You have good knowledge of the history. If southerners were not interested in buying the textiles, what about the European markets? I can’t understand why the south couldn’t get their manufacturing going. They had great advantages.
The probably couldn’t compete with the Brits in Europe for textiles. The Northern textile manufacturers also had a hard time competing with the Brits in Europe. Why couldn’t the South get their manufacturing going? Part was resources. Iron ore and anthracite coal were not mined in the South at the time. Most all of the machinery and raw materials would have to be shipped to the South from somewhere else. Workers skilled in manufacturing trades such as machinists, foundry men, and patternmakers would have to compete with slaves with the same skills. A lot of the skilled employees of Northern mills learned their trades in Europe before immigration. Why go South to find work if you have to compete with a slave for jobs. Another part of the equation was cultural. Southerners took great pride in being farmers and planters. There was a disdain in the Southern attitudes toward manufacturing or engineering. The entire culture of the South was anchored to agriculture. While not every Southerner felt this way, a quote by Texas Confederate Senator Wigfall is inciteful into the Southern perspective.
“We have no commercial marine-no navy-we don’t want them. Your ships carry our produce and you can protect your own vessels. We want no manufactures; we desire no trading, no mechanical or manufacturing classes. As long as we have our cotton, our rice, our sugar, our tobacco, we can command wealth to purchase all we want from these nations with which we are in amity.”