American territorial expansion, slavery, and cotton drove the Industrial Revolution symbiotically

Evidence

No longer impeded by the British Crown, the settler-colonial drive only accelerated following the American victory, eventually consuming much of the North American continent. Racialization was central to this process, as the acquisition of territory was made possible by the dispossession of Native Americans and Mexicans. But land was only valuable if there was a source of labor to work it, and here too, racialization was central. This is most obvious with respect to the use of slave labor, which expanded as the acquisition of territory opened up new lands for the cultivation of export crops, most importantly cotton. Cotton production developed in a symbiotic relationship with the English Industrial Revolution, the driving force of which was cotton textiles. As historian Sven Beckert notes, “the peculiar combination of expropriated lands, slave labor, and the domination of a state that gave enormous latitude to slave owners over their labor was fabulously profitable.” — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 199

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to arguments about how American wealth rested on racialized dispossession and enslaved labor, echoing material in other decolonization and political-economy sources. — connects to: American cotton built on expropriated land and slave labor powered the English Industrial Revolution; Slavery powered European merchant capitalism and American expansion — Dubois, Laurent, Avengers of the New World_ The Story of…, 19; The Industrial Revolution’s demand for accumulation drove mass slavery and interethnic solidarity — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 772 (+16 more)

Broader Connections

• American cotton built on expropriated land and slave labor powered the English Industrial Revolution #corroborates (0.95)
• British industrial wealth derived directly from American slave labor #corroborates (0.95) — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 570
• The triangular trade’s profits directly financed the Industrial Revolution in England #corroborates (0.95) — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 431
• King Cotton made slavery and capitalism globally interdependent and mutually constitutive #corroborates (0.92) — Nikole Hannah-Jones et al., The 1619 Project, 558
• Enslaved cotton cultivation accelerated the factory system and wage labor #exemplifies (0.90) — Nikole Hannah-Jones et al., The 1619 Project, 581
• Slavery powered European merchant capitalism and American expansion #corroborates (0.85) — Dubois, Laurent, Avengers of the New World_ The Story of…, 19
• Slavery was the economic engine of early American growth #corroborates (0.85) — Nikole Hannah-Jones et al., The 1619 Project, 533
• The Industrial Revolution’s demand for accumulation drove mass slavery and interethnic solidarity #corroborates (0.80) — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 772
• American slavery’s nineteenth-century expansion foreshadowed global capitalist development. #expands (0.80) — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 1129
• Slave labor underpinned the political and economic power of European empires #corroborates (0.80)
• Rapid industrialization historically drives major powers toward expansion and imperialism #expands (0.75) — Samuel P. Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations and the…, 615
• Abolition of slavery coincided with capitalism’s reorganization toward new labor forms #expands (0.75) — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 1434
• Caribbean sugar colonies drove the rise of Atlantic capitalism #corroborates (0.75) — Dubois, Laurent, Avengers of the New World_ The Story of…, 75
• Slave-economy speculation seeded a persistent culture of American capitalism #qualifies (0.72) — Nikole Hannah-Jones et al., The 1619 Project, 559
• The Industrial Revolution was imperial-scale and built on centuries of prior development #qualifies (0.72) — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 218