How did cotton revolutionize the South?

It was a crop that was in high demand and could be grown cheaply in the South. But the market required cheap labor and the invention of the cotton gin. read more

But the market required cheap labor and the invention of the cotton gin. Without the cotton gin, separating the seeds from cotton fibers was too labor intensive even with slave labor. I think it is more accurate to say that the cotton gin revolutionized the economy of the South. It made mass production of cotton possible. read more

The booming textile industries of Britain and New England created a growing demand for raw cotton. Eli Whitney's invention of the cotton gin in 1793 made the profitable production of upland cotton possible throughout the South, and cotton soon became the nation's major export-crop. read more

Cotton created the antebellum South. The wildly profitable commodity opened a previously closed society to the grandeur, the profit, the exploitation, and the social dimensions of a larger, more connected, global community. In this way, the South, and the world, benefitted from the Cotton Revolution and the urban growth it sparked. read more