Cotton Versus Coal: Economic Growth and Development of Antebellum America from Leading Sector Growth to Diversified Development

Farley GrubbThe 1840s were a decade of great acceleration in the manufacturing sector. Though lots of research has been conducted upon particular aspects of this decade, a synthesis explaining the manufacturing developments has not been compiled. This paper takes the stance that trouble in the cotton market caused the market to diversify, allowing manufactured goods to gain attention in the American economy. By looking closely at anthracite coal quantities and prices, and comparing them with the cotton market, there is a correlation in the stability in the coal market and the downfall of cotton. This builds heavily on the hypothesis that anthracite was integral to manufacturing and that cotton speculation by the Bank of the United States caused the Crisis of 1839. This implies that America could not become an industrialized economy from one commodity.Economic