Old King Cotton Is Dead

The first line of this poem: “Wave the stars and stripes high o’er us" emphasizes the Union of the United states. By waving the stars and stripes above, it can be seen that the author wants to show that the North had resulted as a victor because it now had succesfully became higher than the South. Then the second line "Let every freeman sing…" shows the impact of the Civil war on slave rights. Slaves were emancipated by the war, and thus with the last two lines "Old King Cotton’s dead and buried;/Brave young Corn is King," it can be inferred that the emancipation had caused the downfall of the southern cotton economy, whereas the north now began to prosper and successfully attained a supreme position over the south.