cotton

Cotton was refused because it was produced by slave labor in the Southern US; foreign commodities were rejected in favor of locally produced articles. In his journal entry for 11 May 1846 Alcott writes: “We endeavor to use no articles of foreign or slave production in our diet. In apparel we cannot as yet dispense well with cotton and leather, the first a product of slaves and the last an invasion of the rights of animals.” (180. The editor of the journals, Odell Shepard, notes that in August 1844, Alcott lost the journals for 1843-1844; the journals for the “remainder of 1844 and for 1845 are also missing,” 138.)