Technology has always ruled every aspect in history everything from war to farming. Technology has pushed every aspect of human life to be better. One huge invention that changed how the U.S was looked at in the world was the cotton gin invented by Eli Whitney. Whitney applied for a patent on October 28, 1793; the patent was granted on March 14, 1794, but was not validated until 1807. So what is the cotton gin its a machine that separates cotton fibers from their seeds the reason this was so important was compared to humans doing this task it was a lot faster then any human could do. That means more cotton being produced and faster which means more money and trade availability which was very needed in the begging of the United States.
The cotton that was being made turned into many things, the fibers are processed into goods such as linens, and any undamaged cotton was used for clothes. Seeds would be used to grow more cotton or to produce cottonseed oil. It was also used for bedding and packing material. It was shredded and used as insulation, and a huge
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Also it didn’t work out for Whitney because the cotton gin was pirated and plantation owners constructed their own machines–many of them an improvement over Whitney’s original model.
Before the Cotton gin cotton wasn’t the cash crop of the south it was tobacco and indigo. The reason cotton wasn’t was because it took so long for people to take out the seeds so once the cotton gin was invented business started booming for the southern farmers. The problem with having tobacco as your cash crop is it takes out so many nutrients that you would have to give the land a break every seven years, but with cotton it was so easy to grow that it made everything much better once production was sped
Before the American civil war, the Southerner’s economy had almost entirely been constructed on slave and cash crop agriculture. The cotton gin was invented by Eli Whitney. The cotton gin was a contraption that transmogrified the fabrication of cotton by significantly making the task of removing seeds from the cotton fiber faster. The invention benefitted the slaves because it saved the slaves
Eli Whitney's machine could produce up to 23 kg (50 lb) of cleaned cotton daily, making southern cotton a profitable crop for the first time. Unfortunately Whitney failed to profit from his invention; imitations of his machine appeared, and his 1794 invention was not upheld until 1807.
America’s economies and regions were becoming more connected than ever, which also contributed to a resulting better economy. However, the dependence on agriculture and slavery in the South resulted in further sectionalism and isolating ties to England. Though the connection between the Midwest and the North was strong due to numerous railroads, canals, and paved roads, the South was not as included in the new Market Revolution that was taking place. In addition to this, the South barely traded with any of the other regions. In fact, the South exported most of its cotton to England, and imported foreign goods more than any other region. Only connected to England, the South cut off a substantial amount of ties with its American sister regions. Slavery also contributed to the economy of the South. The only region that relied on slaves, the South was the minority when it came to favoring the peculiar institution. The invention of Eli Whitney’s Cotton Gin revived the need for slavery in the South which made the picking and production of cotton faster and more profitable that it was before. In the South, “Cotton was King,” and because of this, the
Geographically, North and South were very different places. The pastures of New England were similar to those found in England, suitable for a variety of uses. Hot Southern prairie lands were perfect for cotton growing, a lucrative business at this time. Following the invention of Eli Whitney's Cotton Gin, the South became increasingly dependent on this crop, and an entire society grew out of it. The society was one of wealthy planters, who led a life similar to the landed gentry of England, controlling politics and society of the day. In the fields laboured Negro slaves, usually only a handful per plantation, though larger farms were occasionally seen. In addition, there lived poor whites, tenant farmers or smallholders, who eked out a living from the land. This contrasted sharply with Northern society, where industrialisation flourished, creating wealthy entrepreneurs and employing cheap immigrant labour. Given the localised nature of media, and difficulties of transport two cultures grew up in the same nation, remarkably different and often suspicious of one another.
Cotton, once a very difficult and complicated crop to grow due to its many seeds stuck to its fibers, became a smooth, factory like performance with the aid of the cotton gin. Cotton was so important it made up two thirds of all 200 million dollars. The cotton gin, thanks to Eli Whitney helped remove the seeds faster, and not as painstakingly as before, this resulted in faster and greater production. A greater product wield means that the larger the workforce needed to grow in conjunction with the labor force, in this case reffered to as “King Cotton”. The greater workforce was slaves, and the invention of the cotton gin led to greatly expanding the amount of slavery in the South. The more slaves brought in to cultivate the cotton the more involucrate the Southern planters had become with agriculture, this strong attachment and dependency for cotton led to the South’s poor establishment of Industry. The total value of textiles from the South for example, made about 4.5 million dollars in the 1860’s, that may sound impressive but it is r...
Secondly, the demand for cotton grew tremendously as cotton became an important raw material for the then developing cotton industries in the North and Britain. The growing of cotton revived the Southern economy and the plantations spread across the south, and by 1850 the southern U.S produced more than 80% of cotton all over the world. As this cotton based economy of the south grew so did the slave labor to work in these large scale plantations since they were more labor-intensive...
The Cotton Gin was an invention that allowed the mass production of cotton. Cotton was previously a very difficult crop to profit from, because of the long hours required to separate cotton seeds from the actual cotton fibers. This all changed when Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin in 1793, a machine that sped up the process, thereby making cotton farming a profitable industry for the Southern States. With large areas of prime land ready for crops the Southern states bought and transported slaves in record numbers in order to work on their cotton farms. Although there are no definitive statistics approximately 1,000,000 slaves were moved west from the 'old Southern states' to the new ones; i.e. Maryland, Virginia and the Carolinas to Georgia, Tennessee and Alabama. The new ease of cotton ginning coupled with the high demand for cotton in the textile industry gave rise to the need for a workforce to harvest the cotton. The farmers turned to a readily available labor force they didn't have to pay: slaves.
American economy, but also shaped the country into what it is today. His small cotton gin lead to the
As the 13 colonies were established, diversities already started to appear. The South was focused on cops and tobacco, known as "Cash Crops". In order to produce these, large labor was necessary. The South bought slaves from Africa in order to fulfill these labor intensive jobs. The North on the other hand grew industrialized. They build factories all over their territory. With the invention of the Whitney's Cotton Gin, it was easier to farm the fields. With this invention, time was saved and more cotton and tobacco could be produced. But in order for this to succeed, more slaves were needed. This drew to tension between the North and the South as the North was against slavery.
During the many events and troubles that were occurring throughout the late 40s and 50s, tensions have increased between the North and South. South was on the edge of secession since they were threatening to get what they want, more land to continue the growth of slavery and expand their operations and sources of income. The North didn't want that to happen since more land given to the South would lead to even more political problems and it would leave the North at a disadvantage. The North and the world were dependent on access to cotton, said Hammond. The commodity that was processed by both northern and European manufactures. Worldwide industry would come to halt if not for the availability of cotton. Hammond then goes on to mention that if the South were to stop producing and selling cotton for 3 years, all places of civilization will start to collapse, and they would feel obligated to help the South and obtain their cotton again. Since the price of cotton increased in the South, it was cheaper to get cotton from Egypt and India and supply it to European
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 alone, if they had a hard time producing goods, the gains would be extremely unprofitable. While in the North, “In 1837, John Deere patented a strong, smooth steel plow that sliced through prairie soil so cleanly that farmers called it the “singing plow.” (PG 281).” Deere’s company became the leading source to saving time and energy for farming as it breaks much more ground to plant more crops. As well as mechanical reapers, which then could harvest twelve acres a day can double the corn and wheat. The North was becoming more advanced by the second. Many moved in the cities where they would work in factories, which contributed to the nation’s economic growth because factory workers actually produced twice as much of labor as agricultural workers. Steam engines would be a source of energy and while coal was cutting prices in half actually created more factories, railroads for transportation, and ships which also gave a rise in agricultural productivity.
By the 1830s, "cotton was king". It was also king in the United States, because America was competing for economic strength with the rest of the world. Plantation-grown cotton was the foundation of the southern economy. (Howard, 2013)
In the beginning of the 1800s, economic diversities between the two different regions had also grown. By the year 1860, cotton was the chief crop for the South; it also represented fifty-seven percent of all American exports. The prosperity of cotton fulfilled the South's reliance on the plantation system and its crucial elementslavery.
Within the economy a great development had been achieved when the upper south handed its power to the lower south all due to the rise of an agricultural production. This expansion was led by the excessive growth of cotton in the southern areas. It spread rapidly throughout America and especially in the South. During these times it gave another reason to keep the slavery at its all time high. Many wealthy planters started a ‘business’ by having their slaves work the cotton plantations, which this was one of a few ways slavery was still in full effect. Not only were there wealthy planters, at this time even if you were a small slave-holder you were still making money. While all of this had been put into the works, Americans had approximately 410,000 slaves move from the upper south to the ‘cotton states’. This in turn created a sale of slaves in the economy to boom throughout the Southwest. If there is a question as to ‘why’, then lets break it d...
Harvesting cotton needed a lot of hard labor. When the cotton farms got bigger, the need for slaves increased. During the first half of the 1800’s the slave population in the United States increased by about five times the number (How the Cotton Gin). By the middle of the 19th century the south provided about two-thirds of the cotton used by the world (How the Cotton Gin). The south became dependent on just this one crop and they needed the slave labor. The Cotton Gin made cotton very profitable and more plantations moved from producing other crops to producing cotton. This meant they needed more cheap labor so the need for slaves increased. The north was more dependent on industry for their economy. The north would buy the raw cotton and turn ...