There is a great deal of evidence that slavery was profitable, and some that it was not. Slavery increased very rapidly in the first two decades of the history of the state. From 1790 to 1800 there was an increase of 297.54 per cent, and from 1800 to 1810 an increase of 229.31 per cent.[27] Slave population increased only 79.06 per cent in the next decade, and only 244.19 per cent from 1820 to 1860. This decrease in percentage from 1820 to 1860 is in face of the fact that West Tennessee, the Black Belt part of the state, was settled and populated during this period. This evidently means that slavery was not making much progress in East and Middle Tennessee. Slaves increased in value very rapidly in Tennessee from 1790 to about 1836. They were worth only $100 each in 1790, but by 1836 they were valued at $584.[28] They decreased in value to $413.72 by 1846. They reached the 1836 mark again in 1854, and by 1860 were valued, for purposes of taxation, at $900.[29] This valuation was largely controlled by the price of cotton. The average price of cotton for the decade ending 1830 was 13.3 cents per pound; for the decade ending 1840, 12.4 cents; for the decade ending 1850, 8.2 cents; and for the five years ending 1855, 9.6 cents.[30] The values and prices of Tennessee slaves and cotton only roughly corresponded to those of the United States at the same time. In 1792, the average value of a slave in the United States was $300, and in 1835 it was $900, and $600 in 1844.[31] Upland cotton was worth 17½ cents per pound in New York City in 1835 and 7½ cents in 1844. It was generally held that a difference of one cent a pound in the price of cotton made a difference of $100 in the price of slaves, but this could not apply to the above prices.