How Did Cotton Gin Contribute To Slavery

Cotton Gin’s Contribution Eli Whitney was born in Westboro, Massachusetts on December 8, 1765. As a young boy he enjoyed taking things apart and then putting them back together. When he was young, he worked in a plantation in Georgia, tutoring children. He noticed slaves had trouble taking the seeds out of the cotton boll. He then had an idea for a device that could help out both slaves and plantation owners. The invention of the cotton gin, by Eli, had many big impacts in the south, on slavery, and on capital for countries. Cotton and tobacco were very popular goods sold for very good money. Cotton was used to make clothing and was considered a high class material. People at the time would show off clothing like a person in modern day
Slaves would pick the cotton from plants that contained sharp thorns, which would be a very time-consuming process. Many slaves would be injured this way because of the thorns. The cotton gin would produce more than 50 pounds of cotton per day, picking much more than a slave could. Cotton fabric became cheaper at the time due to the mass production of the product in many plantations. There was much competition in the cotton trade. In the early 19th century, farmers in the Southern states were utilizing most of their land to grow cotton. Cotton was demanded by textile mills, which eventually lead to plantations needing more slaves for labor. Plantations that grew cotton became successful in states like Georgia, Mississippi, Alabama and Louisiana. The slave population in the south grew from 700,000 to more than 3 million slaves in 1850. With the invention of the cotton gin, came more demand in
Land owners were growing large amounts of cotton, tobacco, and indigo at a time. Since many other states and farmers were growing this as well, the faster the product is grown, shipped, and made into profit, the better for land owners. Tobacco wears out the land and must be given a rest every 7 years as opposed to cotton which can grow anywhere, including land that was drained of its nutrients which is another reason why everyone was starting to grow cotton. This meant that farmers would need more land to grow tobacco and win the gin, they would be able to grow product before the temperature changes. Due to the simplicity in growing cotton and the demand sky-rocketing, cotton became “the number one cash crop”, surpassing tobacco in capital gain and sales. This made it clear to land owners that owning a cotton gin would clear the fields easier and faster, leading to more growth in