SUPPRESSION OF THE AFRICAN SLAVE TRADE, EXCERPT...

"The history of slavery and of the slave trade after 1820 must be read in light of the industrial revolution through which the civilized world passed in the first half of the nineteenth century. Between the years 1775 and 1825 occurred events and changes of the highest importance and widest influence. Though all branches of industry felt the impulse of this new industrial life, yet, 'if we consider single industries, cotton manufactures has, during the nineteenth century, made the most magnificent and gigantic advances.' This fact is easily explained by the remarkable series of inventions that revolutionized this industry between 1738 and 1830, including Arkwright 's, Watt's, Compton's, and Cartwright 's epoch-making contrivances. The effect which these inventions had on the manufacture of cotton goods is best illustrated by the fact that in England, the chief cotton maker of the world, the consumption of raw cotton rose steadily from 13,000 bales in 1781, to 572,000 in 1820, to 871,000 in 1830, and to 3,366,000 in 1860.... "[In] the second quarter of the century Southern slavery was irresistibly changed from a family institution to an industrial system. "The development of Southern slavery has heretofore been viewed so exclusively from the ethical and social standpoint that we are apt to forget its close and indissoluble connection with the world 's cotton market." P.152-153, "Rise of the Cotton Kingdom, SUPPRESSION OF THE AFRICAN SLAVE TRADE by Dr. W. E. B. DuBois (1896)