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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 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]
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]
They abolished slavery by the end of the 18th century, some with gradual systems that kept adults as slaves for two decades. But the rapid expansion of the cotton industry in the Deep South after the invention of the cotton gin, greatly increased demand for slave labor, and the Southern states continued as slave societies
Suddenly, cotton could be processed more cheaply and efficiently, resulting in slavery becoming very profitable and a large plantation system developing to support the expanding industry. In the 15 years between the invention of the cotton gin and the passage of the Act Prohibiting Importation of Slaves , the slave trade increased and slavery ...
Economic modernization proceeded rapidly, thanks to highly profitable cotton crops in the South, new textile and machine-making industries in the Northeast, and a fast developing transportation infrastructure. Breaking loose from European models, the Americans developed their own high culture, notably in literature and in higher education.
The era of King Cotton was underway by the early 1800s to such an extent that by the mid-19th century, southern slave plantations supplied 75% of the world's cotton. The introduction of the cotton gin was as unexpected as it was unprecedented. British textiles had expanded with no change in ginning principles in centuries.
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 ...