Data Literacy for Social Studies, Number of Cotton Textile Factories in the United States, 1831-1860

We created this clustered bar graph using a data table from the 1882 U.S. Census report, The Factory System of the United States, to illustrate the growth of cotton manufacturing establishments across different regions of the country from 1830 to 1860. The graph shows that the New England States had by far the highest number of establishments, followed by the Middle States, while the Southern States had the fewest. We chose to omit the Western States from the graph, as their numbers were even lower than those of the Southern States and were not visible on the graph. This pattern reflects the increasing industrialization of the New England and Middle States, which were becoming more reliant on manufacturing, while the Southern States continued to depend primarily on agriculture. Importantly, the report also notes that after 1850 there was a steady decrease in the number of U.S. establishments overall as a "result of consolidation and the establishment of large works, the smaller factories being closed or united with the large ones” (Wright, p. 8). The report also states that although the number of establishments began to decrease, “...the consumption of cotton and the production of goods has steadily increased” (Wright, p. 8).