Application 3: King Cotton and Slavery

One commodity that had major implications on the American colonies was cotton. Cotton was used to create textiles and other finished goods that were in high demand in England. The Southern colonies turned out to be a great place for growing and producing cotton. However, cotton was incredibly time and labor intensive; it was grueling and tedious. Due to this, it was nearly impossible to make a profit growing cotton. However, in 1793, Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin, which revolutionized cotton production and made it profitable. The cotton gin made it much faster to produce cotton which could then be used in manufactured goods made in England. The cotton gin made it possible for farmers to keep up with the demand for cotton that could now more quickly be turned in to fabric due to the invention of the power looms during the Industrial Revolution.

However, even with the cotton gin, cotton production still required a vast labor force. Enter: slaves. The market for slaves in the Southern colonies began to grow as cotton plantations grew and became more and more profitable. Ultimately, the use of slave labor would contribute to the Civil War in the United States.

Check out these links to see the correlation between the spread of cotton production and the spread of slavery.

Cotton: http://mappinghistory.uoregon.edu/english/US/US18-01.html 

Slavery: http://mappinghistory.uoregon.edu/english/US/US18-02.html

Comparison: http://mappinghistory.uoregon.edu/english/US/US18-03.html

Sources:
http://www.ushistory.org/us/27a.asp