Why did antebellum Southerners call cotton "King?" ? O America had been producing an access of cotton since colonial times. New England was happy to buy all the cotton as raw material for their textile mills. TH O The South developed lots of textile mills where cotton could be made into cloth. O Cotton made more money for the United States than any other export.
King Cotton, phrase frequently used by Southern politicians and authors prior to the American Civil War, indicating the economic and political importance of cotton production.
