Eli Whitney's Cotton Industry

In 1791, the United States cotton production was very small, it was merely 900,000 kilograms. Quite a few factors contributed to the advancement of the cotton industry in the United States. These factors include the increasing British demand; the popularity of wearing a cotton flower to signify support of the new nation, improvements in spinning, weaving, and steam power; reasonably priced land; and a slave labor force. With the invention of Eli Whitney 's cotton gin in 1793, the cotton industry became immensely profitable, creating many riches in the Antebellum South. The cotton gin, short for the cotton engine, is a machine that quickly and easily separates cotton fibers from their seeds, a job that otherwise has to be performed meticulously by hand. Before the introduction of the mechanical cotton gin, a substantial amount of labor was essential to separate and clean the fibers from cotton seeds. Eli Whitney 's introduction of "teeth" in his cotton gin to comb out the cotton and separate the seeds reformed this process.

The cotton gin immensely grew the United States cotton industry, before it was restricted by

At that time to the world, Mississippi was the epicenter of the cotton cultivating sensation during the first half of the 19th century. The state was swept along by the global economic force created by its cotton production, the demand by cotton textile manufacturing in Europe, and New York 's financial and commercial dealings. Mississippi 's social and economic histories in early beginning of the state were motivated by cotton and slave labor for the cotton, and the two became intertwined in America. Cotton was a very labor-intensive profession, and a large number of workers that were required to grow and harvest cotton came from slave labor until the end of the American Civil War. Cotton was reliant on slavery and slavery was, to a large extent, somewhat reliant on cotton. Even after freedom, African-Americans were still identified with cotton