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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. After the invention of the cotton gin (1793), cotton surpassed tobacco as the dominant cash crop in the agricultural economy of the South, soon comprising more than half the total U.S. exports.
The Editors of The Encyclopædia Britannica, in King Cotton, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.,16 January 2014. | ||