When I came across the references to the crop failures in Britain and Europe I remembered Mark's 'the war starting just in time' idea on the "Your Thoughts/Comments" post string below.

What would have happened if secession or the war had not happened in 1860-61? Large slave holdings, like those run by syndicates or corporations may have ended within a few year's time because of the monies being made in other commodities. With new cash crops like grains, investors would have dropped their shares in the cotton trade, and reinvested in states like Iowa, Nebraska, Indiana, Illinois, etc. for grain production.

I found a reference that showed that cotton was already losing out to other areas of farm production outside of the South in 1860. Total wheat production is recorded at $215,381,155, value of total corn production is recorded at $629,094,55 and cotton came in at $237,030,288.

On the other hand the war caused things like alcohol/turpentine based fuels to switch to oil based fuels over night, caused by the restrictive alcohol taxes. This made money flow into one concentrated region of the country, Pennsylvania and made many men very rich. This would not have happened as it did without Fort Sumter.

_____________________
David Upton