This is a two segment assignemnt. Each is around 3 to 4 pages.
The main point of this article is to provide arguments that the Civil War started because of issue of slavery, and slavery was in turn most propagated by cotton plantators, as the southern economy was built on cotton. The point is, to highlight the monopolistic market practices, if they are any, of a very inhumane market and how it got undone.
1. The Power of the Cotton Lobby
First Segment is using modern conceptions of corporate power (John Ruggie’s article) to describe the power that plantation owners had (be it hard power or soft power), This sould relate to general Economic overview of Cotton producition, deamand and price in the south (Sven Beckert’s article and also his Empire of Cotton section in the book) it is essentialy describing the rise of the Cotton industry in the US, but woith specifically going into debt history wise.
2. Decline
Second Segment is on Pre-War History relatred to the first segement. It should describe how the lobby power started to become undone. For example, the Kansas–Nebraska Act of 1854 compared to earlier compromises, less and less favoured for the South. (The rest of the articles are relating to this segment)
This is all rough summary from my own draft, I hope you can help me.