The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 33, July 1929 - April, 1930 Page: 93
344 p. : maps ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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The Natural Limits of Slavery Expansion
They have applauded the prophecy of Lincoln, in his "house-
divided" speech, that slavery, if not arrested, would extend
over the whole country, North as well as South. Despite a lin-
gering disinclination to question Lincoln's infallibility, probably
few students of that period today would fully subscribe to that
belief. Indeed, many of them have already expressed their dis-
belief; but so far as I am aware the subject has never been ex-
amined comprehensively and the results set down. It is time
that such an examination should be made; and, since those more
competent have not attempted it, I shall endeavor in this paper
to direct attention to the question, even if I throw little new
light upon it.
The causes of the expansion of slavery westward from the
South Atlantic Coast are now well understood. The industrial
revolution and the opening of world markets had continually
increased the consumption and demand for raw cotton, while the
abundance of fertile and cheap cotton lands in the Gulf States
had steadily lured cotton farmers and planters westward. Where
large-scale production was possible, the enormous demand for a
steady supply of labor had made the use of slaves inevitable,
for a sufficient supply of free labor was unprocurable on the
frontier. Within one generation, the cotton-growing slave belt
had swept across the Gulf region from eastern Georgia to Texas.
A parallel movement had carried slaves, though in smaller ratio
to whites, into the tobacco and hemp fields of Kentucky, Ten-
nessee, and Missouri. The most powerful factor in the westward
movement of slavery was cotton, for the land available for other
staples-sugar, hemp, tobacco-was limited, while slave labor
was not usually profitable in growing grain. This expansion
of the institution was in response to economic stimuli; it had
been inspired by no political program nor by any ulterior po-
litical purpose. It requires but little acquaintance with the
strongly individualistic and unregimented society of that day to
see that it would have been extremely difficult, if not impossible,
to carry out such an extensive program; nor is there any evi-
dence that such a program existed. There was incentive enough
in the desire of the individual slaveowner for the greater profits
which he expected in the new lands. The movement would go on
as far as suitable cotton lands were to be found or as long as
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 33, July 1929 - April, 1930, periodical, 1930; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101090/m1/107/: accessed April 24, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.