What evidence in the text supports the idea that cotton
was kingin antebellum Louisiana? Check all that
apply.
Cotton was king in Louisiana and most of the Deep South
during the antebellum period. Between 1840 and 1860
Louisiana's annual cotton erop rose from about 375,000
bales to nearly 8o0,000 bales. In 1860 Louisiana
produced about one-sixth of all cotton grown in the
United States and almost one-third of all cotton exported
from the United States, most of which went to Britain
and France.
O Cotton production in Louisiana more than doubled
over a 20-year period.
O The state produced one-sixth of all cotton grown in
the United States.
Although Louisianians grew some cotton in the colonial
period, they, like other producers, did not find it
profitable until Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin in
The state provided nearty one-half of all exported
cotton.
O Even small farms with few laborers could profit from
1793. Prior to the cotton gin, laborers had to separate
growing cotton.
h,
cotton seeds from fiber by hand, a long and tedious
process. Because gins were fairly simple machines that
O Many residents grew cotton because it was
many firms could manufacture, cotton production
relatively easy to grow.
inereased rapidly throughout the South.
Cotton was fairly easy to grow, although bad weather and
insects could destroy the crop. Producers could grow