For: Interactive map
Web Code: ncp-1009
Cotton cultivation increased substantially in the nineteenth century. Harvesting cotton (right) was a time-consuming and difficult task that required a large labor force. This led planters to buy more enslaved people. In 1861, more than 50 percent of the population was enslaved in some areas of the Deep South. Tension built over extending slavery into the territories. The states with the largest slave populations seceded. Border states, which had fewer enslaved people, stayed in the Union.