To suggest that Britatin had to import cloth on account of having no cotton
plantations is to put the cart before the horse. The British colonies and
the US South produced the cotton itself, and exported the raw material to
Britain for manufacture into cotton cloth -- as far as the colonies were
concerned, the essence of the colonial system was that raw materials had to
be exported to, and the manufactured goods imported from, the imperial
master; and for long after the independence of the American states, Britain
remained the prime manufacturer of cotton goods.

John Weiss
Independent scholar, London
Black American freedom fighters of the War of 1812:
http://homepage.virgin.net/john.weiss/trinidad/Trinidad.html


----- Original Message -----
From: "Anita Wills" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Friday, January 23, 2004 5:01 PM
Subject: Re: material culture


: England did not have large cotton plantations, and would have had to
import their cloth. What English goods are referred to here? The tea came
from India, and the coffee from South America, and Africa. My understanding
is that the most prized tobbacco came from Virginia. The cloth came from one
of Englands Colonies. I ask this question because many of the things we
value as European, such as clothing, Swiss Chocolate, are actually dependent
on imports to manufacture.
:
: Anita Wills

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