South Carolina Senator James Henry Hammond "Cotton is King" speech on floor of Senate

South Carolina Senator James Henry Hammond "Cotton is King" speech on floor of Senate

United States--History--Civil War

Excerpts from a speech delivered in the senate before the civil war, South Carolina senator James Henry Hammond warned of dire consequences if the south was unable to deliver cotton to the world.

James Henry Hammond

Internet Archive; Book contributor New York Public Library; Ditigized by Microsoft

1858-03-04

AB, PP

Public Domain

png

English

Excerpt: What would happen if no cotton was furnished for three years? I will not stop to depict what every one can imagine, but this is certain: England would topple headlong and carry the whole civilized world with her, save the south. No, thou dare not make war on cotton. No power on earth dares to make war upon it. Cotton is king.

James Henry Hammond, Speech on the Admission of Kansas, Under the Lecompton Constitution, delivered in the Senate of the United States, March 4, 1858. Book. Selections from the letters and speeches of the Hon. James H. Hammond, New York, J. F. Trow & Co., printers, 1866. https://archive.org/details/ASPC0005213600 (Accessed from Internet Archive November 2016).