This invention changed the way the South operated, and the effect of this invention changed history forever. The effect caused by the cotton gin can be seen as an invention driving many conflicts that the North, and South had, eventually causing the American Civil War. Before the cotton gin was invented by Eli Whitney, slavery practically died in the South, if it weren't for this invention slavery would've just died out on it's own. Plantation owners were freeing slaves because of high cost of feeding, housing, and clothing them, this was because the price of tobacco had gone down significantly. When Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin the demand for cotton increased a lot. Cotton then become a cash crop in the South because it was a good material to make clothes with. This need for cotton caused the slave population to explode in numbers.
The cotton productions in the South had expanded from 750,000 bales in 1830 to 2.85 million bales in 1850. The South provided about two thirds of the worlds cotton supply. The South had become reliant on this one crop and therefore, completely dependent on slave labor. While it takes one slave without the cotton ten hours to make one