Question

What increased cotton processing?

Answer 1

The invention of the cotton gin. 

Answer 2

U.S. History The Market Revolution
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The Growth of the Cotton Industry
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Eli Whitney's invention of the cotton gin in 1793 resulted in massive growth in the cotton industry in the American South.


LEARNING OBJECTIVE[ edit ]

Describe the economic and political effects of Eli Whitney's cotton gin

KEY POINTS[ edit ]

With the invention of Eli Whitney's cotton gin in 1793, cotton became a tremendously profitable industry, creating many fortunes for white plantation owners in the antebellum South.
The cotton gin (short for "cotton engine") was a machine that quickly and easily separated cotton fibers from their seeds, a job that otherwise had to be performed painstakingly by hand, most often by slaves.
Cotton soon became the primary export in the United States and by 1860, on the eve of the Civil War, the southern states were providing two-thirds of the world's supply of cotton.
The textile boom in New England created an important domestic market for cotton producers. Cotton plantations depended on slave labor, and as a result of the boom in this industry, slavery increased dramatically in the early nineteenth century.
Due to its profound effect on American slavery, the growth of the cotton industry is frequently cited as one of the causes of the American Civil War.


Source: Boundless. “The Growth of the Cotton Industry.” Boundless U.S. History Boundless, 12 Sep. 2016. Retrieved 29 Jan. 2017 from https://www.boundless.com/u-s-history/textbooks/boundless-u-s-history-textbook/the-market-revolution-1815-1840-13/the-market-revolution-108/the-growth-of-the-cotton-industry-583-1160/