preview

Cotton Market Revolution

Decent Essays

Sophia Ho
Shannon Welch
B09
In the 1800s, America rose to become a highly industrialized and complex economy. This was mainly due to the revolutionary creation of the cotton gin because it sped up the process of how seeds were removed from the cotton fiber. This increase in cotton production ushered the United States into the Market Revolution. During this era, cotton became the single most important crop in the United States, creating more jobs for laborers in the fields. With the rise of cheap labor, the demand for land increased. The influx of workers in America and development of the cotton sector led to the expansion of the United States westward of the northern and southern states. The land necessary for the cultivation of cotton became …show more content…

However, the practices following the rise of the market revolution contradicted these founding principles. The belief of manifest destiny, the god given right to conquer the entire United States, and the rise of the market revolution justified the invasion of Mexican territories. Following the successful invasion of Mexico, the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was written, which redrew the boundary lines and included the protection of property and civil rights as citizens of the United States. With new boundary lines, Mexicans were greatly outnumbered by Anglo Americans and soon became minorities in their own land. Playing a dominant role in state legislatures, Anglo Americans enacted laws and regulations to limit the rights and freedoms of Mexicans. They passed a foreign miners’ tax known as the “Mexican Miners’ Tax” which took fees from miners of Mexican ancestry because Anglos saw Mexicans as competitors in the mining industry. They created a poll tax to prevent Mexicans from voting because Anglo Americans refused to have an ignorant bunch of civilians determining the direction of the country. Not only did Mexicans lose their rights as citizens, but as landowners as well. Despite Article X in the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo which protected land ownership, Congress passed a land law requiring landowners to prove their ownership for a plot of …show more content…

Generally, Mexicans were paid fifty percent less than Anglo Americans and forced to live in company towns where they used their low income to pay for expensive food and supplies (Takaki 173). They were also given the manual and dangerous work such as ditch digging whereas their American counterparts had less labor intensive jobs. This became a racial stratification for occupations. This signified a major contradiction in the Declaration of Independence because social inequality and injustice can be seen through the lives of Mexicans. Mexican-Americans were not given equal opportunities for employment, because jobs and wages were based on race rather than ability and work ethic. They faced discrimination in the workforce and were downgraded to working the low-end jobs in society. They were forced to work in hazardous environments whereas Americans worked in a safer setting. The racial discrimination and lack of equality in the workforce during the market revolution indicates an inconsistency in the Declaration of

Get Access