America had won her freedom.
Our country then was smaller than now.
It contained only about four million people.
These people were widely scattered.
The world did not think of the United States as an important
country.
It was thought to be about as important as Denmark or Portugal is
now.
We call one part of our country the South.
The South of this time was very different from the South of to-day.
Fewer cities were to be seen.
Many forests covered the land.
The plantations were few.
Plantation is the southern word for farm.
There were not many slaves then.
People hoped slavery would die out.
They thought it might if it were let alone.
Many people left the South to find other homes.
This was because they could not make a good living there.
Indigo, rice, and cotton were raised.
But only a little cotton was planted.
This was because it was such hard work to get it ready to sell.
Cotton grows upon a small shrub.
People of olden times called it the "wool of trees."
The Germans still call it "tree-wool."
One kind is called "sea-island" cotton.
This is because it grows well upon the low, sandy islands of the
sea.
Some such islands are found near South Carolina.
This cotton likes the salt which it finds in the soil.
The herb cotton grows to a height of from eighteen to twenty-four
inches.
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