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(c) Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association, Deerfield MA. All rights reserved.
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Abolitionists were a controversial minority in the North. Most Northerners were hesitant to disrupt the country's economic status quo by challenging the institution of slavery. This invoice documenting the sale of cotton and cotton products in rural Massachusetts underscores the pervasive demand for cotton throughout the United States. While not abolitionists, per say, many Northerners did want to see the end to slavery, yet their insatiable demand for slave-produced goods kept the system profitable in the South and ensured its continuity until the Civil War.

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