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How Did The Cotton Affect The Economy

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Cotton was the main contributor to the economic growth of the Southern States at some point in history, and the Cotton Gin was greatly significant in that cotton industry boom. Ahead of its conception, separating the cotton seed from the cotton fiber was highly laborious, with meager output rendering the venture unproductive (History.com). After its invention in 1794, thanks to a USA-born inventor, Eli Whitney, a Yale College graduate, the separation of cotton fiber from its seeds became much easier, and the gins' output was tremendous depending on its size. Cotton gin transformed an integral step in cotton processing, subsequently increasing cotton production and dovetailing other Industrial Revolution. The cotton industry blossomed, and towards …show more content…

While the device made cotton processing less labor intensive, it increased profits for the farmers, prompting the production of cotton in large plantations that needed more people to do the planting, growing, and harvesting. Since slavery was the cheapest form of labor at that time, the cotton farmers bought more enslaved people, making the slave trade thrive. Fourthly, the invention of the cotton cleaning machine necessitated a law that protected the invention from being stolen by other people for profit reasons. Eli Whitney had hoped to make money from his invention of the saw cotton gin, but not until the law was put in place; Article I, section 8 of the American Constitution gives the inventors exclusive rights to their inventions by granting patents. Before, an inventor might have had his invention stolen through duplication, as Whitney did. Finally, the cotton gin catalyzed the Industrial Revolution in the Northern States. As cotton production increased, its supply to the North also increased. The Northern States invested heavily in the textile industry by putting up more factories and an Industrial Revolution agent in steamboats, making the movement of raw materials much more. easier (Mickey ). The cotton gin also indirectly caused the American Civil War; the thriving slave trade in the South led to expansionistic ideas, with the South doing everything to expand the slave trade to the West against the Wish of the North, creating a tag of war on the economics of slavery, coupled with other factors, a conflict ensued between the North and the Southern States

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