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Self-Sufficiency, Cotton, and Economic Development in the South Carolina Upcountry, 1800–1860

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 March 2009

Lacy K. Ford
Lacy K. Ford
Affiliation:
Lacy K. Ford is Assistant Professor in the Department of History, University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina 29208.
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Abstract

The expansion of short-staple cotton production into the southern backcountry during the nineteenth century opened opportunities for backcountry planters and yeomen alike. But contrary to the claims made by agricultural reformers, South Carolina upcountry farmers did not neglect the production of foodstuffs. The Upcountry as a whole was self-sufficient in foodstuffs though a significant minority of farms failed to achieve self-sufficiency. Thus a limited local market in foodstuffs developed, but it did little to stimulate the development of towns in the region.

Type
Papers Presented at the Forty-fourth Annual Meeting of the Economic History Association
Information
The Journal of Economic History , Volume 45 , Issue 2 , June 1985 , pp. 261 - 267
Copyright
Copyright © The Economic History Association 1985

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References

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2 For a broader investigation see Ford, Lacy K., “Social Origins of a New South Carolina: The Upcountry in the Nineteenth Century” (Ph.D. dissertation, University of South Carolina, 1983), Pp. 1–120, 269–368. I define Upcountry as the portion of the state north and west of the fall line.Google Scholar

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