June 26, 2019 Wednesday
Bedtime Story
The Antebellum South Economy
If a weaving of patterns on fabric in a hand loom could be controlled by a “chain of cards” then this principle if
extended further to other mechanical devises could in principle be used to
pre-program instructions to mechanical calculators that had begun to appear
even a century before.
But that story of mathematics and
mechanical calculators is not our primary concern tonight (even though I am
using this very technology to transmit my bedtime stories to Mon Ami who lives
right across the globe).
Along with advancement in looms and commercialization
and mass production in weaving industry, advent of steam power combined with
cheap fertile land of the American South and of course that precious human
resource – slaves made cotton plantation a lucrative business in the Antebellum
South.
“Antebellum” should be a new word for most
of you readers even for the most erudite and well read ones (if not then you deserve
my salute).
Antebellum Era refers to the period of American
South from late 18th century to the beginning of the American Civil
War that saw the sharp rise in the plantation economy that was underpinned
predominantly by the British mercantile ideology.
Antebellum Era of South saw great prosperity
through the means of agriculture plus slave economy through just five
commodities – cotton, grain, tobacco, sugar and rice.
Of the five the leading cash crop was
cotton concentrated in the Deep South of Mississippi, Alabama and Louisiana.
Cotton plantation and cultivation had
become the most profitable business in the United States prior to the Civil War
making the owners the wealthiest people in the country.
In spite of the South States and the Slave
States being economically affluent they remained rural with no large cities
except for Baltimore and New Orleans.
The plantation economy of the Antebellum
South needed unskilled labor in large volume that would prove to be ill-adapted
in future when modernization accompanied with industrialization would usher in.
But that would happen later.
Now see the strong relationship that slavery
had with the antebellum economy.
All the Free States that did not have
slaves or had relatively limited number of slaves rarely could grow their
agricultural farms into large profitable enterprises due to want of farm
workers.
The Southern States (which was euphemism
for Slave States) on the other hand could recruit as many slaves as they wished
for allowing them to greatly increase the land under cultivation.
Thus you see that the limiting factor in
the profitability of cotton cultivation was not land which was cheap but labor
specially the black slave labor which not only came cheap but was far more
productive for the land and slave owners.
You would be surprised to know that by late
1850s as much as half the population of states such as Georgia, Alabama,
Mississippi and Louisiana comprised of slaves not because they were loved as
much they were indispensable.
Stay tuned to the voice of an
average story storytelling chimpanzee or login at http://panarrans.blogspot.com
Good night Mon Ami and my fellow cousin ape.
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Another great educator and a teacher that I am aware of is Professor
Subhashish Chattopadhyay in Bangalore, India.
While I narrate stories, Professor Subhashish an electronic
engineer and a former professor at BARC, does and teaches real mathematics and
physics.
He started the participation of Indian students at the
International Physics Olympiad.
Do visit him here:
All his books can be downloaded for free through this link:
For edutainment and English education of your children, I recommend
this large collection of Halloween Songs for Kids:
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