During the antebellum period in the United States, certain states experienced an increase in the number of enslaved workers while having lower cotton production shares compared to the primary cotton-growing states like Mississippi, Alabama, and Louisiana. These states included:
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Virginia: Although Virginia was known for tobacco production, it saw an increase in enslaved workers, partly because of the internal slave trade that supplied labor to other states where cotton was the dominant crop.
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Maryland: Similar to Virginia, Maryland had a significant enslaved population and was involved in the internal slave trade, providing enslaved people to the Deep South, despite its lower cotton production.
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North Carolina: This state had a diverse agricultural economy with tobacco, but it also saw an increase in enslaved laborers, especially in the western regions where cotton production began to rise later in the antebellum period.
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Delaware: As a border state, Delaware had a small but increasing enslaved population, primarily focused on labor that was not heavily reliant on cotton.
Overall, these states may have experienced an increase in enslaved populations due to a variety of factors, including the demand for labor in other states, agricultural diversification, and the internal slave trade. However, their cotton production was not as dominant as in the deep South.
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