There's an interesting online exhibition at the New York Historical Society,
"New York Divided: Slavery and the Civil War, 1810-1870."  

The cotton economy reached out past the slave states...

"Slavery ended in New York State in 1827, yet this victory did not sever the
city's connections to enslaved labor. New York City capitalized on the
expanding trade in southern cotton and sugar to become the leading American
port, a global financial center, and a hotbed of pro-slavery politics. At the
same time, it nurtured a determined anti-slavery movement. In less than half a
century, abolitionists convinced many northerners that American slavery could
not be reconciled with American freedom. Conflict between the two sides, one
favorable to slavery and one opposed, was all but inevitable."

http://www.nydivided.org/

Cheers -- KJB

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