The cotton gin of 1793 is one of the most well-known and studied inventions in American History. It is credited as the first great invention of the early United States and lead to its inventor, Eli Whitney, to be known as the “Father of American Technology”. But these are just shallow notions about the significance of this great machine. As noted in my previous entry, early American agriculture cannot be discussed without the mention of slavery. Thus this machine lends itself to great paradox. While the invention of the cotton gin lead to the massive boom in American cotton production in the early nineteenth century, the more historically significant effect of its creation was the equally massive boom of slavery in these over this period. Even though the importation of slaves into the United States was banned on January 1, 1808, slavery grew stronger in Southern states through, until the end of the American Civil War. Southern laws that guaranteed that children of slaves would be slaves themselves, along with the widespread slave trade within the South ensured the security of the slave population for southern plantation owners.
The cotton gin undoubtedly lent itself to this increase in slavery by the nature of the industry in which it was created for. This new tool allowed seeds and stems to be removed from harvested cotton ten times faster than it could previously be done by a slave removing them by hand. This increased cotton production tenfold, making it the most profitable crop to farm. Because more cotton could now be rendered with fewer slaves, the industry became much more attractive to southern plantations. The effect of this was a massive shift in what Southern Plantations produced, moving from large scale tobacco production to even larger scale cotton production. Not only did existing plantations shift to cotton as their main focus, many more plantations sprung up around the South to get in on the new prosperity. The efficiency of the cotton gin lead to massive booms in production, which lead to massive increase in the number of producers, which of course lead to greater use of slaves. Even though efficiency increased, leading one to believe that labor and therefore slavery would decrease, what occurred was quite the contrary-more slaves meant more cotton meant more money. This solidified slavery as a “necessary” (as thought by Southern Plantation owners and politicians) institution in Southern states, creating a harsh sectionalism within the county, that ultimately lead to Southern secession. In this way, Eli Whitney’s cotton gin became a contributing factor to the only civil war this country has ever seen.
Sources:
1. http://transitionvoice.com/2013/04/the-cotton-gin-paradox/
2. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/theymadeamerica/whomade/whitney_hi.html
3. http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/congress-abolishes-the-african-slave-trade
The cotton gin undoubtedly lent itself to this increase in slavery by the nature of the industry in which it was created for. This new tool allowed seeds and stems to be removed from harvested cotton ten times faster than it could previously be done by a slave removing them by hand. This increased cotton production tenfold, making it the most profitable crop to farm. Because more cotton could now be rendered with fewer slaves, the industry became much more attractive to southern plantations. The effect of this was a massive shift in what Southern Plantations produced, moving from large scale tobacco production to even larger scale cotton production. Not only did existing plantations shift to cotton as their main focus, many more plantations sprung up around the South to get in on the new prosperity. The efficiency of the cotton gin lead to massive booms in production, which lead to massive increase in the number of producers, which of course lead to greater use of slaves. Even though efficiency increased, leading one to believe that labor and therefore slavery would decrease, what occurred was quite the contrary-more slaves meant more cotton meant more money. This solidified slavery as a “necessary” (as thought by Southern Plantation owners and politicians) institution in Southern states, creating a harsh sectionalism within the county, that ultimately lead to Southern secession. In this way, Eli Whitney’s cotton gin became a contributing factor to the only civil war this country has ever seen.
Sources:
1. http://transitionvoice.com/2013/04/the-cotton-gin-paradox/
2. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/theymadeamerica/whomade/whitney_hi.html
3. http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/congress-abolishes-the-african-slave-trade