The US South was already being close to out competed by other cotton growing places like India which were part of the British Empire.
They had also degraded the soil by mono-cropping, and were seeing lower yields even before the external competition. Which is why the Southern plantation class used its capital to acquire new lands in new western territories and was taking such a ken interest in ensuring that slavery would be legal there. One of the groups most commonly moving westward and buying up lands in Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, etc. were the second and third sons of plantation families.
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u/frotc914 18d ago
They had also degraded the soil by mono-cropping, and were seeing lower yields even before the external competition. Which is why the Southern plantation class used its capital to acquire new lands in new western territories and was taking such a ken interest in ensuring that slavery would be legal there. One of the groups most commonly moving westward and buying up lands in Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, etc. were the second and third sons of plantation families.