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I disagree with this statement: "I don't think it was slavery that made American cotton dominant."
Although American cotton was superior in quality, which certainly contributed to its dominance, it also was cheap because of the cheap slave labor required to hand pick it. The combination of low cost and high quality resulted in American cotton acquiring 80% of the cotton fiber market.
With respect to the statement, "The southern transportation system was better and the southern farmers were better agronomists.", undoubtedly southern farmers were better cotton agronomists, probably better than any in the world, based on the many years of growing it. However, I would hesitate to generalize that to other products, such as wheat, corn, rice and sugar.
With regards to southern transportation, I will need more evidence that it was superior to that of the north.
Norm
Agree:
American cotton in 1850 and even today is a superior product.
In 1820 Gosspium babadense-or Gulf cotton was discovered in Mississippi.
Gulf cotton slid through the cotton gins easier, produced more useable cotton,
grew faster, and was cheaper to plant.
1833 Petit Gulf cotton was developed...even producing a greater yield!
Georgia cotton in 1860 was yielding 900 pounds per acre (at 7 harvest per year), but Gulf cotton was yielding 1200 pounds per acre.
Also increased, was the concentration of slave population along the Mississippi River.
With the Indian removal act of 1830, the invention of the steamboat around 1812, the development of Gulf Cotton, and Slavery....the "Southern Cotton Belt" was born along the Mississippi River. India nor Egypt couldn't compete with such an efficient production.