King Cotton

American  

noun

U.S. History.

1. cotton and cotton-growing considered, in the pre-Civil War South, as a vital commodity, the major factor not only in the economy but also in politics.

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Etymology

Origin of King Cotton

An Americanism dating back to 1850–55

Example Sentences

Profits from King Cotton helped sustain the growth of Northern insurance, banking, shipping and textile firms, and flowed indirectly into the dynamic development of railroads, iron manufacture and other modern industries.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 3, 2026

Romanticized and transfigured, the Georgia Peach became the “new crop for the new south,” destined to dethrone King Cotton.

From Slate • Jan. 5, 2021

King Cotton long ago lost its crown in Alabama as the biggest and most profitable crop.

From Washington Times • Nov. 1, 2014

By 1929, the Southern economy -- still based on the idea of "King Cotton" since the antebellum days -- falters as competition from Egypt and India makes greater inroads in the worldwide textile industry.

From Salon • Nov. 21, 2010

But Nathan had always been exempted, as an indispensible worker—not for the Lord, but for King Cotton.

From "The Poisonwood Bible" by Barbara Kingsolver