The Impacts Of King Cotton's Impact On Society

In 1794, U.S. inventor Eli Whitney patented a machine that transformed the production of cotton by significantly speeding up the process of removing seeds from cotton fiber called the cotton gin. By the middle of the 19th century cotton had become America’s leading export. This gave Sothern’s the rationalization to maintain and expand slavery despite large number of abolitionists in America. While the cotton gin made cotton processing easier, it facilitated planters in earning greater profits, resulting in larger cotton crops. This in turn increased slavery because it was the cheapest form of labor. As for the North, particularly New England, the cotton gin and cotton’s increase meant a steady supply of raw materials for its textile mills.

King Cotton was prevalent in dividing the United States. One of the strongest pieces of evidence supporting the dividing effects of economic interests was the South’s dependence on cotton. The South became enthralled with cotton because of it’s growing demand. Foreign nations like Britain bought

labor” (Foner, 393). Cotton not only became the most profitable crop for the Southern farmers,

With its warm climate and fertile soil, the South became an agrarian society, where tobacco, rice, sugar, cotton, wheat, and hemp defined the economy (“Colonial Economy”). Because of a labor shortage, landowners bought African slaves to work their massive plantations. Even small-scale farmers often used slave labor as a means to help increase their production rate ("John C. Calhoun's Defense of Slavery"). After the invention of the cotton gin by Eli Whitney, cotton could finally be mass produced (“Slavery”). However, in order to pick all the cotton, slave labor would be needed, thus the reason for hundreds of thousands of imported slaves during the 1700s. In the United States, a stronger case can be made that slavery played a critical role in economic development. Cotton, grown primarily with slave labor, provided over half of all US export earnings. By 1840, the South grew sixty percent of the world's cotton and provided about seventy percent of the cotton consumed by the British textile industry. (“Colonial Economy”). In addition, due to the South specializing in cotton production, the North developed a variety of businesses that provided services for the slave South, including textile factories, a meat processing industry, insurance companies, shippers, and cotton brokers (“Colonial Economy”). By the time the Civil War erupted, 4.9

In the 1790’s the invention of the cotton gin by Eli Whitney sparked an increase in cotton production in the South. The cotton gin decreased the labor time it took to pick seeds from the cotton. Slave owners moved or sold their slaves to deep Southern states

In 1797, cotton gin was discovered. Cotton production made the United States expand and started the Market Revolution. As the county continue to expand, economic opportunities grew even further. But even though there were many opportunities in the 19th century, due to race, ethnicity and even class, not all people living in the United States get to enjoy those opportunities. Race and ethnicity affected the economic opportunities of ethnic groups due to certain laws, rules and regulations made by Anglo-Americans.

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.'

During the late 1700s & early 1800s, there was an agricultural revolution in the U.S. that really benefited the south. Due to this revolution, the south heavily relied on slave labor and the demand for it went up. The cotton gin was invented and it leads to cotton becoming king. Two types of workers risen because of the industrial and agricultural revolution which were wage workers and slaves. Slaves were mostly used in the South and wage workers were used mostly in the North.

Southerner farmers had previously attempted to grow cotton, some the American society desperately lacked, and however these farmers soon gave up and decide to focus on producing rice and tobacco crops. Cotton had proved to be far too intense labor and was extremely inefficient. It would take one slave a whole workday to separate only one pound of cottonseed from the fibers of the plant. So when Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin, which was able to separate the seeds from the fibers with ease, it allowed slaves to produce upwards of fifty pounds of cotton in a workday. This invention revolutionized the cotton industry, the southerners were producing and the crop and harvesting so that the northerners could manufacture cotton

The southern region of the United States was supportive of the institution of slavery for a variety of reasons. The biggest contributor to southern support of slavery was the dependance of southern economy on the cultivation of cotton, a valuable cash crop. Southern economy depended on the cultivation of cotton, and profitable cultivation of cotton depended on slave labor. Cotton was so valuable to southern economy that the crop was commonly referred to as "King Cotton". The importance of cotton and its dependance on slave labor can be portrayed by the image entitled "Harvesting Cotton" which portrays a typical southern plantation with a number of black slaves tending to cotton plants. The historical context of this image is the cotton boom, which was when cotton began to take off as a staple cash crop in the Unites States, especially in the south. This image helps to explain the role that slavery had in the success of cotton as a cash crop and the cotton boom. Slaves were used in cotton fields to tend to the cotton crops and to harvest cotton fibers. For this reason, the south remained dependent on and supportive

In the 1840’s, the United States began to produce approximately two-thirds of the world’s cotton. Cotton was largely grown in the south because of the better climate and soil conditions for large plantations. However, the North’s climate was much better suited for an

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

After the invention of the cotton gin, the yield of raw cotton doubled each decade after 1800. Demand was fueled by other inventions of the Industrial Revolution, such as the machines to spin and weave it and the steamboat to transport it. By mid-century America was growing three-quarters of the world's supply of cotton, most

     After the invention of the cotton gin, the production of unprocessed cotton doubled each decade after 1800. Other inventions of the Industrial Revolution were the machines to spin and weave cotton and the steamboat to transport it. America was growing three quarters of the world's supply of cotton in the mid-century. Most of it was shipped to England or New England where it was made into cloth. During this time, tobacco’s value decreased, rice exports stayed at the same price, and sugar began to flourish, but only