LIFE IN ANTEBELLUM AMERICA 1807 1861
SLAVERY IN AMERICA COTTON SLAVE TRADE AND THE SOUTHERN RESPONSE
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Question
[CLICK ON ANY CHOICE TO KNOW THE RIGHT ANSWER]
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It made the processing of cotton faster because the machine was faster than the slaves removing the seeds from cotton
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The plantation owners didn’t like the cotton gin because they couldn’t whip it like they did the slaves.
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The cotton gin turned cotton into money.
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None of the above
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Detailed explanation-1: -The gin separated the sticky seeds from the fibers in short-staple cotton, which was easy to grow in the deep South but difficult to process. The gin improved the separation of the seeds and fibers but the cotton still needed to be picked by hand.
Detailed explanation-2: -While it was true that the cotton gin reduced the labor of removing seeds, it did not reduce the need for enslaved labor to grow and pick the cotton. In fact, the opposite occurred. Cotton growing became so profitable for enslavers that it greatly increased their demand for both land and enslaved labor.
Detailed explanation-3: -In 1794, U.S.-born inventor Eli Whitney (1765-1825) patented the cotton gin, a machine that revolutionized the production of cotton by greatly speeding up the process of removing seeds from cotton fiber. By the mid-19th century, cotton had become America’s leading export.
Detailed explanation-4: -A modern mechanical cotton gin was created by American inventor Eli Whitney in 1793 and patented in 1794. Whitney’s gin used a combination of a wire screen and small wire hooks to pull the cotton through, while brushes continuously removed the loose cotton lint to prevent jams.