The Emergence of the Cotton Kingdom in the Old Southwest: Mississippi, 1770-1860 traces the evolution of cotton culture in the region bordering the Mississippi River. Moore examines the society supported by that industry, emphasizing technological changes that transformed cotton plantations into agricultural equivalents of factories and slaves into skilled and highly productive farm workers. Unlike other studies of antebellum southern agriculture, this book examines the contributions to the success of the cotton industry made by steamboats and railroads, manufacturing establishments, and the urban population.