King cotton
The invention of the cotton gin by Eli Whitney revived the South's 'one crop economy' and encouraged plantation owners to expand their land and move westward. Cotton began to dominate how everyone in the South lived and their dependence on slaves. Even small farmers who only owned a few slaves could produce enough cotton to make a profit with the help of the cotton gin. Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin to speed up the process of separating seeds and cotton and also to reduce the number of slaves working. But instead, King Cotton and its successful production encouraged more plantation owners to start to move westward, expanding their land and owning more slaves.
Prior to the Civil War, the South was not filled with textile mills, railroads, canals or factories because of their commitment to the production of cotton. The South failed to realize their lack of anything industrial and that most of the population was uneducated slaves. With out the North, the South could not be self sufficient. Because of the cotton gin, The South increased the amount of slavery in America, their dependency on them, and their disability to be self sufficient. |