Recently, I watched a programme on television where I
learned a lot about a part of our shared history with the United
States of America that I had not known.
American history was not well taught when I was at school, and my knowledge of America
is sadly limited to remembering a mention of tea chests being thrown into the
sea…I think…
In this programme I learned about how mass unemployment
affected our cotton mills during the American Civil War .This led to my
researching further, the links between the UK,
the American Civil war and its effects on our cotton industry.
In 1861, a blockade was put on southern ports (the
confederate states) as part of the unions (The northern states) plans to win
the war. The south was very dependent on trade, and especially so during the
war when they needed weapons and other supplies.
One prized currency that the south had was cotton …Referred
to as the oil of its time, and in particular Britain’s
dependence on it. One sixth of British population worked in the mills. The
blockade was therefore a huge blow to the British cotton industry.
The cotton planters of the south tried to take advantage of
this and placed an embargo on the cotton, hoping that Britain
would be so desperate for cotton for the mills that although officially neutral
in the war, Britain
would support the confederate states. However, this was not so, for to support
the confederacy would have meant war with the United
States. In spite of the difficulty in
obtaining American cotton, the British textile industry continued to do well,
though due to the shortage of raw cotton, there was mass unemployment in the
mills.
The reason for this apparent contradiction was that the
British textile industry actually had good stockpiles of raw cotton.
The crops of 1859/60 had been good and we were beginning to
import cotton from other places such as India
and Egypt.
Already showing perhaps a tendency to go for the cheaper option rather than to
respect old trading relations. In spite of the embargo, we still had enough
cotton to even be exporting it ourselves. The lack of cotton from America
was not affecting our textile industry, although there was mass unemployment in
the cotton mills. We were at this time, actually more dependent on the USA
for wheat than for cotton.
Britain
had also overproduced textiles in the years before the American civil war, and
had done so to an extent that far exceeded what people were buying. A
lot of textile production was stopped until these stocks were used up, also due
to their being less cotton as a result of the union blockade, the price for it
rocketed and British cotton mills speculated, holding on to it in the hope of
making a good profit selling at the
right time. What happened was that while unemployment soared in the cotton
mills, the textile industry did well. .
The confederate states did indeed realise that cotton was
their currency for munitions and other supplies such as uniforms, and ships
known as blockade runners were used to get past the union blockade and take
cotton to England …A further article will follow about The Civil War and
British ship building.
Another reason, mentioned previously as to why the
difficulty in getting American cotton did not affect the British textile industry
was the ability to source cotton from elsewhere. By 1862 70% of our cotton came
from India, so
business with India
is far from new and related to the rise of Indian call centres!! Egypt
developed into one of the largest cotton producers in the world and during the
American civil war Brazil
doubled its export of cotton…these three countries, although the largest were
not the only suppliers of cotton
Further articles to follow in the series…The special
relationship…America,
the UK and
employment will be:
And the looms fell silent ...An account of how the cotton
famine resulting from the American civil war affected the mills in the UK,
from an economic perspective.
Nowt at the mill…how the mill workers of Lancashire
England, were
affected by the cotton famine resulting from The American civil war, told from
the workers perspective
The history of employment in America
The great American spirit …the story of an entrepreneur
Britain
and The American civil war…from a political and economic viewpoint
Abraham Lincoln and his special relationship with British
workers
The American civil war and British ship building
Arguments for and against slavery
The history of child labour in the USA
and in England
The special relationship..English Americans and business
