Plantation owners could not plant, farm, and harvest the cotton totally on their own. They needed many workers. Unfortunately instead of hiring workers, many in that time went to Africa and got slaves to work for them for free. They owned them and the slaves had to work for them.
In 1641, Massachusetts legally recognized slavery. The selling of slaves was outlawed in 1808 but slaves were still sold illegally. By 1818 only the northern states had outlawed any type of slavery.
The average rate a man could remove the seeds was one pound of cotton per day.
The Cotton Gin was a machine that was built to help remove the seeds. It was invented in 1793 by Eli Whitney, and revolutionized the South.
With the first cotton gin, Whitney did the work of several men. Great demand for cotton existed because mills had increased their productivity.
The South now produced more cotton and found an eager market in the Northern US industrial centers.
The high demand for cotton required more laborers for the fields. This need caused illegal slave trade to develop because slave trade was outlawed in 1808.
Whitney’s Cotton Gin contributed to the Industrial Revolution in America.
Eli Whitney never received royalties for his invention, but later opened a factory which produced guns and was the first to use the principle of interchangeable parts.
Slavery grew much during this time. It was wrong. We will learn in the weeks ahead, that some slaves escaped on the Underground Railroad which consisted of paths to the north to freedom. Harriet Tubman was a famous conductor on the “railroad” and led over 300 slaves to freedom.
In 1865 the War between the States outlawed slavery in the entire United States.