Question

How did the invention of cotton gin in 1793 affect the use of slave labor in the south?

Answer 1

Hint: Eli Whitney patented the cotton gin in 1793 in the United States to rid cotton of its plants. The cotton gin is an example of an innovation that was prompted by a pressing need.

Complete answer:
i) Eli Whitney (1765-1825), a U.S.-born inventor, invented the cotton gin in 1794, a mechanism that revolutionised cotton manufacturing by dramatically speeding up the method of extracting seeds from cotton cloth.
ii) Cotton had been America's most important commodity by the mid-nineteenth century.
iii) Despite its popularity, Whitney was unable to profit from the gin due to patent infringement concerns.
iii) In addition, his discovery gave Southern planters a reason to keep and extend slavery even when an increasing majority of Americans opposed it.
iv) Whitney later landed a large contract to manufacture muskets for the United States army, thanks in part to his renown for inventing the cotton gin.
v) He advocated the concept of interchangeable parts–standardized, similar parts that allowed for quicker installation and maintenance of different devices–through this project. He is regarded as an American industrial visionary as a result of his efforts.

Note:
Whitney, a Massachusetts Yankee visiting a friend in the South, learned of the issue and devised a mechanism that pulled cotton through a series of wire teeth fixed on a rotating cylinder, the fibre passing through narrow slots in an iron breastwork too thin to allow the seed to pass through.

Despite Whitney's patent, the invention's simplicity—it could be controlled by man, horse, or water—caused it to be widely replicated, and it is credited with virtually monopolising cotton production in the United States South and thus institutionalising slavery.