How Did The Cotton Gin Affect The Economy

As someone who is pursuing a business degree, I will have to agree that the Eli Whitney's cotton gin was good for the American economy. Even though the cotton gin reduced the labor involved in removing the seeds from the cotton bolls, it however did not reduce the necessity for slaves to grow and pick the cotton. As a matter of fact, the cotton gin produced an opposite affect. The cotton gin made cotton farming so profitable, that farmers greatly increased their demand for both land and slave labor.
The cotton gin was invented in 1793 by Eli Whitney. This innovative yet simple invention had a rather large impact on the history of the United States by revolutionizing the cotton industry. What took an entire day to accomplish, the cotton gin completed within minutes. The cotton gin was operated in the following manner. First, the cotton bolls were placed into the top of the machine. Next, the worker would turn the handle, which pushed the cotton bolls through a series of wire teeth that combed out the cotton seeds. With the same motion, the cotton was then pulled out of the wire teeth and out of the cotton gin. …show more content…
Despite cotton being easy to grow, prior to the cotton gin, farmers faced a huge task of cleaning their crops. This slow process prevented cotton from being considered as a cash crop. At the time, tobacco and indigo were considered the South’s cash crops. Farmers realized that tobacco was difficult to grow as well as being very hard on the land. Tobacco farming easily wore out the land forcing farmers to allow the land to recuperate its nutrients once every 7 years. Another major factor that pushed cotton as a cash crop was the fact that cotton can grow anywhere, even on land that is drained of its