[ 585 ] U.S. History GED ® TEST SOCIAL STUDIES FLASH REVIEW _____________ • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Use the information below to answer the following two questions. “[W]ould any sane nation make war on cotton? Without firing a gun, without drawing a sword, should they make war on us we could bring the whole world to our feet. . . . What would happen if no cotton was furnished for three years? I will not stop to depict what every one can imagine, but this is certain: England would topple headlong and carry the whole civilized world with her, save the South. No, you dare not make war on cotton. No power on earth dares to make war upon it. Cotton is king.” —James Henry Hammond, U.S. senator from South Carolina, March 4, 1858 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% 1800 1820 1840 1860 Cotton as a percentage of all U.S. exports Based on this excerpt, Hammond believed a. cotton was becoming less important to the U.S. economy. b. the Southern states had no chance of winning a civil war. c. a cotton embargo was the best way to avoid civil war. d. European countries would defend their ability to obtain cotton from the South.