AN INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION 



continued, and another act for a similar purpose, but 

 still more stringent, was passed within a year of the 

 first. As this did not have the desired effect, Great 

 Britain adopted the more effective expedient of plung- 

 ing into cotton- manufacturing herself; and although 

 by the end of the century India was sending more 

 cotton than ever to the British Isles, it was no longer 

 as manufactured fabrics, but as raw cotton itself, to be 

 woven into English cloth by English workmen and 

 machinery. 



Before this time, however, America had become a 

 source of cotton-supply and was rapidly growing in 

 importance. Columbus had found cotton growing in- 

 digenously in most of the lands he discovered, and 

 Cortez and Pizarro had made similar discoveries in 

 Mexico and Peru. In fact, the cotton garments of 

 the Aztecs were of such fine workmanship, that the 

 conqueror of Mexico sent home specimens of these 

 to his sovereign, Charles V, as a gift suitable for a 

 monarch. 



The cotton grown in the Western Hemisphere, how- 

 ever, was not equal in quality to the Indian product. 

 It was not the same species of annual herbaceous plant 

 now universally grown in the South, but seems to have 

 been a variety grown on shrubs or small trees. No 

 attempt was ever made to cultivate these native plants, 

 but seed of the Indian plant was sent over from Eng- 

 land, and probably cultivated by the American colonists 

 in Virginia about 1620. The first official record of 

 cotton being cultivated in America, however, is given in 

 a report of the colony of Virginia in 1621, where it is 



[7] 



