How Did Eli Whitney Transform The Cotton Economy

182 Words1 Pages
In 1793, Eli Whitney transformed the slave culture and cotton economy with his new machine; the cotton gin. It separates the cotton fibers from its seeds. This allows for fifty times more cotton production bouncing from thousands of bales to millions of bales by 1850. Prices rose as well. Before his machine, slaves were used to pick and separate cotton, but it would take 10 hours to remove the seeds in order to get a pound of lint. After this invention, planters were given a new use for slavery, creating a boost in slave trade all together but especially from the South to the Southwest coast line. Cotton plantations grew and therefore so did the population of slaves. This now giant cotton economy was run solely on slave-labor. This gave Southerners