The Cotton Kingdom
- Title:
- The Cotton Kingdom
- Alternate Title:
- The Cotton Kingdom
- Collection:
- Persuasive Maps: PJ Mode Collection
- Creator:
- Atkinson, Edward
- Date:
- 1863
- Posted Date:
- 2015-08-25
- ID Number:
- 1065.01
- File Name:
- PJM_1065_01.jpg
- Style/Period:
- 1800 - 1869
- Subject:
- U.S. Civil War
Unusual Graphics/Text
Slavery/Race
Not So Persuasive - Measurement:
- 42 x 37 (centimeters, height x width)
- Notes:
- This map of “The Cotton Kingdom” was produced by Edward Atkinson, a Boston cotton broker and abolitionist, as part of the ongoing dispute over the economic impact of the naval blockade of Southern cotton exports. See Notes to ID # 1064. While Olmstead's map attempted to address the cost effectiveness of slavery in producing cotton, Atkinson's map was intended to reassure British mill owners that there would be an adequate supply of cotton in a world without slavery. He wrote that “because the system of labor by which cotton has been raised has been tried and found wanting in ability to meet the demand of the world for cotton; and it is to the change in that system of labor which, from the necessity of emancipation as a war measure, is to follow the suppression of the rebellion, that we must look for full supply of cotton. A glance at the accompanying map is all that is needed.” (Atkinson 1863, 105-06).
Atkinson’s map used cotton-bale symbols to show the amount of each state’s land devoted to cotton production, against the geographic “limit of cotton culture,” graphically demonstrating that the South was cultivating only a tiny portion (he calculated 1.634 percent) of the potentially suitable land. The map is not without its faults; it selectively omits certain significant data (Schulten 2012, 154), and it is cluttered with unnecessary and distracting text. But even if imperfectly, it made novel and effective use of the cotton-bale symbols to reinforce Atkinson's message, and it integrated data and cartography “starkly and memorably.” (Ibid)
For another map allegedly - but not in fact - clear at “a glance,” see ID #2385, “Imperialism in America.”
For further information on the Collector’s Notes and a Feedback/Contact Link, see https://persuasivemaps.library.cornell.edu/content/about-collection-personal-statement and https://persuasivemaps.library.cornell.edu/content/feedback-and-contact - Source:
- Atkinson, Edward. "The Cotton Manufacture," in Sabine, Lorenzo (secretary), Boston Board of Trade. 1863. Ninth Annual Report of the Government, Presented to the Board at the Annual Meeting, on the 14th January, 1863. Boston: Alfred Mudge & Son, 1863, 95-115.
- Repository:
- Private Collection of PJ Mode
- Format:
- Image
- Rights:
- For important information about copyright and use, see http://persuasivemaps.library.cornell.edu/copyright.