Because it took so long to pick the seeds from the cotton, cotton was not considered a cash crop. After the invention of the cotton gin, people could grow cotton anywhere, even on land put aside for the crop rotation.
Franklin thought that if there was no unity within the colonies they would be stuck in this harsh life of living environment without any help from the British.
Franklin valued a unified government because if the government and the people was united, a lot can be done and 99% of the time be successful.
"Our beloved, and most enlighted Czar Peter the I, would like to invite you to his welcoming party in his newest city St. Petersburg. We shall welcome him back after he spent a couple of years in the West, where he learnt all such important things as orthodontics or the building of warships, bringing back with him all these new ideas, trades and technology which our beloved Mother Russia needs to modernize, with all this said, it is obvious that Peter, the great from now on, is the most enlightened leader of our century".