Why did the southern cotton industry have a hard time recovering after the civil war? a. temperature changed so much that cotton couldn't be grown in the south. b. cotton became too expensive to process. c. clothes were no longer made out of cotton. d. foreign competition drove the price of cotton down.

The correct answer is Choice D - Foreign competition drove the price of cotton down.

During the Civil war, cotton production in the south reduced significantly. This opened up opportunities for the cotton market in other countries, particularly India and Egypt. The competition from these foreign nations made the south (and by extention, America) to lose its monopoly in the cotton industry during the civil war, and gave them a hard time recovering after the civil war.