Final answer:
The slave population in Mississippi experienced significant growth during the 1830s because of the cotton boom. This economic change led to increased demand for slave labor in the Mississippi River Valley and a surge in the domestic slave trade.
Step-by-step explanation:
The slave population in Mississippi soared particularly during the 1830s due to the cotton boom. Prior to this period, the growth of the enslaved population in the South was not as rapid. Post the constitutional ban on the international slave trade in 1808, the domestic slave trade expanded, and the number of slaves increased by just 750,000 over twenty years. By the 1830s, the rise of cotton as a major agricultural product greatly increased the demand for slave labor within the Mississippi River Valley, leading to a significant uptick in the slave population in areas like Mississippi, driven by the domestic slave trade.
The market revolution and the increased profitability of cotton fostered a region of economic growth built on slave labor. This led to the South, including Mississippi, producing a majority of the world's cotton supply. Mississippi, with places like Natchez having the second-largest slave market, became an epicenter for cotton production and slave trade activities.
By the 1860 time frame, despite the concentration of wealth among plantation owners, the vast majority of the enslaved population endured the hardships and traumas of being treated as property, with the fear of separation from family and community due to internal slave trade, marking this as a particularly critical period in the history of slavery in Mississippi and the broader South.