Answer:
The answer is the invention of the cotton gin.
Explanation:
In 1794, U.S.-born inventor Eli Whitney (1765-1825) patented the cotton gin, a machine that revolutionized the production of cotton by greatly speeding up the process of removing seeds from cotton fiber. By the mid-19th century, cotton had become America’s leading export. Despite its success, the gin made little money for Whitney due to patent-infringement issues.
One inadvertent result of the cotton gin’s success, however, was that it helped strengthen slavery in the South. Although the cotton gin made cotton processing less labor-intensive, it helped planters earn greater profits, prompting them to grow larger crops, which in turn required more people.
It encouraged African-Americans to become politically active and racially conscious.
Conquered people often times became prisoners or servants to the elite of the land they now belonged to.
The amount of territory the US currently has would have been completely different if the national government could only legislate based on what is written in the constitution.
A perfect example of this is the power to purchase land/territories from other countries. This was first done by Thomas Jefferson with the Louisiana Purchase of 1803. The US Constitution does not say that the president has the power to buy land from other countries. However, Jefferson said that this power was "implied" by the Constitution.
This idea of an implied power greatly changed the presidency/national government. Several presidents after Jefferson would follow his lead by making deals with countries for territory.
If it wasn't for this concept of implied powers, the US may not have grown to the 50 states we know it as today.
Individuals and Society evaluate economic choices differently because the individual is usually only interested in what benefits them (self-interest) while society is interested in what benefits the most people.
