Question

"Cotton is the fabric of civilization. It has built up peoples, and has riven them apart. It has brought to the world vast and permanent wealth. It has enlisted the vision of statesmen, the genius of inventors, the courage of pioneers, the forcefulness of manufacturers, the initiative of merchants and shipbuilders, and the patient toil of many millions. A whole library could be written on the economic aspects of cotton alone. It could be told in detail, how and why the domination of the field of its manufacture passed from India to Spain, to Holland, and finally to England, which now shares it chiefly with the United States. The interdependence of nations which it has brought about has been the subject of numerous books and articles. Nor is the history of the inventions which have made possible to-day's great production of cotton fabrics less impressive."—From The Fabric of Civilization, 1919

The role of cotton as the "fabric of civilization" was evident in which of the following in the early 1800s?

Increased regional and international economic dependencies
Virtual abandonment of subsistence farming
Development of a unified national economy
Increased pressure to establish nationalized banking

Answer 1

The correct answer is Increased regional and international economic dependencies.

During the 1830s and 1840s, the slogan "Cotton is King was widely used and described American's economy growth. Cotton became one of the first luxury commodities after sugar and tobacco and also expanded its production in such a way that millions of black human beings themselves became treated as a commodity, becoming the first mass consumer commodity in the world.

Slave-produced cotton brought commercial success and great profits to New York City, stimulated territorial expansion in the Old Southwest and strengthened bonds between Europe and the U.S. for trading, being the main export America had for over a century.

It is important to note that despite its economic importance, cotton also prolonged America’s most serious social tragedy, slavery, even having a major factor for the American Civil War. It had an enormous economic importance to the economies of the United States and Great Britain.