Migration to the Southwest

The Demand for cotton in England took off in 1815, when cotton became, for the first time, the clothing of choice for large number of the world's people. The south was the WORLD'S most ready place to start this transition. Small farmers as well as planters from the older states of the southern seaboard saw Opportunity in the new states of Alabama and Mississippi, especially now that Andrew Jackson had opened Mobile as a port for southern Alabama. Slave owners in the older states of the Atlantic seaboard face with what they considered a surplus of labor, eagerly sold slaves to planters moving to "New" lands. Many planters to the east took advantage of the opportunity to sell slaves "down south", especially as the price of slaves- stagnant or declining before 1815- began to rise. Because of this migration east, the population of Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana more than tripled between 1810 and 1820.

Some ambitious young men from northern states moved to the new cotton land, the place in the United States, it seemed where the greatest fortunes could be made in the shortest amount of time. the lure of the sotuthwest overrode concerns husbands may have felt for their wives' opinions, however, for the new states offered a chance at the independence they considered synonymous with manliness.