How did the slave driven cotton industry operate in the South in 1861?

The invention of the cotton gin helped the manner by which cotton was made ready for market, however, the cotton plantations were still operated by intensive slave labor. The actual steps of how a cotton plantation were as follows:

* Cotton gins could be powered by horses or water. Intensive slave labor was not required in this process;

* Slaves prepared for the next cotton crop by first clearing, by hand or clubs, the left over cotton stalks;

*Maure was then required for the new crop, this was done by hand and consisted of placing this fertilizer as deep as possible into the furrows of the previous crop;

* The seeding for the new crop was done by hand, usually in the Spring;

* By late Summer the cotton was harvested by hand, and ginned almost immediately; and

* The entire process began again, one cycle after another.

Production levels were unsustainable without vast numbers of workers. Paid workers would make the cotton system too expensive, thus slave labor was required.

Many in the South had regarded slavery as a necessary evil, however, the economic boom it created made slavery a essential part of the Southern economy.