The Cotton Kingdom A Selection Author:Frederick Law Olmsted Frederick Law Olmsted (1822–1903) is best known for designing Central Park in Manhattan and the grounds of the Capitol in Washington D.C. But before he embarked upon his career as the nation's foremost landscape architect, he was a correspondent for the New York Daily Times, and it was under its auspices that he journeyed through the slave state... more »s in 1852, 1853 and 1854. His day-by-day observations—including intimate accounts of the daily lives of masters and slaves, the operation of the plantation system, and the pernicious effects of slavery on all classes of society, black and white—were collected in The Cotton Kingdom. Published in 1861, just as the Southern states were storming out of the Union, it has been hailed ever since as singularly fair and authentic, an unparalleled account of America's "peculiar institution." Edited by David Freeman Hawke.« less