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On the Mississippi the bales are merely dragged and trundled over a plank on board ship. But on the Alabama, the banks of which are frequently high and steep, a more dashing style of embarkation is adopted. In the United States, Southern cotton provided capital for the continuing development of the North. The cotton produced by enslaved African Americans not only helped the South, but also enriched Northern merchants. Much of the Southern cotton was transshipped through the northern ports. Because dock work was generally unskilled and of a short-term contractual nature, an employer could readily replace workers who refused to bend to the employer’s terms. Black laborers were both numerous and available for work.