Posted: March 24th, 2023

Soy, Cotton, and the Final Atlantic Forest Frontier

Annotated bibliography

Richards, Peter. Soy, cotton, and the final Atlantic forest frontier. The Professional Geographer 63, no. 3 (2011): 343-363

The article discusses the expansion of cotton towards the South America and how it led to deforestation. The increase and development of industries affected the forest cover since trees were cut to give space for cotton farming. Small-scale farming of cotton was not doing well, and it diminished with time. However, the large parts of the forest that had been destroyed were recovered back.

Maxwell, Kenneth. Many Thousands Gone: The First Two Centuries of Slavery in North America. Foreign Affairs, (1998): 159-160.

This article demonstrates how slavery evolved in early 1600. In today’s America, most black people relate to the cotton slavery in the Southern region. The author shows how the early slavery in the North America had different forms that varied from place to place. However, Christianity did not approve of slavery and greatly campaigned against it, slowly abolishing it in the 19^th century.

Rodriguez, Junius P. Slavery in the United States: A social, political, and historical encyclopedia. Santa Barbara, Calif: ABC-CLIO. 2007.

The book clearly outlines how the expansion of the cotton farms led to the demand for more slaves to work in the plantations to keep up with the world’s demand for cotton. The slaves played a major role in shaping today’s political and social practices. The economy of the South greatly advanced due to the cheap labor offered by the slaves.

Dattel, Gene. “King cotton.” New Criterion no. 2 (2014): 16. Literature Resource Center, EBSCOhost. 2016.

The article shows how innovations led to demand for more slaves to work as laborers on the cotton farms. The demand for cotton in the European market was growing as there was a device that could separate cotton from the lint, thereby, the bottleneck production problems were solved. The device could process more cotton; hence, more slaves were needed to work to meet the demand.

Pargas, Damian Alan. “In the Fields of a ‘Strange Land’: Enslaved Newcomers and the Adjustment to Cotton Cultivation in the Antebellum South.” Slavery & Abolition 34, no. 4, (2013): 562.

The article has contributed immensely to the understanding of the political, demographic, and economic developments in the South. The study also shows that cotton required less skilled labor than sugarcanes or rice farming. The slaves who were skilled upon arrival in the cotton farms were forced to work together with the unskilled laborers.

Northrup, Cynthia Clark. 2003. The American economy: a historical encyclopedia. Santa Barbara, Calif: ABC-CLIO.

In this book, the author clearly states that the expansion of cotton production, especially towards the South, was parallel to the increase in the number of slaves who were to manage the large plantations in the Deep South states. The slaves subsidized the costs of the large plantations. Therefore, the costs needed to maintain the region’s social, political, and economic lifestyle were low.

Fields, Barbara Jeanne. Slavery, Race and Ideology in the United States of America. New Left Review, no. 181, (1990): 95-118.

The racism in the United States is not a biological concept, but it is an idea that developed from the historical circumstances. The blacks suffered in the hands of the whites, who were their colonial masters in the South. They were agonized due to economic necessity, not that they were viewed as inferior, but the racism idea developed and spread to the North.

Beckert, Sven. Empire of cotton: a global history. New York: Knopf. 2015.

In the book, the author reveals the rise and fall of the cotton empire. The entrepreneurs from Europe and the powerful political leaders combined their efforts to expand the cotton production. They brought in more slaves and invested in machines producing more quality cotton. Capitalism was used in shaping the rise of cotton farming, which was later used in transforming the world. The empire of cotton was always the cause of struggle between the farmers, slaves, statesmen, and factory owners. In the book, it is evident how these forces revolutionized the world.

Dippel, John VanHouten. Race to the frontier “white flight” and westward expansion. New York. Algora Pub. 2005.

The association between slavery and cotton is deeply embedded in US history. The South is entangled with cotton and slavery, where cotton is translated to mean slavery. The indigenous people of the South were moved from their lands to expand the cotton farming. The expansion continued towards the South, where cotton was profitable and the slaves were available.

Coclanis, Pa, and Sl Engerman. “Would Slavery Have Survived Without the Civil War?: Economic Factors in the American South during the Antebellum and Postbellum Eras.” Southern Cultures 19, no. 2 (2013): 66-90

The article debates the views of the continuation of African-American slavery in the Southern states, which resulted in the occurrence of a civil war. The slaves had played a significant role in the advancement of the Southern economy. The Southern differences and the slaveholders initiated the war. In addition, the study highlights the relationship between slavery and cotton.

Bibliography

Beckert, Sven. Empire of cotton: a global history. New York: Knopf. 2015.

Coclanis, Pa, and Sl Engerman. “Would Slavery Have Survived Without the Civil War? Economic Factors in the American South During the Antebellum and Postbellum Eras.” Southern Cultures 19, no. 2, (2013): 66-90.

Dattel, Gene. “King cotton.” New Criterion no. 2 (2014): 16. Literature Resource Center, EBSCOhost. 2016.

Dippel, John VanHouten. Race to the frontier “white flight” and westward expansion. New York. NY: Algora Pub.

Fields, Barbara Jeanne. Slavery, Race and Ideology in the United States of America. New Left Review, no. 181, (1990): 95-118.

Maxwell, Kenneth. Many Thousands Gone: The First Two Centuries of Slavery in North America. Foreign Affairs, (1998): 159-160.

Northrup, Cynthia Clark. 2003. The American economy: a historical encyclopedia. Santa Barbara, Calif: ABC-CLIO.

Pargas, Damian Alan. “In the Fields of a ‘Strange Land’: Enslaved Newcomers and the Adjustment to Cotton Cultivation in the Antebellum South.” Slavery & Abolition 34, no. 4, (2013): 562.

Richards, Peter. Soy, cotton, and the final Atlantic forest frontier. The Professional Geographer 63, no. 3, (2011): 343-363.

Rodriguez, Junius P. Slavery in the United States: a social, political, and historical encyclopedia. Santa Barbara, Calif: ABC-CLIO. 2007.