| Table No. 2 | 1826 | 1833 | 1834 |
| Virginia | 25,000,000 | 13,000,000 | 10,000,000 |
| North Carolina | 18,000,000 | 10,000,000 | 9,000,000 |
| Louisiana | 38,000,000 | 55,000,000 | 62,000,000 |
| Alabama | 45,000,000 | 65,000,000 | 85,000,000 |
| Mississippi | 30,000,000 | 70,000,000 | 85,000,000 |
The statistics of cotton production and prices further elucidate this question. Table No. 1 shows a continuous increase in the production of cotton during the successive periods considered. Table No. 2 depicts the declining significance of Virginia and North Carolina as cotton-producing States and the shift of the lead of cotton production to the Gulf States. Table No. 3 shows the total production of cotton in the years considered and is significant, in that it emphasizes the important cotton-producing areas. During these years Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Georgia, together, produced more than two-thirds of the total cotton crop.[47] Table No. 4 is self-explanatory, while Table No. 5 shows the yearly fluctuations of the average price of cotton after 1840.
Cotton Production in Pounds:[46]
| Table No. 3 | ||
| 1839 | 790,479,275 | |
| 1849 | 987,637,200 |
Average Price a Pound of Cotton in Five-Year Periods:[48]
| Table No. 4 | ||
| 1830-1835 | 10.9 cents | |
| 1835-1840 | 14.4 cents | |
| 1840-1845 | 8.1 cents | |
| 1845-1850 | 7.3 cents |
Average Price a Pound of Cotton:[49]
| Table No. 5 | ||
| 1835 | 16.8 cents | |
| 1836 | 16.8 cents | |
| 1840 | 8.6 cents | |
| 1841 | 10.2 cents | |
| 1842 | 8.1 cents | |
| 1843 | 6.1 cents | |
| 1844 | 8.1 cents | |
| 1845 | 6.0 cents | |
| 1846 | 7.9 cents | |
| 1847 | 10.1 cents | |
| 1848 | 7.6 cents | |
| 1849 | 6.5 cents |
In the years 1835 and 1836, the price is high relative to the later years in the two decades, and, assuming the continued demand for cotton, should have stimulated the domestic slave traffic by effecting a large demand for slaves at high prices. The lowest price is reached in 1845, followed by a rise till 1847, and then a decline in 1848 and 1849. That the demand for slaves was not at this time abated must be traceable to the fact that not more than three-fifths[50] of the slaves in the Cotton States were engaged in the production of cotton, while other occupations, notably sugar-production in Louisiana, demanded an increased quota.
The statistics of slave population are designed to show the increases of that type both in the States of Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi, and in selected areas within these States. In 1850, the civil subdivisions, as counties or parishes, which possessed the greatest density of slave population in Texas, as well as in the other States named, were located in those areas of the most fertile soil for producing cotton or cane. This concentration is but an evidence of the influence of these factors in calling forth the slave migration to the Southwest.