.
States, and great embarrassment and distress
to those of the North.   The nations of the
Continent had all directed their efforts to the
business of manufacturing; and all Europe may
be said to have converted their swords into
machinery, creating unprecedented demands for
cotton, the great staple of the Southern States.
There is nothing in the history of commerce
that can be compared with the increased
demand for this staple, notwithstanding the
restrictions by which this Government has
limited that demand.   As cotton, tobacco, and
rice are produced only on a small portion of
the globe, while all other agricultural staples
are common to every region of the earth, this
circumstance gave the planting States very
great advantages. To cap the climax of the
commercial advantages opened to the cotton
planters, England, their great and most valued
customer, received their cotton under a mere
nominal duty. On the other hand, the prospects of the Northern States were as dismal as
those of the Southern States were brilliant,
They had lost the carrying trade of the world,
8
97 
COTTON IS KING.
which the wars  of Europe had thrown into
their hands. They had lost the demand and the
high prices which our own war had created for
their grain and other productions; and, soon
afterward, they also lost the foreign market for
their grain, owing, partly, to foreign corn laws,
but still more to other causes.  Such were the
prospects, and such the well founded hope of
the Southern States at the close of the late
war, in which they bore so glorious a part in
vindicating the freedom of trade.  But where
are now these cheering prospects and animating
hopes?  Blasted, sir-utterly blasted-by the
consuming and withering course of a system of
legislation which wages an exterminating war
against the blessings of commerce  and  the
bounties of a merciful Providence; and which,
by an impious perversion of language, is called
"Protection."::  I will now add, sir,
my deep and deliberate conviction, in the face
of all the miserable cant and hypocrisy with
which the world abounds on the subject, that
any course of measures which shall hasten the
abolition of Slavery, by destroying the value of
98 
COTTON IS KING.
Slave labor, will bring upon the Southern
States the greatest political calamity with
which they,can be afflicted; for I sincerely
believe, that when the people of those States
shall be compelled, by such means, to emancipate their Slaves, they will be but a few
degrees above the condition of slaves themselves. Yes, sir, mark what I say: when the
people of the South cease to be masters, by the
tampering influence of this Government, direct
or indirect, they will assuredly be slaves. It is
the clear and distinct perception of the irresistible tendency of this protective system to
precipitate us upon this great moral and
political catastrophe, that has animated me to
raise my warning voice, that my fellow citizens
may foresee, and, foreseeing, avoid the destiny
that would otherwise  befall them.:':
And here, sir, it is as curious as it is melancholy and distressing, to see how striking is
the analogy between the Colonial vassalage to
which the manufacturing States have reduced
the planting States, and that which formerly
bound the Anglo-American Colonies to the
99 
COTTON IS KING.
British  Empire.:::     England  said  to
her American Colonies, You shall not trade
with the rest of the world for such manufactures as are produced in the mother country.
The manufacturing States say to their Southern
Colonies, You shall not trade with the rest of
the world for such manufactures as we produce,
under a penalty of forty per cent. upon the
value of every cargo detected in this illicit
commerce; which penalty, aforesaid, shall be
levied, collected, and paid, out of the products
of your industry, to nourish and sustain ours."
Mr. CLAY, in referring to the condition of
the country at large, said: "I have now to
perform the more pleasing task of exhibiting
an imperfect sketch of the existing state of
the unparalleled prosperity of the country.
On a general survey, we behold cultivation
extended; the arts flourishing; the face of the
country improved; our people fully and profitably employed, and the public countenance
exhibiting tranquillity, contentment, and happiness. And, if we descend into particulars, we
have the agreeable contemplation of a people
100 
COTTON IS KING.
out of debt; land rising slowly in value, but in
a secure and salutary degree; a ready, though
not an extravagant market for all the surplus
productions of our industry; innumerable
flocks and herds browsing and gamboling on
ten thousand hills and plains, covered with rich
and verdant grasses; our cities expanded, and
whole villages springing up, as it were, by
enchantment; our exports and imports increased
and increasing; our tonnage, foreign and coastwise, swelled and fully occupied; the rivers of
our interior animated by the perpetual thunder
4nd lightning of countless steam-boats; the
currency sound and abundant; the public debt
of two wars nearly redeemed; and, to crown
all, the public treasury overflowing, embarrassing Congress, not to find subjects of taxation,
but to select the objects which shall be liberated
from the impost. If the term of seven years
were to be selected, of the greatest prosperity
which this people have enjoyed since the establishment of their present Constitution, it would
be exactly that period of seven years which
101 
COTTON IS KING.
immediately followed the passage of the tariff
of 1824.
"This transformation of the condition of the
country from gloom and distress to brightness
and prosperity, has been mainly the work of
American legislation, fostering American industry, instead of allowing it to be controlled by
foreign legislation, cherishing foreign industry.
The foes of the American system, in 1824,
with great boldness and confidence, predicted,
first, the ruin of the public revenue, and the
creation of a necessity to resort to direct taxation. The gentleman from South Carolina,
(General Hayne,) I believe, thought that the
tariff of 1824 would operate a reduction of
revenue to the large amount of eight millions
of dollars; secondly, the destruction of our
navigation; thirdly, the desolation of commercial cities; and, fourthly, the augmentation of
the price of articles of consumption, and further
decline in that of the articles of our exports.
Every prediction which they made has failedutterly  failed.  s  It is now proposed to
102 
COTTON IS KING.
abolish the system to which we owe so much of
the public prosperity.: "  Why,  sir, there
is scarcely an interest-scarcely a vocation in
society-which is not embraced by the beneficence of this system.:  The error of
the opposite argument, is  in assuming  one
thing, which, being denied, the whole fails;
that is, it assumes that the whole labor of the
-United States would be profitably employed
without manufactures. Now, the truth is, that
the system excites and creates labor, and this
labor creates wealth, and this new wealth communicates additional ability to consume; which
acts on all the objects contributing to human
comfort and enjoyment.:  I could  extend and dwell on the long list of articles-the
hemp, iron, lead, coal, and other items- for
which a demand is created in the home market
by the operation of the American system; but
I should exhaust the patience of the Senate.
Where, where should we find a market for all
these articles, if it did not exist  at home?
What would be the condition of the largest
portion of our people, and of the territory, if
103 
COTTON IS KING.
this home  market  were  annihilated?   How
could they be supplied with objects of prime
necessity? What would not be the certain and
inevitable decline in the price of all these articles, but for the home market?"
But we must not burden our pages with
further extracts. What has been quoted affords
the principal arguments of the opposing parties,
on the points in which we are interested, down
to 1832. The adjustment, in 1833, of the
subject until 1842, and its subsequent agitation, are too familiar, or of too easy access to
the general reader, to require a notice from us
here.
The results of the contest, in relation to Protection and Free Trade, have been more or less
favorable to all parties.   This has been an
effect, in part, of the changeable character of
our legislation; and, in part, of the occurrence
of events over which politicians had no control.
The  manufacturing  States, while  protection
lasted, succeeded in placing their establishments upon a comparatively permanent basis;
and, by engaging largely in the manufacture
104 
COTTON IS KING.
of cottons, as well as woolens, have rendered
home manufactures, practically, very advantageous to the South. Our cotton factories, in
1850, consumed as much cotton as those of
Great Britain did in 1831; thus affording indications, that, by proper encouragement, they
may be multiplied so as to consume the whole
crop of the country.   The cotton and woolen
factories, in 1850, employed over 130,000 work
hands, and had $102,619,581 of capital invested
in them.  They thus afford an important market to the farmer, and, at the same time, have
become an equally important auxiliary to the
planter. They may yet afford him the only
market for his cotton.
The cotton planting States, toward the close
of the contest, found themselves rapidly accumulating strength, and approximating the accomplishment of the grand object at which they
aimed-the monopoly of the cotton markets of
the world. This success was due, not so much to
any triumph over the North-to any prostration
of our manufacturing interests-as to the general policy of other nations.   All rivalry  to
9
105 
COTTON IS KING.
the American planters, in the West Indies, was
removed by emancipation; as, under freedom,
the cultivation of cotton was nearly abandoned.
Mehemet Ali had become imbecile, and the
indolent Egyptians neglected its culture. The
South Americans, after achieving their independence, were more readily enlisted in military
forays, than in the art of agriculture, and they
produced little cotton for export. Brazil and
India both supplied to Europe considerably less
in 1838 than they had done in 1820; and the
latter country made no material increase afterward, except when her chief customer, China,
was at war, or prices were above the average
rates in Europe.   While  the cultivation of
cotton was thus stationary or retrograding,
everywhere outside of the United States, England and the Continent were rapidly increasing
their consumption of the article, which they
nearly doubled from 1835 to 1845; so that the
demand for the raw material called loudly for
its increased production. Our planters gathered
a rich harvest of profits by these events.
But this is not all that is worthy of note, in
106 
COTTON IS KING.
this strange chapter of providences. No prominent event occurred, but conspired to advance
the prosperity of the cotton trade, and the value
of American Slavery. Even the very depression
suffered by the manufacturers and cultivators
of cotton, from 1825 to 1829, served to place
the manufacturing interests upon the broad
and firm basis they now occupy. It forced the
Planters into the production of their cotton at
reduced rates; and led the Manufacturers to
improve their machinery, and reduce the price
of their fabrics low enough to sweep away all
Household mnanufacturing, and secure to themselves the monopoly of clothing the civilized
world. This was the object at which the British
manufacturers had aimed, and in which they
had been eminently successful. The growing
manufactures of the United States, and of the
Continent of Europe, had not yet sensibly affected
their operations.
There is still another point requiring a passing notice, as it may serve to explain some portions of the history of Slavery, not so well
understood. It was not until events diminish
107 
COTTON IS KING.
ing the foreign growth of cotton, and enlarging
the demand for its fabrics, had been extensively
developed, that the older cotton-growing States,
became willing to allow Slavery extension in
the Southwest; and, even then, their assent was
reluctantly given-  the markets for cotton,
doubtless, being considered sufficiently, limited
for the territory under cultivation.  Up to 1824
the Indians held over thirty-two millions of acres
of land in Georgia, Mississippi, and Alabama,
and over twenty millions of acres in Florida,
Missouri, and Arkansas; which was mostly
retained by them as late as 1836. Although
the States interested had repeatedly urged the
matter upon Congress, and some of them even
resorted to forcible means to gain possession of
these Indian lands, the Government did not
fulfill its promise to remove the Indians until
1836.
The older States, however, had found, by this
time, that the foreign and home demand for
cotton was so rapidly increasing, that there
was little danger of over-production; and that
they had, in fact, secured to themselves the
108 
COTTON IS KING.
monopoly of the foreign markets.  Beside this,
the Abolition movement, at that moment, had
assumed its most threatening aspect, and was
demanding the destruction of Slavery or the
dissolution of the Union. Here was a double
motive operating to produce harmony in the
ranks of Southern politicians, and to awaken the
fears of many, North and South, for the safety
of the Government. Here, also, was the origin of
the determination, in the South, to extend Slavery, by the annexation of territory, so as to
gain the political preponderance in the National
Councils, and protect its interests against the
interference of the North.
It was not the increased demand for cotton,
alone, that served as a protection to the older
States. The extension of its cultivation, in the
degree demanded by the wants of commerce,
could only be affected by a corresponding increased supply of Provisions. Without this it
could not increase, except by enhancing their
price to the injury of the older States. This
food did not fail to be in readiness, so soon as it
was needed. Indeed, much of it had long been
109 
COTTON IS KING.
awaiting an outlet to a profitable market. Its
surplus, too, had been materially increased, by
the Temperance movement in the North, which
had checked, somewhat, the distillation of grain.
The West, which had long looked to the East
for a market, had its attention now turned to
the South, as the most certain and convenient
mart for the sale of its products - the Planters
affording to the Farmers, the markets they had
in vain sought from the Manufacturers. In the
meantime steamboat navigation was acquiring
perfection on the Western rivers - the great
natural outlets for Western products - and
became a means of communication between the
Northwest and the Southwest, as well as with
the trade and commerce of the Atlantic cities.
This gave an impulse to industry and enterprise, west of the Alleghanies, unparalleled in
the history of the country. While, then, the
bounds of Slave labor were extending from
Virginia, the Carolinas, and Georgia, westward,
over Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, and Arkansas, the area of Free labor was enlarging,
with equal rapidity, in the Northwest, through
110 
COTTON IS KING.
out Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Michigan. Thus
within these Provision and Cotton regions, were
the forests cleared away, or the prairies broken
up, simultaneously, by these old antagonistic
forces, opponents no longer, but harmonized by
the fusion of their interests- the connecting
link between them being the steamboat. Thus,
also, was a tripartite alliance formed, by which
the Western Farmer, the Southern Planter, and
the English Manufacturer, became united in a
common bond of interest- the whole giving
their support to the doctrines of Free Trade.
This active commerce between the West.and
South, however, soon caused a rivalry in the
East, that pushed forward improvements, by
States or Corporations, to gain a share in the
Western trade. These improvements, as completed, gave to the West a choice of markets,
so that its Farmers could elect whether to feed
the slave who grows the cotton, or the operatives
who are engaged in its manufacture. But this
rivalry did more. The competition for Western
products enhanced their price, and stimulated
their more extended cultivation. This required
ill
0 
COTTON IS KING.
an enlargement of the markets; and the extension of Slavery became essential to Western
prosperity.
We have not reached the end of the alliance
between the Western Farmer and Southern
Planter. The emigration which has been filling Iowa and Minnesota, and is now rolling like
a flood into Kansas and Nebraska, is but a
repetition of what has occurred in the other
Western States and Territories. Agricultural
pursuits are highly remunerative, and tens of
thousands of men of moderate means, or of no
means, are cheered along to where none forbids
them land to till. For the last few years, public improvements have called for vastly more
than the usual share of labor, and augmented
the consumption of Provisions.   The foreign
demand added to this, has increased their price
beyond what the Planter can afford to pay.
For many years Free and Slave labor maintained an even race in their Western progress.
Of late the Freemen have begun to lag behind,
while Slavery has advanced by several degrees
of longitude. Free labor must be made to keep
112 
COTTON IS KING.
pace with it. There is an urgent necessity for
this. The demand for cotton is increasing in
a ratio greater than can be supplied by the
American planters, unless by a corresponding
increased production. They must meet this
increasing demand, or its cultivation will be
facilitated elsewhere, and our monopoly of the
European markets be interrupted. This can only
be effected by concentrating the greatest possible
number of the slaves upon the cotton plantations.
Hence they must be supplied with provisions.
This is the present aspect of the Provision
question, as it regards Slavery extension. Prices
are approximating the maximum point, beyond
which our provisions can not be fed to slaves.
Such a result was not anticipated by Southern
statesmen, when they had succeeded in overthrowing the Protective policy, destroying the
United States Bank, and establishing the SubTreasury system. And why has this occurred?
The mines of California prevented both the
Free-Trade Tariff,?: and the Sub-Treasury scheme
tf The Tariff of 184:6, under which our imports are now
made, approximates the Free Trade principles very closely.
113 
COTTON IS KING.
from exhausting the country of the precious
metals, extinguishing the circulation of Bank
Notes, and reducing the prices of agricultural
products to the specie value. At the date of
the passage of the Nebraska Bill, the multiplication of provisions, by their more extended cultivation, was the only measure left that could
produce a reduction of prices, and meet the
wants of the planters. The Canadian reciprocity
treaty, since secured, will bring the products of
the British North American Colonies, free of
duty, into competition with those of the United
States, when prices, with us, rule high, and tend
to diminish their cost; but in the event of scarcity in Europe, or of foreign wars, the opposite
results may occur, as our products, in such times,
will pass, free of duty, through these Colonies,
into the foreign market. It is apparent, then,
that nothing short of extended Free-labor cultivation, far distant from the seaboard, where the
products will bear transportation to none but
Southern markets, can fully secure the Cotton
interests from the contingencies that so often
threaten them with ruinous embarrassments.
114 
COTTON IS KING.
In fact, such a depression of our cotton interests
has only been averted by the advanced prices
which cotton has commanded, for the last few
years, in consequence of the increased European
demand, and its diminished cultivation abroad.
The dullest intellect can not fail, now, to
perceive the rationale of the Kansas-Nebraska
movement. The political influence which these
Territories will give to the South, if secured,
will be of the first importance to perfect its
arrangements  for future Slavery extensionwhether by divisions of the larger States and
Territories now secured to the institution, its
extension into territory hitherto considered free,
or the acquisition of new territory to be devoted
to the system, so as to preserve the balance of
power in Congress. When this is done, Kansas
and Nebraska, like Kentucky and Missouri, will
be of little consequence to slaveholders, compared with the cheap and constant supply of
provisions they can yield. Nothing, therefore,
will so exactly coincide with Southern interests,
as a rapid emigration of freemen into these new
Territories. Free labor, doubly productive over
115 
COTTON IS KING.
Slave labor, in grain-growing, must be multiplied
within their limits, that the cost of provisions
may be reduced, and the extension of Slavery
and the growth of cotton suffer no interruption.
The present eflbrts to plant them with Slavery,
are indispensable to produce sufficient excitemnent to fill them speedily with a free population;
and if this whole movement has been a Southern scheme to cheapen provisions, and increase
the ratio of the production of sugar and cotton,
as it most unquestionably will do, it surpasses
the statesman-like strategy which forced the
people into an acquiescence in the annexation of
Texas.
And should the Anti-Slavery voters succeed in
gaining the political ascendency in these Territories, and bring them as free States triumphantly into the Union; what can they do, but
turn in, as all the rest of the Western States
have done, and help to feed slaves, or those who
manufacture or who sell the products of the
labor of slaves. There is no other resource left,
either to them or ourselves, without an entire
change in almost every branch of business and
116 
COTTON IS KING.
of domestic economy. Look at your bills of
dry-goods for the year, and what do they contain? At least three-fourths of the amount are
French, English, or American cotton fabrics,
woven from Slave-labor cotton. Look at your
bills for groceries, and what do they contain?
Coffee, sugar, molasses, rice-from Brazil, Cuba,
Louisiana, Carolina; while only a mere fraction
of them are from Free-labor countries. As now
employed, our dry-goods merchants and grocers
constitute an immense army of agents for the
sale of fabrics and products, coming directly or
indirectly, from the hand of the slave; and all
the remaining portion of the people, free colored,
as well as white, are exerting themselves, according to their various capacities, to gain the means
of purchasing the greatest possible amount of
these commodities.   Nor can the country, at
present, by any possibility, pay for the amount
of foreign goods consumed, but by the labor of
the slaves of the planting States. This can not
be doubted for a moment. Here is the proof:
Commerce supplied us, in 1853, with foreign
articles, for consumption, to the value of
117 
COTTON IS KING.
$250,420,187, and accepted in exchange, of our
provisions, to the value of but $33,809,126; while
the products of our Slave labor, manufactured
and unmanufactured, paid to the amount of
$133,648,603, on the balance of this foreign
debt. This, then, is the measure of the ability
of the farmers and planters, respectively, to meet
the payment of the necessaries and comforts of
life, supplied to the country by its foreign commerce. The farmer pays, or seems only to pay,
$33,800,000, while the planter has a broad
credit, on the account, of $133,600,000.
But is this seeming productiveness of Slavery
real, or is it only imaginary? Has the system
such capacities, over the other industrial interests of the nation, in the creation of wealth, as
these figures indicate? Or, are these results
due to its intermediate position between the
agriculture of the country and its foreign commerce? These are questions worthy of consideration. Were the planters left to grow their own
provisions, they would, as already intimated, be
unable to produce any cotton for export. That
their present ability to export so extensively, is
118 
COTTON IS KING.
in consequence of the aid they receive from the
North, is proved by facts such as these:
In 1820, the cotton-gin had been a quarter of
a century in operation, and the culture of cotton
was then as well understood as at present. The
North, though furnishing the South with some
live stock, had scarcely begun to supply it with
Provisions, and the planters had to grow the
food, and manufacture much of the clothing for
their slaves. In that year the cotton crop
equaled 109 lbs. to each slave in the Union, of
which 83 lbs. per slave were exported. In 1830
the exports of the article had risen to 143 lbs.,
in 1840 to 295 lbs., and in 1853 to 337 lbs. per
slave. The total cotton crop of 1853, equaled
485 lbs. per slave-making both the production
and export of that staple, in 1853, more than
four times as large, in proportion to the Slave
population, as they were in 1820.0,: Had the
::: The progressive increase is indicated by the following
figures:
1820        1830         1840         1853
Total slaves in U.S., - -1,538,098 - - 2.009,043 - - 2,487,356 -— 3,296,408
Cot. Exp'd, - -- lbs., 127,800,000 298,459,102 743,941,061 1,111,570,370
Av'ge ex. to each slave,  lbs., 83 ------ 143 ------ 295 - - - - - - - 337
119 
COTTON IS KING.
planters, in 1853, been able to produce no
more cotton, per slave, than in 1820, they would
have grown but 359,308,472 lbs., instead of the
actual crop of 1,600,000,000 lbs.; and would not
only have failed to supply any for export, but
have fallen short of the home demand, by nearly
130,000,000 lbs., and been minus the total crop
of that year, by 1,240,690,000 lbs.
In this estimate, some allowance, perhaps,
should be made, for the greater fertility of the
new lands, more recently brought under cultivation; but the difference, on this account, can
not be equal to the difference in the crops of the
several periods, as the lands, in the older States,
in 1820, were yet comparatively fresh and productive.
Again, the dependence of the South upon the
North, for its provisions, may be inferred from
such additional facts as these: The "Abstract
of the Census," for 1850, shows, that the production of wheat, in Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Texas, averaged, the year preceding, very little more than
a peck, (it was 27-100 of a bushel,) to each
120 
COTTON IS KING.
person within their limits. These States must
purchase flour largely, but to what amount we
can not determine. The shipments of provisions from Cincinnati to New Orleans and other
down river ports, show that large supplies leave
that city for the South; but what proportion of
them is taken for consumption by the planters,
must be left, at present, to conjecture. These
shipments, as to a few of the prominent articles, for the four years ending August 31, 1854,
averaged, annually, the following amounts:
Wheat flour - - - - - - - ---- -bbls.    385,204
Pork and bacon, in bulk and in barrels0: - -  lbs.  21,095,930
".. 1 hogsheads                  - - -----   hhds.    20,767
... 1          tierces,- - - - - - - -          tcs.       15,478
Whiskyt - ----------— gals.  8,115,360
Cincinnati also exports eastward, by canal,
river, and railroad, large amounts of these pro ductions. The towns and cities westward send
more of their products to the South, as their
distance increases the cost of transportation
to the East.  But, in the absence of full statis
:: Barrels estimated to contain 196 lbs. each.
t Barrels estimated at 40 gallons each.
10
121 
COTTON IS KING.
tics, it is not necessary to  make  additional
statements.
From this view of the subject, it appears
that Slavery is not a self-sustaining system,
independently remunerative; but that it attains
its importance to the nation and to the world,
by standing as an agency, intermediate between
the grain-growing States and foreign commerce-.
As the distillers of the West transformed the
surplus grain into whisky, that it might bear
transport, so Slavery takes the products of the
North, and metamorphoses theIn into cotton,
that they may bear export.
It seemns, indeed, when the whole of the facts
brought to view are considered, that American
Slavery, though of little force unaided, yet,
properly sustained, is the great central power,
or energizing influence, not only of nearly all
the industrial interests of our own country,
but also of those of Great Britain and much of
the Continent; and that, if stricken from existence, the whole of these interests, with the
advancing civilization of the age, would receive
122 
COTTON IS KING.
a shock that must retard their progress for
years to come.
This is no exaggerated picture of the present
imposing power of Slavery. It is literally true.
Southern men believed that the Protective
Tariff would have paralyzed it-would have
destroyed it. But the Abolitionists, led off by
politicians and editors, who advocated Free
Trade, were made the instruments of its overthrow. So such extended mining and manufacturing, as the Protective system would have
created, has now any existence in the Union.
Under it, more than one hundred and sixty
millions in value, of the foreign imports for
1853, would have been produced in our own
country.  But Free  Trade  is dominant:  the
South has triumphed in its warfare with the
North: the political power passed into its hands
with the defeat of the Father of the Protective
Tariff, ten years since, in the last effort of his
friends to elevate him to the Presidency: the
Slaveholding and commercial interests then
gained the ascendency, and secured the power
of annexing territory at will; the nation has
123 
COTTON IS KING.
become rich in commerce, and unbounded in
ambition for territorial aggrandizement: the
people acquiesce in the measures of Government, and are proud of its influence in the
world; nay, more, the peaceful aspect of the
nations has been changed, and the policy of
our own country must be modified to meet the
exigencies that may arise.
One word more on the point we have been
considering.   With the defeat of Mr.  CLAY,
came the immediate annexation of Texas, and,
as he predicted, the war with Mexico.  The
results of these events let loose from its attachments a mighty avalanche of emigration and
of enterprise, under the rule of the Free Trade
policy, then adopted, which, by the golden
treasures it yields, renders that system, thus
far, self-sustaining, and able to move on, as its
friends believe, with a momentum that forbids
any attempt to return again to the system of
Protection. Whether the Tariff controversy is
permanently settled, or not, is a question about
which we shall not speculate. It may be remarked, however, that one of the leading par
124 
COTTON IS KING.
ties in the North, gave in its adhesion to Free
Trade many years since, and still continues to
vote with the South. The leading Abolition
paper, too, ever since its origin, has advocated
the Southern Free Trade system; and thus, in
defending the cause it has espoused, as was said
of a certain General in the Mexican war, its
editor has been digging his ditches on the
wrong side of his breastworks. To say the
least, his position is a very strange one, for
a man who professes to labor for the overthrow
of American Slavery. It would be as rational
to pour oil upon a burning edifice, to extinguish
the fire, as to attempt to overthrow that system
under the rule of Free Trade.
All these things together have paralyzed the
advocates of the protection of Free labor, at
present, as fully as the North has thereby been
shorn of its power to control the question of
Slavery. Indeed, from what has been said of
the present position of American Slavery, in
its relations to the other industrial interests
of the country, and of the world, there is no
longer any doubt that it now completes the
125 
COTTON IS KING.
home market, so zealously urged as essential to
the prosperity of the Agricultural population of
the country: and which, it was supposed, could
only be created by the multiplication of domestic
manufactures. This desideratum being gained,
the great majority of the people have nothing
more to ask, but seem desirous that our foreign
commerce shall be cherished; that the cultivation of cotton and sugar shall be extended;
that the nation shall become cumulative as
well as progressive; that as Despotism is
striving to spread its raven wing over the earth,
Freedom must strengthen itself for the protection of the liberties of the world; that while
three millions of Africans, only, are held to
involuntary servitude for a time, to sustain the
system of Free Trade, the freedom of hundreds
of millions is involved in the preservation of
the American Constitution; and that as African
emancipation, in every experiment made, has
thrown a dead weight upon Anglo-Saxon progress, the colored people must wait a little,
until the general battle for the liberties of the
civilized nations is gained, before the universal
126 
COTTON IS KING.
elevation of the barbarous tribes can be
achieved. This work, it is true, has been commenced at various outposts in heathendom, by
the missionary, but is impeded by numberless
hinderances; and these obstacles to the progress
of Christian civilization, doubtless will continue,
until the friends of civil and religious liberty
shall triumph in nominally Christian countries,
and, with the wealth of the nations at command, instead of applying it to purposes of
war, shall devote it to sweeping away the darkness of superstition and barbarism from the
earth, by extending the knowledge of Science
and Revelation to all the families of man.
But we must hasten.
There are none who will deny the truth of
what is said of the present strength and influence of Slavery, however much they may have
deprecated its acquisition of power.  There are
none who think it practicable to assail it, successfully, by political action, in the States where
it is already established by law. The struggle
against the system, therefore, is narrowed down
to an effort to prevent its extension into territory
127 
COTTON IS KING.
now free; and this contest is limited to the
people of the Territories themselves. The question is thus taken out of the hands of the people
at large, and they are cut off from all control
of Slavery, both in the States and Territories.
Hlence it is, that the American people are
considering the propriety of banishing this distracting question from national politics, and
demanding of their statesmen that there shall
no longer be any delay in the adoption of measures to sustain the Constitution and laws of our
glorious Union, against all its enemies, whether
domestic or foreign.
The policy of adopting this course, may be
liable to objection; but it does not appear to
arise from any disposition to prove recreant to
the cause of philanthropy, that the people of
the Free States are resolving to divorce the
Slavery question from all connection with political movements. It is because they now find
themselves wholly powerless, as did the Colonizationists, forty years since, in regard to emancipation, and are thus forced into a position of
neutrality upon that subject. A word on this
128 
COTTON IS KING.
point. The friends of Colonization, in the outset
of that enterprise, found themselves shut up to
the necessity of creating a Republic on the shores
of Africa, as the only hope for the Free colored
people-tthe further emancipation of the slaves,
by State action, having become impracticable.
After nearly forty years of experimenting with
the free colored people, by others, Colonizationists still find themselves circumscribed in their
operations, to their original design of building
up the Republic of Liberia, as the only rational
hope of the elevation of the African race-the
prospects of general emancipation being a thousand-fold more gloomy in 1855 than they were
in 1817. But to return. The people at large,
too, begin not only to realize their own want of
power over the institution of Slavery, and the
futility of any measures hitherto adopted to
arrest its progress, and elevate the free colored
people; but they have also discovered agencies
at work, heretofore overlooked, except by few,
which are tending to sap the foundations of our
Free Institutions, and to subject us to influences
that have crushed the liberties of Europe, and
II
129 
COTTON IS KING.
which, if permitted to become dominant here,
will blot out our happy Republic, and, with it,
the liberties of the world.
In such a crisis as this, shall the friends of
the Union be rebuked, if they determine to take
a position of neutrality, in politics, on the subject of Slavery; while, at the same time, they
offer to guarantee the Free colored people a
Republic of their own, where they may equal
other races, and aid in redeeming a continent
from the woes it has suffered for thousands of
years!
3. The social and moral condition of the free
people of color, in the British colonies, and in
the United States; and the new field opening
in Liberia for the display of their powers.
We have noticed the social and moral condition of the free colored people. from the days of
FRANKLIN, to the projection of Colonization. We
have also glanced at the main facts in relation
to the Abolition warfare upon Colonization, and
its success in paralyzing the enterprise. This
demands a more extended notice.   The  most
serious injury from this hostility, sustained by
130 
COTTON IS KING.
the cause of Colonization, was the prejudice
created, in the minds of the more intelligent
free colored men, against emigration to Liberia.
The Colonization Society had expressed its belief
in the natural equality of the blacks and whites;
and that there were a sufficient number of educated, upright, free colored men, in the United
States, to establish and sustain a Republic on
the coast of Africa, "whose citizens, rising rapidly in the scale of existence, under the stimulants to noble effort by which they would be
surrounded, might soon become equal to the
people of Europe, or of European origin-so long
their masters and oppressors." These were the
sentiments of the first Report of the Colonization Society, and often repeated since.  Its
appeals were made to the moral and intelligent
of the Free colored people; and, with their cooperation, the success of its scheme was considered certain. But the very persons needed to
lead the enterprise, were, mostly, persuaded to
reject the proffered aid, and the Society was left
to prosecute its plans with such materials as
offered. In consequence of this opposition, it
131 
COTTON IS KING.
was greatly embarrassed, and made less progress
in its work of African redemption, than it must
have  done under other circumstances.   Had
three-fourths of its emigrants been the enlightened, free colored men of the country, a dozen
Liberias might now gird the coast of Africa,
where but one exists; and the Slave trader be
entirely excluded from its shores. Doubtless, a
wise Providence has governed here, as in other
human affairs, and may have permitted this
result, to show how speedily even semi-civilized
men can be elevated under American Protestant
Free Institutions. The great body of emigrants
to Liberia, and nearly all the leading men who
have sprung up in the Colony, and contributed
most to the formation of the Republic, went out
from the very midst of Slavery; and yet, what
encouraging results! It has been a sad mistake
to oppose American Colonization, and thus to
retard Africa's redemption!
But how has it fared with the Free colored
people elsewhere? The answer to this question
will be the solution of the inquiry, What has
Abolitionism accomplished by its hostility to
132 
COTTON IS KING.
Colonization, and what is the condition of the
free colored people, whose interests it volunteered
to promote, and whose destinies it attempted to
control?
The Abolitionists themselves shall answer this
question. The colored people shall see what
kind of commendations their tutors give them,
and what the world is to think of them, on the
testimony of their particular friends.
The concentration of a colored population in
Canada, is the work of American Abolitionists.
In 1848, Rev. E. SMITII, a prominent Abolitionist of Ohio, was acting as their agent, in
collecting funds for their relief. In an appeal
for aid, published in the Clarion of Freedom,
Feb. 18, he represented them  as "destitute of
education, and, like all other uneducated persons, having no great appreciation of its value,
and not making the exertions they should to
secure it to themselves or their children."
The American Missionary Association, is the
organ of the Abolitionists, for the spread of a
Gospel untainted, it is claimed, by contact with
Slavery. Out of four stations under its care,
133 
COTTON IS KING.
in Canada, at the opening of 1853, but one
school, that of!MISS LYON, remained at its close.
All the others were abandoned, and all the missionaries had asked to be released,-: as we are
informed by its Seventh Annual Report, mainly,
for the reasons stated in the following extract,
page 49:
"The number of missionaries and teachers
in Canada, with which the year commenced,
has been greatly reduced. Early in the year,
Mr. KIRKLAND wrote to the Committee, that
the opposition to white missionaries, manifested
by the colored people of Canada, had so greatly
increased, by the interested misrepresentations
of ignorant colored men, pretending to be ministers of the Gospel, that he thought his own
and his wife's labors, and the funds of the
Association, could be better employed elsewhere."
It is not our purpose to multiply testimony
on this subject, but simply to afford an index to
the condition of the colored people, as described
:: Mr. WILSON, the Missionary at St. Catherines, still
remained there, but not under the care of the Association.
134 
COTTON IS KING.
by Abolition pens, best known to the public.
West India Emancipation, under the guidance
of English Abolitionists, has always been viewed
as the grand experiment, which was to convince
the world of the capacity of the colored man to
rise, side by side, with the white man. We
shall let the friends of the system testify as to
its results. Opening, again, the Seventh Annual
Report of the American Missionary Association,
page 30, we find it written:
"One of our missionaries, in giving a description of the moral condition of the people of
Jamaica, after speaking of the licentiousness
which they received as a legacy from those who
denied them the pure joys of holy wedlock, and
trampled upon and scourged chastity, as if it
were a fiend to be driven out from among men -
that enduring legacy which, with its foul, pestilential influence, still blights, like the mildew
of death, everything in society that should be
lovely, virtuous, and of good report; and alluding to their intemperance, in which they have
followed the example set by the Governor in
his palace, the Bishop in his robes, statesmen
135 
COTTON IS KING.
and judges, lawyers and doctors, planters and
overseers, and even professedly Christian ministers; and the deceit and falsehood which oppression and wrong always engender, says:' It
must not be forgotten that we are following in
the wake of the accursed system of Slavery
a system that unmakes man, by warring upon
his conscience and crushing his spirit, leaving
naught but the shattered wrecks of humanity
behind it  If we may but gather up some of
these floating fragments, from which the image
of God is well nigh effaced, and pilot them
safely to that better land, we shall not have
labored in vain. But we may hope to do more.
The chief fruit of our labors is to be sought in
the future rather than in the present.' It should
be remembered, too, (continues the Report,) that
there is but a small part of the population yet
brought within the reach of the influence of
enlightened Christian teachers, while the great
mass by whom they are surrounded are but little
removed from actual heathenism." Another
missionary, page 33, says, it is the opinion of
all intelligent Christian men, that "nothing
136 
COTTON IS KING.
save the furnishing of the people with ample
means of education and religious instruction
will save them from relapsing into a state of
barbarism." And another, page 36, in speaking of certain cases of discipline, for the highest
form of crime, under the seventh commandment,
says: "There is nothing in public sentiment to
save the youth of Jamaica in this respect."
The missions of this Association, in Jamaica,
differ scarcely a shade from those among  the
actual heathen. On this point, the Report, near
its close, says:
"For most of the adult population of Jamaica,
the unhappy victims of long years of oppression
and degradation, our missionaries have great
fear. Yet for even these there may be hope,
even though with trembling. But it is around
the youth of the island that their brightest
hopes and anticipations cluster; from them they
expect to gather their principal sheaves for the
great Lord of the harvest."
Thus far we have drawn upon the American
Missionary Association.   Next we turn to the
Annual Report of the American and Joreign
137 
COTTON IS KING.
Anti-Slavery Society, 1853, which discourses thus,
in its own language, and in quotations which it
indorses:~ 
"The friends of emancipation in the United
Sta tes hav     e  b een disappointed in some respects
at the results in the West Indies, because they
expected too much. A nation of slaves can not
at once be converted into a nation of intelligent,
industrious, a    nd moral freemen."  A  "It
is not too much, even now, to say of the people
of          Jamaica,:::their condition is exceedingl      y  degraded, their morals woefully corrupt.
But this must by no means be understood to be
of universal application. With respect to those
who have been brought under a healthful educational and religious influence, it is not true.
But as respects the great mass, whose humanity
ha      s b   een ground out of them by cruel oppression-whom n o good Samaritan hand has yet
reached - how could it be otherwise? We wish
to turn the tables; to supplant oppression by
righteousness, insult by compassion and brotherly
I Page 170.
138 
COTTON IS KING.
kindness, hatred and contempt by love and winning meekness, till we allure these wretched
ones to the hope and enjoyment of manhood and
virtue.";-::       " The means of education and
religious instruction are better enjoyed, although
but little appreciated and improved by the great
mass of the people. It is also true, that the
moral sense of the people is becoming somewhat
enlightened.:  But while this is true, yet
their moral condition is very far from being what
it ought to be.:  It is exceeding dark and
distressing. Licentiousness prevails to a most
alarming extent among the people.''  The
almost universal prevalence of intemperance is
another prolific source of the moral darkness
and degradation of the people. The great mass,
among all classes of the inhabitants, from the
Governor in his palace to the peasant in his hut
from the bishop in his gown to the beggar in his
rags- are all slaves to their cups."t
: Extract from the report of a missionary, quoted in
the Report, page 172.
t Extract from the report of another missionary, page
171, of the Report.
139 
COTTON IS KING.
This is the language of American Abolition ists, going out under the sanction of their Annual
Reports. Lest it may be considered as too highly
colored, we add the following from the London
Times, of near the same date. In speaking of
the results of emancipation, in Jamaica, it says:
" The negro has not acquired with his freedom any habits of industry or morality. His
independence is but little better than that of an
uncaptured brute.  Having accepted few of the
restraints of civilization, he is amenable to few
of its necessities; and the wants of his nature
are so easily satisfied, that at the current rate
of wages, he is called upon for nothing but fitful or desultory exertion. The blacks, therefore, instead of becoming intelligent husbandmen, have become vagrants and squatters, and
it is now apprehended that with the failure of
cultivation in the island will come the failure
of its resources for instructing or controlling its
population. So imminent does this consummation appear, that memorials have been signed
by classes of colonial society hitherto standing
aloof from politics, and not only the bench and
140 
COTTON IS KING.
the bar, but the bishop, clergy, and ministers
of all denominations in the island, without exceptions, have recorded their conviction, that, in
the absence of timely relief, the religious and
educational institutions of the island must be
abandoned, and the masses of the population
retrograde to barbarism."
One of the editors of the New York Evening
Post, Mr. BIGELOW, a few years since, spent a
winter in Jamaica, and continues to watch, with
anxious solicitude, as an Anti-Slavery man, the
developments taking place among its emancipated freedmen. In reviewing the returns published by the Jamaica House of Assembly, in
1853, in reference to the ruinous decline in the
Agriculture of the Island, and stating the enormous quantity of lands thrown out of cultivation, since 1848, the Post says:
"This decline has been going on from year
to year, daily becoming more alarming, until at
length the Island has reached what would appear
to be the last profound of distress and misery,
:  when thousands of people do not know,
when they rise in the morning, whence or in
141 
COTTON IS KING.
what manner they are to procure bread for the
day."
After such an array of testimony from Abolition authorities, we may venture to present some
corroborative evidence from other sources. GovERNOR WooD, of Ohio, on his way to Valparaiso,
in 1853, thus describes what he witnessed, at
Kingston, Jamaica, while the steamer remained
in that port:
"We saw many plantations, the buildings
dilapidated-fields of sugar-cane half-worked
and apparently poor, and nothing but that which
will grow without the labor of man, appeared
luxuriant and flourishing. The island itself is
of great fertility, one of the best of the Antilles;
but all the large estates upon it are now fast
going to ruin. In the harbor were not a dozen
ships of all nations-no business was doing, and
everything you heard spoken was in the language
of complaint. Since the blacks have been liberated they have become indolent, insolent, degraded, and dishonest. They are a rude, beastly
set of vagabonds, lying naked about the streets,
as filthy as the Hfottentots, and, I believe, worse."
142 
COTTON IS KING.
BISHoP KIP, of the  Protestant  Episcopal
Church, on his passage to California, in 1853,
bears this testimony as to what he witnessed at
the same port, while the steamer stopped to
take in coal:
"The streets are crowded with the most
wretched-looking negroes to be seen on the face
of the earth. Lazy, shiftless and diseased, they
will not work, since the manumission act has
freed them. Even coaling the steamer is done
by women. About a hundred march on board
in a line with tubs on their heads (tubs and coal
together weighing about 90 pounds), and with
a wild song empty them into the hold. The
men work a day, and then live on it a week.
The depth of degradation to which the negro
population has sunk, is, we are told, indescribable."
The foregoing testimony is conclusive, as to
the results of emancipation in the West Indies.
It fully confirms the opinions of FRANKLIN, that
freedom, to unenlightened slaves, must be
accompanied with the means of intellectual and
moral elevation, otherwise it may be productive
143 
COTTON IS KING.
of serious evils to themselves and to society. It
also sustains the views entertained by Southern
Slaveholders, that emancipation, unaccompanied
by the colonization of the slaves, could be of no
value to the blacks, while it would entail a
ruinous burden upon the whites. These facts
must not be overlooked in the projection of plans
for emancipation, as none can receive the sanction of Southern men, which does not embrace
in it the removal of the colored people. With
the example of West India emancipation before
them, and the results of which have been closely
watched by them, it can not be expected that
Southern statesmen will risk the liberation of
their slaves, except on these conditions.
In turning to the condition of our own Free
colored people, who rejected homes in Liberia,
we approach a most important subject.  They
have been under the guardianship of their Abolition friends, ever since that period, and have
cherished feelings of determined hostility to
Colonization. What have they gained by this
hostility? What has been accomplished for
them by their Abolition friends, or what have
144 
COTTON IS KING.
they done for themselves? Those who took
refuge in Liberia, have built up a Republic of
their own, and are recognized as an independent nation, by five of the great governments of
the earth. But what has been the progress of
those who remained behind, in the vain hope of
rising to an equality with the whites, and of
assisting in abolishing American Slavery?
We offer no opinion, here, of our own, as to
the present social and moral condition of the
Free colored people in the North. What it was
at the time of the founding of Liberia, has
already been shown. On this subject we might
quote largely from the proceedings of their conventions, and the writings of their editors, so as
to produce a dark picture indeed; but this
would be cruel, as their voices are but the wailings of noble, sensitive, and benevolent hearts,
while weeping over the moral desolations that
have overwhelmed their people. Nor shall we
multiply testimony on the subject; but in this,
as in the case of Canada and the West Indies,
allow the Abolitionists to speak of their own
schemes. One witness only, the most calm and
12
145 
COTTON IS KING.
reliable of them all, need be quoted. The Hon.
GERRITT SMITH, in his letter to GOVERNOR HUNT,
of New York, in 185S2, while speaking of his
ineffectual efforts, for fifteen years past, to prevail upon the Free colored people to betake
themselves to mechanical and agricultural pursuits, says:
"Suppose, moreover, that during all these
fifteen years, they had been quitting the cities,
where the nass of them  rot both physically and
morally, and had gone into the country to become farmers and mnechanics-suppose, I say, all
this- and who would have the hardihood to
affirm that the Colonization Society lives upon
the malignity of the whites-but it is true that
it lives upon the voluntary degradation of the
blacks. I do not say that the colored people are
more debased than white people would be if
persecuted, oppressed and outraged as are the
colored people.   But I do say that they are debased, deeply debased; and that to recover
themselves they must become heroes, selfdenying heroes, capable of achieving a great
moral victory -  a two-fold victory-  a victory
146 
COTTON IS KING.
over themselves and a victory over their enemies."
Here we must close our testimony on this
point. The condition of the Free colored people
can now be understood. The results, in their
case, are vastly different from what was anticipated, when British philanthropists succeeded
in West India emancipation. They are very
different, also, from what was expected by
American Abolitionists - so different, indeed,
that their disappointment is fully manifested, in
the extracts made from their published documents. As an apology for the failure, it seems
to be their aim to create the belief, that the
dreadful moral depravation, existing in the
West Indies, is wholly owing  to the demoralizing tendencies of Slavery. They speak of this
effect as resulting from laws inherent in the
system, which have no exceptions, and must be
equally as active in the United States as ill the
British colonies. But in their zeal to cast odium
on Slavery, they prove too much-for, if this be
true, it follows, that the Slave population of
the United States must be equally debased
147 
COTTON IS KING.
with that of Jamaica, and as much disqualified to discharge the duties of freemen, as
both have been subjected to the operations of
the same system. This is not all. The logic
of the argument would extend even to our free
colored people, and include them, according to
the American ffissionary Association, in the dire
effects of "that enduring legacy which, with its
foul, pestilential influences, still blights, like the
mildew of death, everything in society that
should be lovely, virtuous, and of good report."
Now, were it believed, generally, that the colored people of the United States are equally
as degraded as those of Jamaica, upon what
grounds could any one advocate the admission of
the blacks to equal social and political privileges with the whites? Certainly, no Christian
family or community would willingly admit
such men to terms of social or political equality!
This, we repeat, is the logical conclusion from
the Reports of the American Missionary Association and the American and Foreign Anti-Slavery
Society-a conclusion, too, the more certain, as
it makes no exceptions between the condition of
148 
COTTON IS KING.
the colored people under the Slavery of Jamaica
and under that of the United States.
But in this, as in much connected with Slavery,
Abolitionists have taken too limited a view of
the subject. They have not properly discriminated between the effects of the original barbarism of the negroes, and the effects produced by
the more or less favorable influences to which
they were afterward subjected under Slavery.
This point deserves special notice. According
to the best authorities, the colored people of
Jamaica, for nearly three hundred years, were
entirely without the Gospel; and it gained a
permanent footing among them, only at a few
points, at their emancipation, twenty years ago;
so that, when liberty reached them, the great
mass of the Africans, in the British West Indies,
were heathen.'- Let us understand the reason
of this. Slavery is not an element of human
progress, under which the mind necessarily
becomes enlightened; but Christianity is the
primary element of progress, and can elevate
t:'Rev. Mr. Phillippo, for twenty years a missionary in
Jamaica, in his ".Iamaicas, its Past and Present Condition."
149 
COTTON IS KING.
the savage, whether in bondage or in freedom,
if its principles are taught him in his youth.
The Slavery of Jamaica began with savage men.
For three hundred years its slaves were destitute of the Gospel, and their barbarism was left
to perpetuate itself. But in the United States,
the Africans were brought under the influence
of Christianity, on their first introduction, over
,wo hundred and thirty years since, and have
.ontinued to enjoy its teachings, in a greater or
less degree, to the present moment. The disappearance from among our colored people, of the
heathen condition of the human mind-the incapacity to comprehend religious truths- and
its continued existence among those of Jamaica,
can now be understood. The opportunities enjoyed by the former, for advancement over the
latter, have been as six to one. With these facts
before the mind, it is not difficult to perceive,
that the colored population of Jamaica, can not
but still labor under the disadvantages of hereditary heathenism and involuntary servitude, with
the superadded misfortune of being inadequately
supplied with Christian instruction, along with
150 
COTTON IS KING.
their recent acquisition of freedom. But while
all this must be admitted, of the colored people
of Jamaica, it is not true of those of our own
country; for, long since, they have cast off the
heathenism of their fathers, and have become
enlightened in a very encouraging degree.
Hence it is, that the colored people of the
United States, both bond and free, have made
vastly greater progress, than those of the British
West Indies, in their knowledge of moral duties
and the requirements of the Gospel; and hence,
too, it is, that GERRITT SMITI is right, in asserting, that the demoralized condition of the great
mass of the Free colored people, in our cities, is
inexcusable, and deserving of the utmost reprobation, because it is voluntary-they knowing
their duty, but abandoning themselves to degrading habits.
This brings us to another point of great
moment. It will be denied by but few - and
by none maintaining the natural equality of the
races-that the Free colored people of the United
States are sufficiently enlightened, to be elevated,
by education, as readily as the whites of similar
151 
COTTON IS KING.
ages, where equal restraints from vice, and encouragements to virtue prevail. A large portion, even, of the slave population, are similarly
enlightened."  We  speak not of the state of
their morals.
Why is it, then, that the efforts to elevate the
Free colored people, have been so unsuccessful?
Before answering this question, it is necessary
to call attention to the fact, that Abolitionists
seem to be sadly disappointed in their expectations, as to the progress of the free colored
C:r As many, at the North, are not aware of the extent to
which the religious training of the slaves at the South prevails, we append the following paragraph, in relation to the
doings of one denomination, alone, in South Carolina.
Similar efforts, more or less extensive, have been made in
the other States.
" RELIGIOUS INSTPRUCTION OF SLAVES,-Tlle South Carolina Methodist
Conference have a missionary committee devoted entirely to promoting the religious instruction of the slave population, which has- been
in existence twenty-six years. The report of the last year shows a
greater degree of activity than is generally known.    They  have
twenty-six missionary stations in which thirty-two missionaries are
employed. The report affirms that public opinion in South Carolina is
decidedly in favor of the religious instruction of slaves, and that it has
become far more general and systematic than formerly. It also claims
a great degree of success to have attended the labors of the missionaries."-V~;. Y. Ev)anelist.
152 
COTTON IS KING.
people. Their vexation at the stubbornness of the
Negroes, and the consequent failure of their
measures, is very clearly manifested in the
complaining language, used by GERRITT SMITH,
toward the colored people of the eastern cities,
as well as by the contempt expressed by the
American Missionary Association, for the colored
preachers of Canada. They had found an apology, for their want of success in the United
States, in the presence and influence of Colonizationists; but no such excuse can be made for
their want of success in Canada and the West
Indies.  Having failed in their anticipations,
now they would fain shelter themselves under
the pretense, that a people once subjected to
slavery, even when liberated, can not be elevated
in a single generation; that the case of adults,
raised in bondage, like heathen of similar age,
is hopeless, and their children, only, can make
such progress as will repay the missionary for
his toil. But they will not be allowed to escape
the censure due to their want of discrimination
and foresight, by any such plea; as the success
of the Republic of Liberia, conducted from in       13
153 
COTTON IS KING.
fancy to independence, almost wholly by liberated slaves, and those who were born and
raised in the midst of Slavery, attests the falsity
of their assumption.
But to return. Why have the efforts for the
elevation of the free colored people, not been
more successful? On this point our remarks
may be limited to our own free colored people.
The barrier to their progress here, exists not in
their want of capacity, but in the absence of the
incitements to virtuous action, which are constantly stimulating the white man to press
onward and upward in the formation of character
and the acquisition of knowledge. There is no
position in church or state, to which the poorest
white boy, in the common school, may not aspire.
There is no post of honor, in the gift of his
country, that is legally beyond his reach. But
such encouragements to noble effort, do not
reach the colored man, and he remains with us
a depressed and disheartened being. Persuading him to remain in this hopeless condition,
has been the great error of the Abolitionists.
They overlooked the teachings of history, that
154 
COTTON IS KING.
two races, differing so widely as to prevent
their amalgamation by marriage, can never
live together, in the same community, but as
superiors and inferiors- the inferior remaining subordinate to the superior. The encouraging hopes held out to the colored people, that
this law would be inoperative upon them, has led
only to disappointment. Happily, this delusion
is nearly at an end; and they are beginning to
act on their own judgments. They find themselves so scattered and peeled, that there is not
another half million of men in the world, so
enlightened, who are accomplishing so little for
their social and  moral advancement.   They
perceive that they are nothing but branches,
wrenched from the great African banyan, not
yet planted in genial soil, and affording neither
shelter nor food to the beasts of the forest or
the fowls of the air- their roots unfixed in the
earth, and their tender shoots withering as they
hang pendent from their boughs.
But little progress, then, it will be seen, has
been made, by the free colored people, toward
an approximation of equality with the whites.
155 
COTTON IS KING.
Have they succeeded better in aiding to abolish
Slavery? This question has received its answer
in the history of the triumph of Slavery. It
is an important one, as this was a principal
object influencing them to remain in the country. Their agency in the attempts made to
abolish the institution having failed, a more
important question arises, as to whether the
free colored people, by refusing to emigrate,
may not have contributed to the advancement
of slavery? An affirmative answer must be
given to this inquiry.  Nor is a protracted discussion necessary to prove the assertion.
One of the objections urged with the greatest
force against Colonization, is, its tendency, as
is alleged, to increase the value of slaves by
diminishing their numbers. "Jay's Inquiry,"
1835, presents this objection at length; and
the Report  of the "Anti-Slavery  Society, of
Canada," 1853, sums it up in a single proposition, thus
The first effect of beginning to reduce the
number of slaves, by colonization, would be to
increase the market value of those left behind,
156 
COTTON IS KING.
and thereby increase the difficulty of setting
them free."
The practical effect of this doctrine, is to discourage all emancipations; to render eternal
the bondage of each individual slave, unless all
can be liberated; to prevent the benevolence of
one master from freeing his slaves, lest his
more selfish neighbor should be thereby enriched; and to leave the whole system intact,
until its total abolition can be effected.  Such
philanthropy would leave every individual, of
suffering millions, to groan out a miserable
existence, because it could not at once effect the
deliverance of the whole. This objection to
Colonization can be founded only in prejudice,
or is designed to mislead the ignorant. The
advocates of this doctrine do not practice it, or
they would not promote the escape of fugitives
to Canada.
But Abolitionists object not only to the Colonization of liberated slaves, as tending to per petuate Slavery; they are equally hostile to the
Colonization of the Free colored people, for the
same reason.  The "American Reform  Tract
157 
COTTON IS KING.
and Book Society," the organ of the Abolitionists,
for the publication of Anti-Slavery works, has
issued a Tract on "Colonization," in which this
objection is stated as follows:
"The Society perpetuates Slavery, by removing the free laborer, and thereby increasing the
demand for, and the value of, Slave labor."
The projectors and advocates of such views
may be good philanthropists, but they are bad
philosophers. We have seen that the power of
American Slavery, lies in the demand for its
products; and that the whole country, north of
the sugar and cotton States, is actively employed
in the production of provisions for the support
of the planter and his slaves, and in consuming
the products of Slave labor. This is the constant vocation of the whites. And how is it with
the blacks? Are they competing with the
slaves, in the cultivation of sugar and cotton, or
are they also supporting the system, by consuming its products? The latitudes in which
they reside, and the pursuits in which they are
engaged, will answer this question.
The census of 1850, shows but 40,900 free
158 
COTTON IS KING.
colored persons in the nine sugar and cotton
States, including Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas,
Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, and South Carolina, while 393,500 are living
in the other States. North Carolina is omitted,
because it is more of a tobacco and wool-growing,
than cotton-producing State. Of the free colored
persons in the first-named States, 19,260 are
in the cities and larger towns; while, of the
remainder, a considerable number may be in
the villages, or in the families of the whites.
From these facts it is apparent, that less than
20,000 of the entire Free colored population
(omitting those of North  Carolina), are in a
position to compete with Slave labor, while all
the remainder, numbering over 412,800, are
engaged, either directly or indirectly, in supporting the institution. Even  the fugitives
escaping to Canada, from having been producers
necessarily become consumers of Slave-grown
products; and, worse still, under the reciprocity
treaty, they must also become growers of provisions for the planters who continue to hold their
brothers, sisters, wives and children, in bondage.
159 
COTTON IS KING.
These are the practical results of the policy
of the Abolitionists. Verily, they, also, have
dug their ditches on the wrong side of their
breastworks, and afforded the enemy an easy
entrance into their fortress.  But, "Let them
alone; they be blind leaders of the blind. And
if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into
the ditch.":':*
But a brighter day is dawning for the Free
colored people. They are wearied in watching
for the " better time coming," promised by their
white  friends, and are unwilling  to "wait  a
little longer," as runs one of their songs of
inaction. To collect their scattered fragments;
to consolidate their divided forces; to sink their
individual popularity into an honored nationality, is now the aim of their thoughtful men.
But where is this great achievement to be
made? Not in the organization of a new government, as no part of the earth remains unoccupied. It must be by a fusion with one already
established. But what one? Not with one like
the British Colonies, in subjection to a distant
";: Matthew's Gospel, xv, 14.
160 
COTTON IS KING.
throne, and nearly destitute of schools and all
the means of intellectual and moral improvement. It must be with one possessing the elements of progress-which offers peace, security,
prosperity, liberty, equality, fraternity, and
Protestant Christianity.   No other will meet
their wants; nor should any other be adopted,
as worthy colored freemen, who have caught the
spirit of the republican institutions of the United
States. South America can afbford no suitable
asylum, as the diversity of language, and the
antagonism of its religion, together with the
frequency of its civil wars, and the insecurity of
property and life, forbid their choosing a home
in that region.
Thus, Liberia is the only nation with which a
fusion, by the free colored people, can be safely
made. While remaining here, they must con tinue to support Slavery, and suffer from inade quate means of improvement. The only portion
of their number, who have escaped from all con nection with Slavery, are those who have removed
to Liberia. In that Republic, too, all the neces sary stimulants to civil, social, intellectual, and
161 
COTTON IS KING.
moral advancement, are within the reach of the
colored man. Nor are they left to the contin gencies of the varying prosperity or adversity of
the colonists, for their perpetuation. The four
great leading Churches in the United States the Episcopal, the Mlethodist, the Presbyterian,
and the Baptist-are pledged to the support of
its educational and religious institutions; and
hence, while generations will certainly be needed
for the elevation of the Free colored people here,
strive as they may, a single one, with righthearted men, can do the work there.
4. The moral relations of persons holding the
per se doctrine, on the subject of Slavery, to
the purchase and consumption of Slave-labor
products.
Having noticed the political and economical
relations of Slavery, it may be expected that we
shall say something of its moral relations. In
attempting this, we choose not to traverse that
interminable labyrinth, without a thread, which
includes the moral character of the system, as
it respects the relation between the master and his
slave. Such questions are left for those who
162 
COTTON IS KING.
believe themselves skilled in resolving cases of
conscience, or framing terms of Church communion. The only aspect in which we care to
consider it, is in the mnoral relations which the
consumers of Slave-labor products sustain to
Slavery -and even on this we shall offer no
opinion, our aim being only to promote inquiry.
This view of the question is not an unimportant one. It includes the germ of the grand
error in nearly all Anti-Slavery effort; and to
which, chiefly, is to be attributed its want of
moral power over the conscience of the Slaveholder. The recent Abolition movement, was
designed to create a public sentiment, in the
United States, that should be equally as potent
in forcing emancipation, as was the public opinion of Great Britain. But why have not the
Americans been as successful as the English?
This is an inquiry of great importance. When
the Anti-Slavery Convention, which met, December 6, 1833, in Philadelphia, declared, as a
part of its creed: "That there is no difference in principle, between the African Slave
Trade, and American Slavery," it meant to be
163 
COTTON IS KING.
understood as teaching, that persons who purchased slaves imported from Africa, or who held
their offspring as slaves, were particeps criminis,
partakers in the crime, with the Slave-trader, on
the principle that he who receives stolen property, knowing it to be such, is equally guilty
with the thief.
On  this point DANIEL O'CONNELL was very
explicit, when, in a public assembly, he used
this language: "When an American comes into
Society, he will be asked,'are you one of the
thieves, or are you an honest man? If you are
an honest man, then you have given liberty to
your slaves; if you are among the thieves, the
sooner you take the outside of the house, the
better.'"
The error just referred to was this: they
based their opposition to Slavery on the principle, that it was  nalum in se, a sin in itself,
like the Slave trade, robbery, and murder; and,
at the same time, continued to use the products
of the labor of the slave as though they had
been obtained from the labor of freemen. But
this seeming inconsistency, was  not the only
164 
COTTON IS KING.
reason why they failed to create such a public
sentiment, as would procure the emancipation of
our slaves. The English Emancipationists began their work like philosophers-addressing
themselves respectfully, to the power that could
grant their requests. Beside the moral argument, which declared Slavery a crime, the
English philanthropists labored to convince Parliament, that emancipation would be advantageous to the commerce of the nation. The
commercial value of the Islands had been reduced one-third, as a result of the Abolition of
the Slave trade. Emancipation, it was argued,
would more than restore their former prosperity,
as the labor of freemen was twice as productive
as that of slaves. But American Abolitionists
commenced their crusade against Slavery, by
charging those who sustained it, and who alone,
held the power to manumit, with crimes of the
blackest die. This placed the parties in instant
antagonism, causing all the arguments on
human rights, and the sinfulness of Slavery, to
fall without effect upon the ears of angry men.
The error on this point, consisted in failing to
165 
COTTON IS KING.
discriminate between the sources of the power
over emancipation in England and in the United
States. With Great Britain, the power was in
Parliament. The masters, in the West Indies,
had no voice in the question. It was the voters
in England alone who controlled the elections,
and, consequently, controlled Parliament. But
the condition of things in the United States is
the reverse of what it was in England. With
us, the power of emancipation is in the States,
not in Congress. The Slaveholders elect the
members to the State Legislatures; and they
choose none but such as agree with them in
opinion. It matters not, therefore, what public
sentiment may be at the North, as it has no
power over the Legislatures of the South. Here,
then, is the difference: with us the Slaveholder
controls the question of emancipation-in England the consent of the master was not necessary
to the execution of that work.
Our Anti-Slavery men seem to have fallen
into their errors of policy, by following the lead
of those of England, who manifested a total
ignorance of the relations existing between our
166 
COTTON IS KING.
General Government and that of the States. On
the Abolition platform, Slaveholders found themselves placed in the same category with Slavetraders and thieves. They were told, that all
laws giving them power over the slave, were
void, in the sight of Heaven; and that their
appropriation of the fruits of the labor of the
slave, was robbery. Had the preaching of these
principles produced conviction, it must have
promoted  emancipation.   But, unfortunately,
while these doctrines were held up to the gaze
of Slaveholders, in the one hand of the exhorter, they beheld his other hand stretched out,
from beneath his cloak of seeming sanctity, to
clutch the products of the very robbery he was
professing to condemn!  Take a fact in proof
of this view of the subject.
At the date of the declarations of DANIEL
O'CoNNELL, on behalf of the English, and by
the Philadelphia Anti-Slavery Convention, on
the part of Americans, the British Manufacturers were purchasing, annually, about 300,000,000 lbs. of cotton, from the very men denounced
as equally criminal with Slave-traders and
167 
COTTON IS KING.
thieves; and the people of the United States
were almost wholly dependent upon Slave labor
for their supplies of cottons and groceries. It is
no matter for wonder, therefore, that Slaveholders should treat, as fiction, the doctrine that
Slave-labor products are the fruits of robbery,
so long as they are purchased, without scruple, 
by all classes of men, in Europe and America.
The pecuniary argument for emancipation, that
Free labor-is more profitable than Slave labor,
was also urged here; but was treated as the
greatest absurdity. The masters had before
their eyes, the evidence of the falsity of the assertion, that, if emancipated, the Slaves would
be doubly profitable as free laborers. The reverse was admitted, on all hands, to be true in
relation to our colored people.
But this question, of the moral relations
which the consumers of slave-labor products
sustain to Slavery, is one of too important a
nature to be passed over without a closer examination; and, beside, it is involved in less obscurity than the morality of the relation existing
between the master and the slave. Its consider
168 
COTTON IS KI[NG.
ation, too, affords an opportunity of discriminating between the different opinions entertained
on the broad question of the morality of the
institution, and enables us to judge of the consistency and consciousness of every man, by the
standard which he himself adopts.
The prevalent opinions, as to the morality of
the Institution of Slavery, in the United States,
may be classified under three heads. 1. That
it is justified by Scripture example and precept.
2. That it is a great civil and social evil, resulting from ignorance and degradation, like despotic
systems of Government, and may be tolerated
until its subjects are sufficiently enlightened
to render it safe to grant them equal rights.
3. That it is malum in se, a sin in itself, like
robbery and murder, and cannot be sustained,
for a moment, without sin; and, like sin, should
be immediately abandoned.
Those who consider Slavery sanctioned by the
Bible, conceive that they can, consistently with
their creed, not only hold slaves, and use the
products of slave labor, without doing violence to their consciences, but may adopt
14
169 
COTTON IS KING.
measures to perpetuate the system. Those who
consider Slavery merely a great civil and social
evil, a despotism that may engender oppression,
or may not, are of opinion that they may purchase and use its products, or interchange their
own for those of the Slaveholder, as free Governments hold commercial and diplomatic intercourse with despotic ones, without being responsible for the moral evils connected with the
system. But the position of those who believe
Slavery malum in se, like the slave trade, robbery
and murder, is a very different one from either
of the other classes, as it regards the purchase
and use of Slave-labor products. Let us illustrate this by a case in point:
A company of men hold a number of their
fellow-men in bondage, under the laws of the
commonwealth in which they live, so that they
can compel them to work their plantations, and
raise horses, cattle, hogs, and cotton.  These
products of the labor of the oppressed, are appropriated by the oppressors to their own use, and
taken into the markets for sale. Another company proceed to a community of freemen, who
170 
COTTON IS KING.
have labored voluntarily during the year, seize
their persons, bind them, convey away their
horses, cattle, hogs, and cotton, and take the
property to market. The first association represents the Slaveholders; the second a band of
robbers.  The commodities of both parties, are
openly offered for sale, and every one knows how
the property of each was obtained. Those who
believe the per se doctrine, place both these associations in the same moral category, and call
them robbers. Judged by this rule, the first
band are the more criminal, as they have deprived their victims of personal liberty, forced
them into servitude, and then taken from them,
without pay, the proceeds of their labor. The
second band have only deprived their victims
of liberty, while they robbed them; and thus
have committed but two crimes, while the first
have perpetrated three. These parties attempt
to negotiate the sale of their cotton, say in London. The first company dispose of their cargo
without  difficulty-no  one  manifesting  the
slightest scruple at purchasing the products of
Slave-labor. But the second company are not so
171 
COTTON IS KING.
fortunate. As soon as their true character is
ascertained, the police drag its members to Court,
where they are sentenced to Bridewell. In vain
do these robbers quote the Philadelphia AntiSlavery Convention, and Daniel O'Connell, to
prove that their cotton was obtained by means
no more criminal than that of the Slaveholders,
and that, therefore, judgment ought to be reversed. The Court will not entertain such a
plea, and they have to endure the penalty of the
law.  Now, why this difference, if Slavery be
nalum in se? And if the receiver of stolen
property is particeps criminis with the thief, why
is it, that the Englishman, who should receive
and sell the cotton of the robbers, would run
the risk of being sent to prison with them, while
if he acted as agent of the Slaveholders, he
would be treated as an honorable man? If the
master has no moral right to hold his slaves, in
what respect can the products of their labor
differ from the property acquired by robbery?
And if the property be the fruits of robbery,
how can any one use it, without violating conscience?
172 
COTTON IS KING.
We have met with the following sage exposition of the question, in justification of the use
of Slave-labor products, by those who believe
the per se doctrine: The master owns the lands,
gives his skill and intelligence to direct the
labor, and feeds and clothes the slaves. The
slaves, therefore, are entitled only to a part of
the proceeds of their labor, while the master is
also justly entitled to a part of the crop. When
brought into market, the purchaser can not
know what part belongs, rightfully, to the master and what to his slaves, as the whole is
offered in bulk. He may, therefore, purchase
the whole, innocently, and throw the sinfulness
of the transaction upon the master, who sells
what belongs to others.   But  if the per se
doctrine be true, this apology for the purchaser,
is not a justification.   Where a " confusion of
goods" has been made by one of the owners,
so that they cannot be separated, he who "confused" them can have no advantage, in law,
from his own wrong, but the goods are awarded
to the innocent party. On this well known
principle of law, this most equitable rule, the
173 
COTTON IS KING.
master forfeits his right in the property, and
the purchaser, knowing the facts, becomes  a
party in his guilt.  But aside from this, the
"confusion of goods," by the master, can give
him no moral right to dispose of the interest of
his slaves therein for his own benefit; and the
persons purchasing such property, acquire no
moral right to its possession and use.  These
are sound, logical views. The argument offered,
in justification of those who hold that Slavery
is malum in se, is the strongest that can  be
made. It is apparent, then, from a fair analysis
of their own principles, that they are particeps
criminis with Slaveholders.
Again, if the laws regulating the institution
of Slavery, be morally null and void, and not
binding on the conscience, then, the slaves have
a moral right to the proceeds of their labor.
This right can not be  alienated by any  act
of the master, but attaches to the property
wherever it may be taken, and to whomsoever
it may be sold.  This principle, in law, is also
well established.  The recent decision on the
"Gardiner fraud," confirms it; the Court
174 
COTTON IS KING.
asserting, that the money paid out of the Treasury of the TUnited States, under such circumstances, continued its character as the money
and property of the United States, and may be
followed into the hands of those who cashed the
orders of Gardiner, and subsequently drew the
money, but who are not the true owners of the
said fund; and decreeing that the amount of
funds, thus obtained, be collected off the estate
of said Gardiner, and off those who drew funds
from the Treasury, on his orders.
These principles of law are so well understood, by every man of intelligence, that we can
not conceive how those advocating the per se doctrines, if' sincere, can continue in tile constant
use of Slave-grown products, without a perpetual
violation of conscience  and of all moral law.
Taking them under protest, against the Slavery
which produced them, is ridiculous.  Refusing
to fellowship the Slaveholer, while eagerly appropriating the products of the labor of the slave,
which he brings in his hand, is contemptible.
The most noted case of the kind, is tiat of the
British Committee,  who had  charge  of  the
175 
COTTON IS KING.
preliminary arrangements for the admission of
members to the WORLD'S CHRISTIAN EVANGELICAL ALLIANCE. One of the rules it adopted,
but which the Alliance afterward modified, excluded all American clergymen, suspected of a
want of orthodoxy on the per se doctrine, from
seats in that body. Their language, to American clergymen, was virtually, " Stand aside, I
am holier than thou; while, at the same moment
their parishioners, the manufacturers, had about
completed the purchase of 624,000,000 lbs. of
cotton, for the consumption of their mills, during
the year; the bales of which, piled together,
would have reached mountain-high, displaying
mostly the brands, " New Orleans," "Mobile,"
"Charleston."
As not a word was said, by the Committee,
against the Englishmen who were buying and
manufacturing American cotton-the case may
be viewed as one in which the fruits of robbery
were taken under protest against the robbers
themselves.  To all intelligent men, the conduct of the people of Britain, in protesting
against Slavery, as a system of robbery, while
176 
COTTON IS KING.
continuing to purchase such enormous quantities
of the cotton produced by slaves, appears as
Pharisaical as the conduct of the conscientious
Scotchman, in early times, in Eastern Pennsylvania, who  married  his wife  under protest
against the Constitution and laws of the Government, and, especially, against the authority,
power, and right of the magistrate who had just
tied the knot.,:
: An anecdote, illustrative of the pliability of some consciences, of this apparently rigid class, where interest or
inclination demands it, has often been told by the late Governor Morrow, of Ohio.  An old Scotch "Cameronian," in
Eastern Pennsylvania, became a widower, shortly after the
adoption of the Constitution of the United States. He
refused to acknowledge either the National or State Governments, but pronounced them both unlawful, unrighteous, and ungodly. Soon he began to feel the want of a
wife, to care for his motherless children. The consent of a
woman in his own church was gained, because to take any
other would have been like an Israelite marrying a daughter of the land of Canaan. On this point, as in refusing
to swear allegiance to Government, he was controlled by
conscience. But now a practical difficulty presented itself.
There was no minister of his church in the country-and
those of other denominations, in his judgment, had no Divine warrant for exercising the functions of the sacred
177
1-5 
COTTON IS KING.
Such pliable consciences, doubtless, are very
convenient in cases of emergency. But as they
relax when selfish ends are to be subserved, and
office. Hle repudiated the whole of them. But how to get
married, that was the problem. HIe tried to persuade his
intended to agree to a marriage contract, before witnesses,
which could be confirmed whenever a proper minister
should arrive from Scotland.  But his "lady-love" would
not consent to the plan.  She must be married "like other
folk," or not at all-because "people would talk so."  The
Scotchman for want of a wife, like Great Britain for want
of cotton, saw very plainly that his children must suffer;
and so he resolved to get married, at all hazards, as England buys her cotton, but so as not to violate conscience.
Proceeding, with his intended, to a magistrate's office, the
ceremony was soon performed, and they twain pronounced
"one flesh." But no sooner had he "kissed the bride," the
sealing act of the contract at that day, than the good
Cameronian drew a written document from his pocket,
which he read aloud, before the officer and witnesses; and
in which he entered his solemn protest against the authority of the Government of the United States, against that of
the State of Pennsylvania, and especially against the power,
right, and lawfulness of the acts of the magistrate, who
had just married him. This done, he went his way, rejoicing that he had secured a wife without recognizing the
lawfulness of ungodly Governments, or violating his conscience.
178 
COTTON IS KING.
retain their rigidity only when judging the conduct of others, the inference is, that the persons
possessing them are either hypocritical, or else,
as was acknowledged by Parson I)., in similar
circumstances, they have mistaken their prejudices for their consciences.
So far as Britain is concerned, she is, manifestly, much more willing to receive American
Slave-labor cotton for her factories, than American republican principles for her people. And
why so? The profits derived by her, from the
purchase and manufacture of Slave-labor cotton,
constitute so large a portion of the means of her
prosperity, that the government could not sustain itself were the supplies of this article cut
off. It is easy to divine, therefore, why the
people of England are boundless in their denunciations of American Slavery, while not a single
remonstrance goes up to the throne, against the
import of American cotton. Should she exclude
it, the act would render her unable to pay the
interest on her national debt; and many a
declaimer against Slavery, losing his income,
would have to go supperless to bed.
179 
COTTON IS KING.
Let us contrast the conduct of a pagan government with that of Great Britain. When the
Emperor of China became fully convinced of his
inability to resist the prowess of the British
arms, in the famous "Opium War," efforts were
made to induce him to legalize the traffic in
opium, by levying a duty on its import, that
should yield him a heavy profit. This he refused to do, and recorded his decision in these
memorable words:
"It is true I can not prevent the introduction
of the flowing poison. Gain-seeking and corrupt
men will, for profit and sensuality, defeat my
wishes, but nothing will induce me to derive
a revenue from the vice and misery of my
people.":
The reason can now be clearly comprehended,
why Abolitionists have had so little moral power
over the conscience of the Slaveholder. Their
practice has been inconsistent with their precepts; or, at least, their conduct has been liable
to this construction. Nor do we perceive how
they can exert a more potent influence, in the
National Intelligencer, 1854.
180 
COTTON IS KING.
future, unless their energies are directed to
efforts such as will relieve them from a position
so inconsistent with their professions, as that of
constantly purchasing products which they,
themselves, declare to be the fruits of robbery.
While, therefore, things remain as they are,
with the world so largely dependent upon Slave
labor, how can it be otherwise, than that the system will continue to flourish? And while its products are used by all classes, of every sentiment,
and country, nearly, how can the Slaveholder
be brought to see anything, in the practice of
the world, to alarm his conscience, and make him
cringe, before his fellow-men, as a guilty robber?
But, has nothing worse occurred from the advocacy of the per se doctrine, than an exhibition
of inconsistency on the part of Abolitionists, and
the perpetuation of Slavery resulting from their
conduct? This has occurred. Three highly
respectable religious denominations, now limited
to the North - the Associate Presbyterian
Church, the Reformed Presbyterian Church,
and the Associate Reformed Presbyterian
Church-had once many flourishing congrega
i8t 
COTTON IS KING.
tions in the South. On the adoption of the per
se doctrine, by their respective Synods, these
congregations became disturbed, were soon after
broken up, or the ministers in charge had to
seek other fields of labor. Their system of religious instruction, for the family, being quite
thorough, the Slaves were deriving much advantage from the influence of these bodies.  But
when they resolved to withhold the Gospel from
the Master, unless he would emancipate, they
also withdrew the means of grace from the
Slave; and, so far as they were concerned, left
him to perish eternally! Whether this course
was proper, or whether it would have been better to have passed by the morality of the legal
relation, in the creation of which the master
had no agency, and considered him, under Providence, as the moral guardian. of the Slave,
bound to discharge a guardian's duty to an immortal being, we shall not undertake to determine. Attention is called to the facts, merely, to
show the practical effects of the action of these
Churches upon the Slave, and what the per se doctrine has done in depriving him of the Gospel.
182 
COTTON IS KING.
Another remark, and we have done with this
topic. Nothing is more common, in certain
circles, than denunciations of the Christian men
and ministers, who refuse to adopt the per se
principle. We leave others to judge whether
these censures are merited. One thing is certain: those who believe that Slavery is a great
civil and social evil, entailed upon the country,
and are extending the Gospel to both 3Master
and Slave, with the hope of removing it peacefully, cannot be reproached with acting inconsistently with their own principles; while those
who declare Slavery malum in se, and refuse to
fellowship the Christian Slaveholder, but yet use
the products of Slave-labor, may fairly be classified, on their principles, with the hypocritical
people of Israel, who were thus reproached by
the Most High: "What hast thou to do to declare my statutes, or that thou shouldst take my
covenant in thy mouth?'   When thou
rawest a thief, then  thou  consentedst with
him.":
Psalm 1, 16, 18.
183 
COTTON IS KING.
CONCLUSION.
IN concluding our labors, there is little need
of extended observation. The work of Emanci pation, in our country, was checked, and the
extension of Slavery promoted:-first, by  the
Free Colored People neglecting to improve the
advantages afforded them; second, by the increasing value imparted to Slave-labor; third,
by the mistaken policy into which the Abolitionists have fallen. Whatever reasons might now
be offered, for emancipation, from an improvement of our Free colored people, is far more
than counterbalanced by its failure in the West
Indies, and the constantly increasing value of
the labor of the Slave. If, when the Planters
had only a moiety of the markets for Cotton,
the value of Slavery was such as to arrest emancipation, how must the obstacles be increased,
now, when they have the monopoly of the markets of the world?
We propose not to speak of remedies for
Slavery. That we leave to others. Thus far
this great civil and social evil, has baffled all
184 
COTTON IS KING.
human wisdom. Either some radical defect
must have existed, in the measures devised for
its removal, or the time has not yet come for
successfully  assailing  the Institution.   Our
work is completed, in the delineation we have
given of its varied relations to our commercial
and social interests. As the monopoly of the
culture of Cotton, imparts to Slavery its economical value, the system will continue as long
as this monopoly is maintained. Slave-Labor
products have now become necessities of human
life, to the extent of more than half the commercial articles supplied to the Christian world.
Even Free labor, itself, is made largely subservient to Slavery, and vitally interested in its
perpetuation and extension.
Can this condition of things be changed?  It
may be reasonably doubted, whether anything
efficient can be speedily accomplished: not because there is lack of territory where freemen
may be employed in tropical cultivation; not
because intelligent free-labor is less productive
than slave-labor; but because freemen, whose
constitutions are adapted to tropical climates,
185 
will not avail themselves of the opportunity
offered for commencing such an enterprise.
KING COTTON cares not whether he employs
slaves or freemen.  It is the cotton, not the slaves,
upon which his throne is based. Let freemen
do his work as well, and he will not object to
the change.  Thus far the experiments in this
respect have failed, and they will not soon be
renewed. The efforts of his most powerful ally,
Great Britain, to promote that object, have
already cost her people many hundreds of millions of dollars; with total failure as a reward
for her zeal. One-sixth of the colored people of
the United States are free; but they shun the
cotton regions, and have been instructed to detest
emiyration to Iiberia.  Their improvement has
not been such as was anticipated; and their more
rapid advancement cannot be expected, while
they remain in the country. The free colored
people of the West Indies, can no longer be
relied on to furnish tropical products, for they
are fast sinking into savage indolence.   His
MAJESTY, KING COTTON, therefore, is forced to
continue the employment of his slaves; and, by
186
COTTON IS KING. 
COTTON IS KING.
their toil, is riding on, conquering and to conquer!  He receives no check from the cries of
the oppressed, while the citizens of the world
are dragging forward his chariot, and shouting
aloud his praise!
KING COTTON is a profound statesman, and
knows what measures will best sustain his throne.
HIe is an acute mental philosopher, acquainted
with the secret springs of human  action, and
accurately perceives who will best promote his
aims.  He has no evidence that colored men can
grow his cotton, but in the capacity of slaves.
It is his policy, therefore, to defeat all schemes
of emancipation.   To do this, he stirs up such
agitations as lure his enemies into measures
that will do him no injury.  The venal politician
is always at his call, and assumes the form of
saint or sinner, as the service may demand.
Nor does he overlook the enthusiast, engaged in
Quixotic endeavors for the relief of suffering
humanity, but influences him to advocate measures which tend to tighten, instead of loosing
the bands of Slavery.  Or, if he cannot be seduced into the support of such schemes, he is
187 
COTTON IS KING.
beguiled into efforts that waste his strength on
objects the most impracticable - so that Slavery
receives no damage from the exuberance of his
philanthropy. But should such a one, perceiving the futility of his labors, and the evils of
his course, make an attempt to avert the consequences; while he is doing this, some new recruit,
pushed forward into his former place, charges
him with lukewarmness, or Pro-slavery sentiments, destroys his influence with the public,
keeps alive the delusions, and sustains the supremacy of KING COTTON in the world.
In speaking of the economical connections of
Slavery with the other material interests of the
world, we have called it a tripartite alliance.  It
is more than this.  It is quadruple.  Its structure includes four parties, arranged thus: The
Western Agriculturists; the Southern Planters;
the English Manufacturers; and the American
Abolitionists! By this arrangement, the Abolitionists do not stand in direct contact with
Slavery:-  they imagine, therefore, that they
have clean hands and pure hearts, so far as sustaining the system is concerned   But they, no
188 
COTTON IS KING.
less than their allies, aid in promoting the interests of Slavery. Their sympathies are with
England on the Slavery question, and they very
naturally incline to agree with her on other
points.  She advocates Free Trade, as essential
to her manufactures and commerce; and they do
the same, not waiting to inquire into its bearings upon American Slavery. We refer now to
the people, not to their leaders, whose integrity
we choose not to indorse.  The Free Trade and
Protective Systems, in their bearings upon
Slavery, are so well understood, that no man of
general reading, especially an editor, who professes Anti-Slavery sentiments, at the same time
advocating Free Trade, will ever convince men
of intelligence, pretend what he may, that he is
not either woefully perverted in his judgment,
or emphatically, a "dough-face" in disguise!
England, we were about to say, is in alliance
with the cotton planter, to whose prosperity Free
Trade is indispensable. Abolitionism is in alliance with England.  All three of these parties,
then, agree in their support of the Free Trade
policy. It needed but the aid of the Western
189 
COTTON IS KING.
Farmer, therefore, to give permanency to this
principle. Hiis adhesion has been given, the
quadruple  alliance  has  been  perfected,  and
Slavery and Free Trade nationalized!
The crisis now upon the country, as a consequence of Slavery having become dominant,
demands that the highest wisdom should be
brought to the management of national affairs.
The quacks who have aided in producing the
malady, and who have the effrontery still to
claim the right to manage the case, must be
dismissed. The men who mock at the Political
Economy of the North, and have assisted in
crushing its cherished policy, must be rebuked.
Slavery, nationalized, can now be managed only as
a national concern. It can now be abolished only
with the consent of those who sustain it. Their
assent can be gained only on employing other
agents to meet the wants it now supplies. It
must be superseded, then, if at all, by means
that will not injuriously affect the interests of
commerce and agriculture, to which it is now so
important an auxiliary. To supply the demand
for tropical products, except by the present mode,
190 
COTTON IS KING.
is not the work of a day, nor of a generation.
Should the influx of foreigners continue, such a
change may be possible. But to effect the
transition from Slavery to Freedom, on principles that will be acceptable to the parties who
control the question; to devise and successfully
sustain such measures as will produce this result;
must be left to statesmen of broader views and
loftier conceptions than are to be found among
those at present engaged in this great controversy.
In noticing the strategy by which the Abolitionists were rendered subservient to Slavery,
through the ignorance or duplicity of their leaders, we refer to the political action, only, in
which they were induced to participate. We
yield to none in our veneration for the early
Anti-Slavery men, whose zeal for the overthrow
of oppression, and the relief of the country from
its greatest curse, was kindled at the altar of a
pure philanthropy; and to whom official honors
and emoluments had few attractions.  We intend
not to disparage such men.
Those who believe that Slavery is a divin'e
191 
COTTON IS KING.
institution, which should be perpetuated; as well
as those who hold the sentiment, that it is a
mralumrn in se, that must be instantly abandoned;
entertain views so much at variance with the practical judgment of the world, that they can never
hope to see their principles become dominant.
The doctrine of the divine right of Slavery, is as
repugnant to the spirit of the age, as that of
the divine right of kings, or of popes. The per se
doctrine, more plausible at first view, is everywhere practically repudiated, in the business
transactions of the world; and involves those
who profess it, not only in every-day inconsistencies, but bars their access to the master and
dooms the slave to perpetual ignorance.
These two extreme views can not become prevalent; but must remain circumscribed within the
narrow limits to which they have been hitherto
confined. It is well for the country that it is so.
Thee parties are so antagonistic, that their
policy has harmonized in nothing but the triumph of Slavery, and the increase of the dangers
of a dissolution of the Union.
The view, that Slavery is a great civil and
192 
COTTON IS KING.
social evil, identical in principle with despotism, is
beset with fewer difficulties, meets with less
opposition, and is likely to become the prevalent belief of the world. This view maintains,
that Slavery is an incubus, pressing on humanity,
like despotism in any other form; and sinful, only,
so far as it abuses its power. This liability to
abuse, it is admitted, is increased under American Slavery, from the fact, that while a single
despot often governs many millions of subjects,
with us, three hundred and fifty thousand masters rule over but three millions two hundred
and fifty thousand slaves: subjecting them, not
to uniform laws, but to an endless diversity of
treatment, as benevolence or cupidity may
dictate.
How far masters in general escape the commission of sin, in the treatment of their slaves,
or whether any are free from guilt, is not the
point at issue, in this view of Slavery. The
mere possession of power over the slave, under
the sanction of law, is held not to be sinful; but,
like despotism, may be used for the good of the
governed. Here arises a question of importance:
16
193 
COTTON IS KING.
Can despotism be acknowledged, by Christians,
as a lawful form of government? Those who
hold the view of slavery under consideration,
answer in the affirmative. The necessity of civil
government, they say, is denied by none. Society can not exist in its absence. Republicanism
can be sustained only where the majority are
intelligent and moral. In no other condition
can free government  be maintained.  lHence,
despotism establishes itself, of necessity, more or
less absolutely, over an ignorant or depraved
people; obtaining the acquiescence of the enlightened, by offering them security to person and property. Few nations, indeed, possess moral elevation sufficient to maintain republicanism. Many
have tried it; have failed, and relapsed into
despotism. Republican nations, therefore, must
either forego all intercourse with despotic governments, or acknowledge them to be lawful.
This can be done, it is claimed, without being
accountable for moral evils connected with their
administration. Elevated examples of such recognitions are on record.  Christ paid tribute to
Cesar; and Paul admitted the validity of the
194 
COTTON IS KING.
despotic government of Rome, with its thirty
millions of slaves. To deny the lawfulness of
despotism, and yet hold intercourse with such
governments, is as inconsistent as to hold the
per se doctrine, in regard to Slavery, and still
continue to use its products. Slavery and despotism being identical in principle, it follows,
that the considerations which justify the recognition of the one, will apply equally to the other.
Another thought, in this connection, crowds
itself upon the attention, and demands a hearing.
Despotism, though recognized as lawful, from
necessity, is repugnant to enlightened and moral
men. The notions of equity, everywhere prevailing, makes them revolt at the idea of despotism continuing perpetually. But continue it
will, in one form or another, until ignorance is
banished, and the moral elevation of mankind
effected. Hence it is, that Christian philanthropists, clearly comprehending the truth on this
point, have labored, unremittingly, from the
days of JOHN KNOX, the Scotch reformer, to the
present moment, to promote education among
the people, and thus prepare them for the
195 
COTTON IS KING.
enjoyment of civil liberty. Every consideration,
leading Christian men to labor to supersede despotism by republicanism, demands, with equal
force, that Slavery shall be superseded by Freedom.   There is an advantage gained, it is
thought, in ranking Slavery and despotism as
identical. It links the fate of the one with that
of the other. None but fanatics, however, will
attempt to reap before they sow. None who
comprehend the causes of the failure of republicanism in France, and of emancipation in Hayti
and Jamaica, will desire to witness a repetition
of the tragedies there enacted. The benefits
repaid not the treasure and the blood they cost.
But these tragedies have taught a lesson easily
comprehended. Mloral elevation must precede
the enjoyment of civil privileges. The advance
in the former, must be the measure by which to
regulate the grant of the latter; otherwise the
safety of society is endangered. Upon these
principles most of the States have acted, in
denying to the Free colored people an equality
of political rights. It is a conviction of this
truth, that now agitates the public mind, on the
196 
COTTON IS KING.
question of limiting the political privileges of
foreigners, who may hereafter ask the rights of
citizenship; and begets the hostility, among
Americans, to excluding the Bible from Common
Schools. But why so much zeal, it is asked, for
the Bible in Common Schools? In the language
of another, we, in turn, would ask:
"How comes it that that little volume, composed by humble men in a rude age, when art
and science were but in their childhood, has
exerted more influence on the human mind and
on the social system, than all the other books
put together? Whence comes it that this book
has achieved such marvelous changes in the
opinions of mankind- has banished idol wor'ship - has abolished infanticide - has put down
polygamy and divorce - exalted the condition
of woman- raised the standard of public morality -created for families that blessed thing,
a Christian home- and produced its other triumphs by causing benevolent institutions, open
and expansive, to spring up as with the wand of
enchantment? What sort of a book is this,
that even the winds and waves of human passion
197 
COTTON IS KING.
obey it?   What other engine of social improvement has operated so long, and yet lost
none of its virtues? Since it appeared, many
boasted plans of amelioration have been tried
and failed, many codes of jurisprudence have
arisen, and run their course, and expired. Empire after empire has been launched upon the
tide of time, and gone down, leaving no trace
upon the waters. But this book is still going
about doing good, leaving with society its holy
principles -cheering the sorrowful with its consolation - strengthening the tempted - encouraging the patient - calming the troubled spirit
-  and smoothing the pillow of death.   Can
such a book be the offspring of human genius?
Does not the vastness of its effects demonstrate
the excellency of the power to be of God? "
The feeling of every true American, on this
question, may be thus expressed: I  Rather than
have my offspring deprived of free access to the
fountain of all true morality- rather than see
the children of my country deprived of the
Bible - I would sacrifice all to prevent such a
calamity. With the banishment of the Bible
198 
COTTON IS KING.
from common-schools, farewell to republicanismfarewell to morality- farewell to religion! "
It is matter of rejoicing, to all who hold these
sentiments, that the work of instruction, among
the slaves, under the supervision of several of
the largest religious denominations in the country, is progressing, slowly, it may be, but sueeessfully. The Bible is among the slaves as well
as the masters.  The presence of the missionary, engaged in his labor of love, in the midst
of the slave population, is an ample demonstration, that the master recognizes his slave as an
immortal being, with a soul to be saved or lost.
With this work of instruction, increased and
perpetuated, the slave will, one day, reach that
point of moral elevation, when his bondage may
be safely superseded by freedom.
But what of the Free colored people? Their
condition and prospects are before the reader.
Their agency in checking emancipation, when
it was in successful progress, has become history.
Their submission, voluntarily, to become " hewers of wood and drawers of water," is a melancholy fact, visible to all.  Whoever projects a
199 
COTTON IS KING.
practicable scheme of abolition, that will again
offer inducements to general emancipation, and
hasten the redemption of the colored race, must
include in his measures, as the first and radical
principle, the elevation of those already free!
Accomplish this, and more than half the work
is completed. The theater for such an achievment is not the United States. It is AfricaLiberia! Utopia is not the field - it must be
abandoned. Christian men at the South, now
hesitate to emancipate their slaves, and cast
them, helpless, upon the frigid charities of the
North! But let Africa be once redeemed, let
civilization and Christianity spread over a few
millions of its population, and the moral effect
would be irresistible. Every rational objection to
emancipation would be at an end.  Every Christian master, as his slaves attained sufficient
moral elevation, would say to them, " Brothers,
go free!"
200 
APPENDIX.
(201)
17 
TABLE I.
-acts in relation to Cotton-its growth, nianufactetre, an,
Emancipation, etc., eCtronoloqicallU
Gre at  Britain's sources of Cott,
supplies other than the U Stat
with total Cotton cro  of Unit
States.
Uni te d  States'  Annual Exports Cotton to Gr. Britain
and. Europe generally.
Previous to 1791 Great Brita
obtained her supplies of Cottc
from the W. Indies, S. Americ
and the countries around the eas
ern parts of the Mediterranean.
Gr. Brit. A nn.
Imp. & Consur,mp.
of Cotton, fromt
eariest dates to
1853, Xin9s.
Cotton manufac.
first named in
English history.
TOTAL IMPORT 3
1,976, 359
1,985,868
as.
1,170,881,
715,008
1,972,805
1,545,472
1,645,031
2,976,610
3,870,392
1697
1701
1700
to
1705
1710
1720
1730
1741
1751
1764
(1747-48,) 7 bags of
Cotton were shipped fr'm Charleston,
S. O., to England.
)
]
i
YFEARE
1641 
1771
to
1775
1781
1782
1783
1784
1785
1786
1787
1788
1789
1790
1791
1792
1793
1794
1795
1796
1797
1798
(1770)  2,000  lbs.
shipped fr. Charleston.
............
Mul,e Jrenny invented.
(1776) Virginia forbids foreign slave trade.
(1780) Emancipation  by Penn. and Mass.
(1781) Muslins first made in England.
(1784) Emancipation by Conn. and R. Isl'd.
(1785) Watts'  Engine improved  and  applied to cotton machinery.  First mill erectd 178 3.
(1785) N.  York Abolition  Yoc. organized.
5,198,778
11,828,039
9,735,663
11,482,083
18,400,384
19,475,020
23,250,268
20,467,436
32,576,023
31,447,605
28,706,675
34,907,497
19,040,929
24,358,567
26,401,340
32,126,357
23,354,371
31,880,641
71 bags  shipped
and seized in England, on the ground
that America could
not produce so much
Imports by Great Britain from
Br. West Indies,    lbs. 5,800,000
Fr. and Span. Colonies,   5,500,000
Dutch 2          do.      1,600,000
Portuguese       do.      2,000,000
Turkey and Smyrna,        5,000,000
(1789) Cotton crop of United
States, 1,000,000 lbs.
Imports by Great Britain from
Br. West Indies,   lbs. 12,000,000
Brazil, ------           20,000,000
1787 Power Loom invented.
( ") Pennsylv'a Abolition,oc. formed.
( ") Slavery excluded from  N. W.  Territory, including Ohio, Ind., Ills., etc.
(1789) F-anklin issues an appeal for aid
to instruct free blacks.
H
Ql
o2
c2
?I
Cotton crop of the United States
8,000,000 lbs.
Cotton crop of the United States
10,000,000 lbs.
India, the first imports from,
1,622,000 lbs.
av.
6,766,613
lb,
s. 189,316
138,328
500,000
1,601,760
6,276,300
6,100,000
3,800,000
9,330,000
1792 Emancipation by N. Hampshire.
1793 Cotton Gin invented.
to
,C) 
Great Britain's sources of Cot t            on
supplies other than the V. States,
with total Cotton crop of Inited
States.                                       o      te
Cotton crop U.S., 20,000,000 lbs.
Exports from India,  -  - -   lbs. 30,000,000
West Indies, -  - -  17,000,000
Brazil, - -  ---       24,000,000
Elsewhere,   -   -      7,000,000
.............. 
Emancipation by New York.
(1804)      Do.       by New Jersey.
Cotton consumed in U. States, 200,000 lbs.
United States exported to    France, -    -.-.lbs. 750,000
England,  - - - - - - -  19,000,000
Louisiana Territory acquired, including
the region  between  the Mississippi river
(upper and lower) and the Mexican line.
U.S. exp't to France 4,500,000 lbs.
Cotton crop U.S., 80,000,000 lbs.
1807  74,925,306      66,200,000............................Eulton started his steamboat.
1WIton started his steamboat.
Stlave trade prohibited by U. S, and Eng'd.
(1808) Cotton manufacture established at
Boston.
Cotton consumed in U. S., 4,000,000 lbs.
lbs. 9,5,00,000
17,789,803
20,900,000
27,500,000
41,900,000
38,900,000
40,330,000
37,500,000.
66,200,000
12,000,000
53,200,000
93,900,000
62,200,000
29,000,000
19,400,000
17,800,000
83,000,000
81,800,000
Two-thirds of steam engines in Gr. Britain
employed in cotton spinning, etc.
(1813) U.S. exp't to France 10,250,000 lbs.
(1815) lPower Loom first used in U.S.
(1816) First st'mboat crossed the Brit. Chl.
"    Power-Loom brought into general
use in Great Britain.
Gr. Brit. Ann.
Imp'ts & Conslot'
of Cotton, from
earliest dates to
1853, in lbs.
43,379,278
56,010,732
56,004,305
60,345,600
53,812,284
61,867,329
59,682,406
58,176,283
74,925,306
43,605,982
92,812,282
132,488,935
91,576,535
63,025,936
50,966,000
73,728,000
96,200,000
97,310,000
4Or
Dates of Inventions promoting the growth
and manu'facture of Cotton, and of  move ments to elevate the African race.
YF,AIR
1799
1800
1801
1802
1803
1804
1805
1806
1807
1808
1809
1810
1811
1812
1813
1814
1815
1816
t4
?I
...........
*..........
War declared between United
~tates and Great Britain.
............
Peace proclaimed between United States and Great Britain. 
1817126,240,000  95,660,000.
126,240,000
Total consump.:
109,902,000
109,518,000
12 0,265,000
12 9,029,000
145,493,000
154,146,000
165,174,000
166,831,000
150,213,000
197,200;000
217,860,000
219,200,000
247,600,000
262,700,000
276,900,000
287,000,000
303,000;000
326,407,692
363,684,232
Cotton crop U. S. 125,000,000 l7
...........
Exports from  W. Indies,    - lbs. 9,000,0
BLrazil,  - - - - 28,000,0o
India,   - - - -  50,000,0,
Turkey and Egypt, 5,500,0
Elsewhere,    - -  6,000,0
(1822) Cotton crop of Unit
$tates, 210,000,000 lbs.
1825 166,831,000~ 17,1,0.........*
Cotton crop U.S. 325,000,00011
*....      
92,500,000
88,000,000
127,800,00 0
124,893,40 5
144,675,095
173,723,270
142,369,663
176,449,907
204,535,415
294,310,115
210,590,463
264,837,186
298,459,102
276,979,784
322,215,122
324,698,604
384,717,907
387,358,992
423,631,307
Irmpor,ts by Gr. Britain from  Brazil,  - -   lbs. 20,109,5
Turkey and Egypt,  9,113,8
E. Ind. and Maur., 35,178,6
Br. W. Indies,   -   1,708,7
Elsewhere,   - -    964,9
(1834) Cotton  crop of Unit
1tates, 460,000,000 lbs.
s
95,660,00(
1817
1818
1819
1820
1821
1822
1823
1824
1825
1826
1827
1828
1829
1830
1831
1832
1833
1834
1835
1836
........... 
Great Britain's sources of Cott
supplies other than the U. Stat
with  total Cotton crop of Uini
States.
I Great Brit. Ann.
YEARS. sImports &  Con      sumpt'n of  Cot      ton,frora earliest
dates to 1853.
1837 367,564,752
1838 477,206,108
1839 445,744,000
1840 517,254,400
1841 460,387,200
1842 477,339,300
1843 555,214,400
1844 570,731,200
1845 626,496,000
18461624,000,000
18471442,416,000
1848 602,160,000
1849 624,000,000
1850 606,000,000
1851 648,000,000
1852 817,998,048
1853 746,376,848
Uited           States' Annual Ex.ports Cotton to Gr. Britain
and  Europe  generally.
444,211,537
595,952,297
413,624,212
743,941,061
530,204,100
584,717,017
792,297,106
663,633,455
872,905,996
547,558,055
527,219,958
814,274,431
1,026,602,269
635,381,604
927,237,059
1,093,230,639
1,111,570,370
~...........
Imports by Gr. Britain from  Brazil,  - -   lbs. 24,464,5
1Turkey and Egypt,  5,412,4
1E. Ind. and Maur.   40,230,0
Br. W. Indies,   -    928,4
Elsewhere,   -  -   5,377,2
Cotton cropU. S. 790,259,47911
(1840) Imports by Great Brita
from Brit. W. Indies, 427,529 lb
Imports by Gr. Britain fr. Indi
1835  to  1839, annual  averal
57,600,000 lbs.
Do.  do.  1840 to 1844, duri
Chinese war, 92,800,0001bs.
Do.  from Egypt, 32,537,600 lb
Imports by Gr. Britain from   W. I. and DeBn. lbs. 3,155,6(
i   Braz. and Port. Col. 40,080,4(
Mediterranean, -  11,604,0(
East Indies,  - - 91,004,8(
Imports by Gr. Britain from  East Indies,    lbs. 72,800,0(
(1850) Do.   do.   123,200,0(
(1852)  Do.   do.    84,022,4.
(1853)  Do.  do.   180,431,4(
Cot. crop U. S. 1,600,000,000 lb 
NOTE.-Our commercial year ends June 30: that of England, January 1. This will explain any seeming discrepancy in the imports by her fromn us, and our exports to her.
N. B. In 1781 Great Britain commenced re-exporting a portion of her imports of Cotton to the continent;
but the amount did not reach a million of poLunds, except in one year, until 1810, when it rose to over 
eight millions. The next year, however, it fell to a million and a quarter, and only rose, from near that 
amount, to six millions in 1814 and 1815. From 1818 her consuvlp)tion, only, of cotton is given, as best 
representing her relations to slave labor for that commodity.  After this date her exports of cotton  m
gradually enlarged, until, in 1853, they reached over one hundred and forty-seven millions of pounds.
Of this, over eighty-two millions were derived from the United States, and over fifty-nine millions from
India.
O
to 
TABLE II.
Tabular Statement of Agricultural Products, Domestic Animals, etc., EXPORTED from
the  United States; the Total Value of Products and Animals RAISED IN THE
COUNTRY; and the Value of the portion thereof left for HOME CONSUMPTION AND
USE, for the year 1853.  See Patent  Office Report; Abstract of Census;  Rep.
C(oni. iNav., etc.
Value of Exports.  Total Value of Products and
Value ofExports.Animals.
Value of portion left for
home consumption.
Cattle, and their products,........                      $ 
Horses and Mules..................
Sheep and Wool....................
Hogs, and their products.........
Indian Corn and Meal............
Wheat Flour and Biscuit.........
Rye Meal............................
I
00
Up
$3,076,897
246,731
44,375
6,202,324
2,084,051
19,591,817
34,186
attle,
$400,000,000
300,000,000
46,0.00,000
160,000,000
240,000,000
100,000,000
12,600,000
$396,923,103
299,753,269
45,955,625
153,797,676
237,915,949
80,408,183
12,565,814
Sheep,
Hogs,
Corn,
Wheat,
Rye, 
Other Grains, and Peas and Beans
Potatoes..............................
Apples................................
Hay, averaged at $10 per ton....
Hemp................................
Sugar-cane and maple, etc......
Rice...................................
$33,809,126      $1,551,176,490  $1,517,367,364
$109,456,404        $128,000,000     $18,543,596
11,319,319          19,900,000      8,580,681
Totals....................
$165,824
152,569
107,283
18,195
427,216
1,657,658
54,144,874
42,400,000
7,723,326
138,385,790
4,272,500
36,900,000
8,750,000
53,979,050
42,247,431
7,616,043
138,385,790
4,254,305
36,472,784
7,092,342
(1850)
(1850)
(1850)
.a
Totals....................
Cotton................................
Tobacco, and its products.........
$120,775,72~
$147,900,000
$27,124,277
O
ew 
TABLE III.
Total Imports of the more prominent articles of Groceries, for the year ending
June 30, 1853; specifying, also, the re-exports, and  the proportions from;lave  Labor Countries.   See Report on Commerce and Navigation.
Coffee, Imported...................................
Re-Exported.............................. 
Slave-Labor production..................
Sugar, Imported..................................
Re-Exported..............................
Slave-Labor production.................
Molasses, Imported................................
R e-Exported...........................
Slave-Labor production..............6                    
Tobacco, etc., Imported...........................
"1       Re-Exported.......................
"1       Slave-Labor production.........
Value, $15,525,954
1,163,875
12,059,476
$15,093,003
819,439
14,810,091
$3,684,888
97,880
3,607,160
$4,175,238
312,733
3,674,402
lbs. 199,049,823
" 13,349,319
" 156,108,569
" 464,427,281
"1    18,981,601
" 459,743,322
Pt
v 
gals. 31,886,100
" 488,666
" 31,325,735
......................
........................
......,........,,....... 
ERRATA.
Page 36, 12th line from top, for " grapes of gall," read, " their grapes
are grapes of gall."
Page 38, 12th line from top, for " explaining," read, "exclaiming."
Page 68, 8th line from top, for "for mnore," read, " for no more."