ePub The Cotton Kingdom: A Traveller's Observations On Cotton And Slavery In The American Slave States; 1853-1861 by Frederick Law Olmsted in History

Review

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. Very pleasedBy Frank LazenbyGreat book; just as advertised and a very god look at the period when cotton was king in the south.1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. This is like time travelBy WilliamWhat a wonderful experience for me to read this. It is much like a Paul Theroux travel book only more full of down to earth content. I really got to feeling like I was accompanying the author. For every morsel of opinion there are ten of actual experience and dialog. And he catches it all; the relationship with his horse; with the landscape; the weather; the houses and fields; and of course the main thrust is the people he meets.A step back: The author is a New York Times reporter who travels through the southern slave states prior to the Civil War. He's just following the roads on his horse and inquiring for a place to stay as evening approaches. Staying mostly in peoples homes; not public lodging. He carries with him a strong focus on the economics of where he visits and the way slave labor works into everything. He wants to understand slavery from the perspective of those he encounters; and he is effective at soliciting lots of commentary. The majority of the conversations are with the white people; many of whom own slaves. But there are also some good back and forths with the blacks; primarily but not exclusively slaves.I've learned so much here about the texture of how slavery was experienced in the south. It is not one dimensional; there are all sorts of people with pros and cons and expressions of the negative effects. This is not edited material; there is not an effort to convince the reader in any way. I could talk a lot here about the surprising things I've learned; but that's of little value. Please read it yourself.3 of 3 people found the following review helpful. Eye-witness Account; A Real Eye openerBy H. MonshawThe Cotton Kingdom; A Traveler’s Observations on Cotton and Slavery in the American Slave States. Based upon Three former volumes of journeys and investigations by the same author. In two volumes Vol 1 1861 Edited with an introduction by Arthur Schlesinger 1953 In 1852 Olmsted; a special correspondent for the now New York Times; traveled by horse through the southern slave states staying primarily at plantations. The plantations vary from small to large both in acreage and number of workers; primarily slaves; some free blacks and white. He reflects how poorly the people live both culturally and physically in comparison to northern owners and workers. He surmises that because the plantations are so spread apart normal town amenities such as schools; churches; libraries and newspapers are rare. He continues that this isolation also leads to tight-knit families as there is little other social entertainment. He gives the reader a picture of the South’s plantations—low on hospitality; energy; food variety; literacy and good agricultural practices.Olmstead comments on the condition of the often dilapidated main houses; of poor quality and variety of food—primarily bacon; cornbread and molasses sometimes coffee; and of squalid travelers’ sleeping accommodations. He describes how the people live; their clothing; their tools; crops and soil conditions. Male slave workers looked in good condition as they were very valuable assets and aside from field labor they could be rented out or sold. However; women were valued for their slave production; Virginia being the largest producers. Even with slaves; work wasn’t done well or quickly—thus crop production suffered. He discusses at length the economics of growing cotton; cost of slaves etc. by observation and U. S. governments statistics. At the end of the book; along with much philosophical verbiage; he concludes that slavery not only is economically and morally harmful but is so equally to both owners and slaves.Appendices A. The Conditions of Virginia—Statistics. B. The Slave Trade in Virginia (A day of slave trading—reviewers note). C. Cost of Labor in the Border States. D. Statistics of the Georgia Seaboard. E. Olmsted on the Northern and Southern Characters. Editor’s Appendix: F. General Bibliography. 625+pp. No drawings; no maps; often no names of places where Olmsted visits. Sometimes repetitive and verbose. I highly recommend this book; an eyewitness account; of the conditions in the South just prior to the Civil War.