Cotton Gin Essay

Along with the demand for cotton came a demand for labor. Black slaves from Africa were used to hand pick cotton in cotton fields, a tedious and daunting job. After Eli Whitney's invention of the cotton gin, cotton production skyrocketed from the average 3,000 bails per year to 300,000 bails per year. Unlike the north, the south lacked transportation improvements such as railways, roads, and water canals.

The growth of the cotton industry impacted America economically and socially. “The domestic slave trade exploded, providing economic opportunities for whites involved in many aspects of the trade and increasing the possibility of

Due to this, the economy of America at this period of time was centred around cotton and as Clement Eaton stated, 'After the invention of the cotton gin in 1793, the tempo of life in the South quickened.' The industry was able to achieve large profits through the use of slaves-the cheapest labour of all-and eventually 'Three-fourths of the world's supply of cotton came from the southern states.'

The South considered agriculture, especially the production of cotton, to be the crux of their economy. The South was producing half of the world's cotton. Sprawling estates and plantations with hundreds of slaves running them dotted the southern region. Eli Whitney's cotton gin made cotton production easier, faster, and it revived the industry once again. Soon, tons of cotton was being traded in foreign countries and in the North. Cotton was a fast cash business, but it ruined the soil, leaving the plantation owners to constantly be looking for new land. In little to no time, the South had become a one-crop economy with everything becoming dependent on cotton sales, which were dependent on other factors such as demand for cotton goods. One of the most lucrative, horrifying, and large businesses was the slave trade. Many Southern whites considered slavery a necessity for their economy. The South was able to produce these enormous amounts of cotton because of the manual labor provided by slaves. In the beginning, during the era of George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, slavery was considered a necessary evil. However, views of slavery were rapidly changing and by the Jacksonian era, many Southerners saw no other option than slavery. William Harper, a jurist in South Carolina, ventured to say, "The cultivation… of great staple crops cannot be

The effects of the cotton gin on slavery was that the need for slaves increased so that they could keep up with the profitability that came with its invention. Eli Whitney’s invention could help produce cotton lint quickly and efficiently. Plantation owners needed more slaves in the field to keep up with the new gin invention.

In the South, cotton for cloth was difficult to produce because of the pain and difficulty of having to separate the plant’s seeds from the fibers. In 1793, Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin, which made the job of producing cotton much more easier. As a result of the invention of the cotton gin, the demand for cotton went up. “Because cotton could be processed more easily, Southern planters wanted to grow more” (Page 423, Chapter 9, “Discovering Our Past: The American Journey” by Glencoe.). Since cotton could be produced more easily, it became the South’s key crop.

The crops grown on plantations and the slavery system changed significantly between 1800-1860. In the early 1800s, plantation owners grew a variety of crops – cotton, sugar, rice, tobacco, hemp, and wheat. Cotton had the potential to be profitable, but there was wasn’t much area where cotton could be grown. However, the invention of the cotton gin changed this - the cotton gin was a machine that made it much easier to separate the seeds from cotton. Plantation owners could now grow lots of cotton; this would make them a lot of money. As a result, slavery became more important because the demand for cotton was high worldwide. By 1860, cotton was the main export of the south. The invention of the cotton gin and high demand for cotton changed

     One of the most important events caused by the cotton gin was the exile of the Cherokee Indians along the Trail of Tears. As the demand for cotton and slaves grew the South began to look for more land, and discovered it in the land owned by the Cherokee Indians. The land was taken from them beginning in 1828 when the Georgia government outlawed the Cherokee government and began to take the land. This continued until 1838 when, despite a Supreme Court order, federal troops drove the last of the Cherokee from the land, that covered Georgia, Tennessee, and North Carolina to Oklahoma where many of them died. This would not have occurred had it not been for the invention of the cotton gin. The cotton gin created a market for slavery. As the production of cotton rose so did the production of slavery. These enterprises needed land, which stimulated the wars against the Indians to take their land, which could then be used by cotton farmers, and plantation holders who bred slaves. Whitney’s cotton gin, and its ripple effect was having a major impact on the events in the American South.

The only way for the south to continue to grow such large quantities of cotton was to have slaves. The south saw the slaves as the most valuable thing that they owned. (document 7) The slaves were very valuable because they were the ones who were doing all of the work. They were the ones who were growing the crops and harvesting them.

    In addition to the history of slavery in the U.S. Foner also talks about not only the South 's dependence on slavery, but the North as well. Even though the Northern states abolished slavery, cotton was necessary for making textiles in the industrial factories in the North. As slavery continued so did the need for it, and the economy began to rely on it. It was especially important in the 19th century. Even with the North against slavery, the South kept it, because it was important to make money.

Before the cotton gin was invented, picking and processing cotton was a very difficult and tedious task. It would take a long ten hours for slaves to separate the seeds from the cotton fibers from only one pound of cotton(a turn of a crank). With cotton being so difficult to process, the demand for cotton was very low, wool was used instead. Also the dependency on slaves was not high either due to the lack of crops needing to be harvested. This all changed when Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin.

In 1793 the invention of the cotton gin had given slavery a new life in the country of the United States and made slavery very profitable. Between the year of 1800 and 1860, cotton that was produced by slaves extended from South Carolina and Georgia and even to newly colonized lands on the west of the Mississippi. From the upper South where Maryland and Virginia was, there was a shift of the slave economy to the lower South. There was also a comparable shift of the African slave population to the lower South and West.

A cotton gin is a automated machine that separates the cottonseed from short- staple fibers. The wire teeth are put in action when cranked and cotton fibers are pulled through the grate to separate the seeds from the cotton. The cotton gin was a revolutionary device patented by Eli Whitney in 1794. His invention looked as if it was the he next great thing, but it also came with negative effects. Yes, the cotton gin could the same job as a person but the revolutionary part was that it could do it several hours quicker. This in fact was very efficient, but this also put a strain on slaves to produce and collect cotton faster. To fix this issue, the South decided to put a higher demand on slaves, yet on the other side of the world, there

Before the Civil War, the Southern States had an agricultural economy and mainly relied on slavery. When Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin in 1793, cotton became very profitable. The machines helped to separate seeds from the cotton more efficiently; therefore, increasing number of plantations moved from other crops to cotton. Consequently, there was an enormous demand for a large amount of cheap labor such as slaves. The southern economy turned into a one-crop economy, mainly depending on cotton and therefore on slavery.

With the economic system, the south had a very hard time producing their main source “cotton and tobacco”. “Cotton became commercially significant in the 1790’s after the invention of a new cotton gin by Eli Whitney. (PG 314)” Let