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Annual cotton production in the United States grew from just a few thousand tons at the turn of the 19^th century, to fluctuating between 1.6 million and 4.3 million tons throughout most of the 20^th century. The amount of space used to produce cotton also grew from three to almost 18 million hectares of land between 1866 and the 1920s, before dropping to around four or five million hectares between the 1960s and 1980s. Despite this drop in land usage, advancements in agricultural technology meant that output remained relatively constant in the 20^th century, meaning that output per hectare actually increased significantly.

The mechanical cotton gin's invention in 1793 revolutionized the U.S. cotton industry, which grew exponentially in the early 19^th century. Cotton was the U.S.' primary export in these years, and its production was driven by slave labor in the southern states (particularly South Carolina). For the first time, output exceeded one million tons in 1859, and again in 1861, however, the disruption of the American Civil War caused cotton output to drop by over 93 percent in the next three years, to just 68 thousand tons by 1864. Production resumed upon its previous trajectory following the war's end, and many of the former-slaves forced to work on cotton plantations continued to work in the cotton industry, but as sharecroppers who worked the land in exchange for a share of the harvest, as well as housing and facilities (this was similar to tenant farming, although sharecroppers received a smaller share of the crop and had fewer legal protections).