Question for you — I’ve actually been meaning to ask you and now seems like an opportunity. I believe that New Orleans (because of its location) was seen as a real economic powerhouse early in the nineteenth century. Of course, New York City was sort of the traditional “center of the world” for the US economy, but with cotton crops becoming a big economic factor, and the invention of steamships going up and down the Mississippi, I think New Orleans was considered a big threat to the Northern economic system. I think this was a factor in the push for a North-South conflict. I don’t think this is talked about very much (historians prefer to say “it was all about slavery”) but do you know of any decent books or resources which might focus on the economic power of New Orleans before the Civil War?
This is exactly correct. The vast majority of cotton shipments went through New Orleans. The economic trade of that era was a lot more complicated than most people know. New York actually controlled almost all of the Cotton trade in the South and especially in New Orleans.
They had "factors" who would go around and estimate the value of cotton crops, they would make contracts to buy them, and then ship them from New Orleans to New York, and across the Atlantic for large profits. They were making more money on the cotton trade than the people who were actually producing the material.
Northern newspapers specifically mention New Orleans as an economic threat to them. I don't have the quote ready at hand, but in these discussions it gets quoted often enough that I'm sure it will turn up again.
but do you know of any decent books or resources which might focus on the economic power of New Orleans before the Civil War?
I have in the past had links to books and articles detailing the economic power of New Orleans in that era, but that was several browsers ago, and I can't put my finger on them at the moment.
I will point out that New Orleans was the focus of much Union firepower early on in the war. I believe it was the first major city they conquered, and it was of course because of the money, and it's control of the Mississippi river.
Yes, the South was a very grave economic threat to the monied interests of the North, and especially New Orleans.