The South provided ¾’s of the world’s supply of cotton in the years leading to the American Civil War. Cotton was a very crucial resource for the industrial revolution. The demand for cotton made trading a lot more known. The plantation was where cotton came from, which was business of worldwide significance. The cotton boom made thousands of plantation owners and planters rich. The South’s commitment to plantation agriculture stopped many other areas of its economy. Plantation agriculture led to a lot of wealth among whites. Without regional markets, little urbanization or industrialization would have been present in the South. Plantations usually sent goods to markets by the river system. Smaller farmers preferred to use roads and canals to stick with their low taxes. Big farms were way more profitable than small ones. Therefore the more successful the planters, the more slaves and good land they were …show more content…
A horse-pulled steel plow was invented by John Deere that was used to replace the old wooden plows farmers had used for as long as anyone could ever remember that were pulled by oxen. The new steel plow allowed farmers to till soil more cheaply and a lot faster. These steel plows also assured farmers wouldn’t have to make repairs as frequently. Cyrus McCormick also invented a great technological advance. He invented the mechanical mower-reaper. This reaper improved the efficiency of wheat farming greatly. Before the mower-reaper wheat farming was too difficult so farmers very rarely grew it. They grew corn instead but corn was less profitable. Just as in the South after the cotton gin, farmers in the West also saw a huge increase in profits after the mechanical reaper as more wheat was grown. More wheat was being produced than the West could consume. This led to them beginning to transport crop surpluses to sell in the manufacturing