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.
African Americans, carpetbaggers and scalawags comprised the Republican Party's largest Southern constituency during Reconstruction. The Scalawags were the white Southerners who backed the Reconstruction policies and were usually Union loyalists during the Civil War. Carpetbaggers were the Northerners who moved to the South during the Reconstruction era mostly for economic and political gains.
Obelisk, tapered monolithic pillar, originally erected in pairs at the entrances of ancient Egyptian temples. The Egyptian obelisk was carved from a single piece of stone, usually red granite from the quarries at Aswān.
