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Cotton exports from the U.S. boomed after the cotton gin's appearance – from less than 500,000 pounds (230,000 kg) in 1793 to 93 million pounds (42,000,000 kg) by 1810. [12] Cotton was a staple that could be stored for long periods and shipped long distances, unlike most agricultural products.
"The First Cotton Gin" conjectural image from 1869. Cotton was at first a small-scale crop in the South. Cotton farming boomed following the improvement of the cotton gin by Eli Whitney. [59] It was 50 times more productive at removing the seeds than with a roller. Soon, large cotton plantations, based on slave labor, expanded in the richest ...
Eli Whitney Jr. invents the cotton gin, making possible the profitable large-scale production of short-staple cotton in the South. The demand for slave labor increases with the resulting increase in cotton production. [44] 1794: In the Slave Trade Act of 1794 Congress prohibits ships from engaging in the international slave trade. [45]
The invention of the cotton gin led to increased demands for slave labor in the American South, reversing the economic decline that had occurred in the region during the late 18th century. [38] The cotton gin thus "transformed cotton as a crop and the American South into the globe's first agricultural powerhouse". [39]
These seeds are either used again to grow more cotton or, if badly damaged, disposed of. The cotton gin uses a combination of a wire screen and small wire hooks to pull the cotton through the screen, while brushes continuously remove the loose cotton lint to prevent jams. In 1793, Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin and later received a patent ...
The 1787 Beverly Cotton Manufactory was the first cotton mill in the United States, but it relied on horse power. Samuel Slater , an apprentice in one of the largest textile factories in England, immigrated to the United States in 1789 upon learning that American states were paying bounties to British expatriates with a knowledge of textile ...
The demand for cotton presented an opportunity to planters in the Southern United States, who thought upland cotton would be a profitable crop if a better way could be found to remove the seed. Eli Whitney responded to the challenge by inventing the inexpensive cotton gin. A man using a cotton gin could remove seed from as much upland cotton in ...
Eli Whitney's invention of the cotton gin in 1793 enabled cotton seeds to be removed 50 times faster, a breakthrough which led the country to become home to 75% of the world's cotton supply. [3] This caused the demand for slaves to increase rapidly, with Yale law professor Paul Finkleman writing that "slaves were a profitable investment before ...