2 Nanc Ogdn, Cathin Pkins, and Daid M. Donahu
as mo than a “pcuia” institution in th South. As Daid Quignots in his histo of th connctions btwn sa and Nw yok Cit, “in poitics, conomics, cutu, and socia if, Nw yoks—back and whit—maind impicatd in th sa sstm down to th onst of th Cii Wa.”
3
Simia, a pot xamining Bown Unisit’s con-nction to sa potd that it “was not a distinct ntpis but ath an institution that pmatd aspct of socia and conomic if inrhod Isand, th Amicas, and indd th wod.”
4
Poitica, th U.S gonmnt tatd sa as a nationa institution potctd b th Constitution, in ffct acknowdging and suppotinga “sahoding pubic.”
5
Economically, northern merchants proted
tmndous fom th tansatantic cotton tad. Aft th Wa of 1812,southn cotton on nothn ships fd engand’s booming txti misand spud gat cotton poduction in th South. B 1822, haf of thgoods shippd fom Nw yok w poducd in th South, amost a bsas.
6
Nothn ships tanspotd sas, n whn fda and stataws bannd such actiit. Nothn mchants as w as odina shop-kps and tadsmn ownd shas in ths sa tading oags. Nwengand mis poducd chap, coas “Ngo coth” to b usd fo sas’cothing, and Nw engand sat cod fd Caibban sas. Nothns notdict inod in sa tading, such as boatwights, backsmiths, andcapnts, id on it fo thi conomic suia.Southn pubish Jams DBow wot in 1860 that Nw yok was“amost as dpndnt upon Southn sa as Chaston itsf.”
7
A-most 150 as at, histoian rach Chnos lin dscibd th rhodIsand sa tad as “ita th businss of ‘th butch, th bak,th candstick mak.’”
8
In the twenty-rst century, corporations such
as Atna Insuanc, FtBoston Financia, and CSX ha bn sud as
the inheritors of northern rms doing business with slaveholders.
9
Whisa was and is a moa i, it was aso an conomic phnomnon notimitd nti to on pat of th Unitd Stats. As a goba conomicinstitution, its impact was ft in th Noth and th South, acoss th U.S.,and aound th gob. Non-sa hods—n aboitionists—w caughtin its fa-aching wb.In faming th stud of sa, Cath and Nanc w foowing thxamp of histoians ik Thomas Bnd b pacing U.S. histo in aag goba contxt.
10
As pat of thi paticipation in Wods That MadAmica,
11
a pojct fundd b a Taching Amican Histo gant, thdopd a sson to hp studnts dop mo compx undstandingof U.S. sa, and though th pojct’s sson stud componnt, ins-tigatd how thi studnts’ undstanding od. looking mo cosat studnt wok aft th sson, w xpod ths qustions:
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