Lords of the Lash and Lords of the Loom

Northern textile manufacturers relied heavily on cotton grown by enslaved people to make a large profit from manufacturing cotton cloth. The availability of inexpensive slave-cultivated cotton meant that mills could produce a lot of textiles, which translated into profits for mill owners. The two industries grew together and fueled one another.

Primary Document

A letter from John C. Calhoun to Abbott Lawrence, May 13, 1845. Calhoun was a U.S. Senator from South Carolina and ardent supporter of the slave plantation system. Lawrence was one of the founders of the textile factory cities of Lowell and Lawrence, Massachusetts.

"My Dear Sir,

… I am much gratified to learn that the manufacturing interest is so prosperous and the prospects so bright. I hope it may be fully realized. I am particularly so to learn that you are so successful in commanding the firelight market…. I would much rather see our cotton go abroad in the shape of yarn and cloth than in the raw state; and when the price instead of being ruled by the foreign shall be ruled by the home market. When that is accomplished all conflict between the planter and the manufacturer would cease, but until then every measure which restricts our foreign exchanges acts as a burthen on the former. I object to high duties, among other reasons because they are, in my opinion, the great impediment to bringing about so desirable a state of things. I am no opponent to manufactures or manufacturers, but quite the reverse, I rejoice in their prosperity."