Question

What was the effect of the invention of the cotton gin on the United States in the first half of the nineteenth century?

Answer 1

Slavery, in the 1790s, was not thriving. It hadn’t been profitable in the states that didn't rely on large scale cash crops. It was dying in the northern states for that reason. Where tobacco had been the cash crop, the soil had been leached out by the tobacco; slaves were being hired out because they couldn't earn their keep in tobacco. Hiring out put the burden of their housing, feeding, and clothing on the person hiring them, usually a factory owner (who was making money from their labor.) Planters accepted the risk that the hired out slaves might disappear into a community of free black people. Sugar cane growing and processing were brutal work. People doing it seldom lived more than five years. It wasn’t especially profitable because the workforce required constant replacement and training. Rice was catching on along the Carolina coast. The problem was that rice hadn’t caught on as a food yet. This leaves cotton. The cotton planters couldn't make long-staple cotton work as long as the seeds had to be picked out by hand. They grew short-staple instead, even though it sold for less and required a larger workforce. The cotton gin made it possible to produce long-staple and sell it at higher prices. Processing didn’t require as much labor, so more people could work the fields and produce more long-staple. With profitability restored, slavery got a new lease on life.