ABSTRACT
A rapid recovery was made after the crisis of 1857 and some of the lessons of that depression were taken to heart. The crisis had important effects upon the German cotton industry. The crisis led to the greater efficiency of the German cotton industry. The amount of sugar used in the Zollverein increased from 7.37 lb. per head of the population in 1860 to 10 lb. in 1863. German free-traders were faced with three main tasks in 1860. First, they wished to secure the removal of various restrictions on trade within the Zollverein itself. Secondly, free-traders desired to free transit trade from dues levied on roads, railways and rivers. Thirdly, they advocated the reduction or removal of various import duties. The problems of the Zollverein transit dues and the Rhine shipping dues had been shelved at the General Congresses of 1858 and 1859.