Plantations in the Confederate States (war, economy, state, slavery)
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Which of the Confederate states depended on the plantation system for their economies the most? Feel free to rank the eleven states, and which crops were prominent to each state.
If we were to base the ranking on states with the highest slave densities, I would argue that Virginia, South Carolina, Louisiana and Mississippi would lead the list along with the fact that these were also the states with the highest rates of cotton, rice and tobacco production the three crops most dependent upon large scale slave labor.
We can also look at the percentage of slave to white populations on the eve of the Civil War.
South Carolina 57% of the population was slave
Mississippi 55.2%
Louisiana had the third highest percentage at 46.9% followed by Florida and Georgia 44 and 43.7 percent respectively.
Virginia had the highest number of both slave and freed Africans. But Virginia's proportional slave representation was one of the lost at 30.2%.
I remember reading something on slave economics and it had how each southern state voted to secede. I think the closer the vote the less that state depended on the plantation agriculture.
Let it be known that Governor Sam Houston of Texas was a Southern Unionist who fought against secession & refused to take the oath of allegiance to the Confederacy. As a result, he was deposed from office.
Let it be further known that, in the Indian Nations (now called "Oklahoma"), there was considerable disagreement over whether to side with the Confederacy or the Union. This was so strong, so deeply rooted, and so divisive that it caused a smaller Civil War within and among the Indian Nations.
Also, I think the term "plantation system" is both inaccurate and misleading. There were plenty of smaller holdings and other business endeavors, none of which were nearly as splendid as the stereotypical plantation, that used slaves and helped to support the regional economy.
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