USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -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-2: -The gin improved the separation of the seeds and fibers but the cotton still needed to be picked by hand. The demand for cotton roughly doubled each decade following Whitney’s invention. So cotton became a very profitable crop that also demanded a growing slave-labor force to harvest it.

Detailed explanation-3: -How did the cotton gin lead to the spread of slavery? The cotton gin made the harvesting of the cotton faster, which increased the production of cotton. With all of the cotton, slave owners would need more slaves, which would mean more harvested cotton, which would result in more money.

Detailed explanation-4: -Although the cotton gin made cotton processing less labor-intensive, it helped planters earn greater profits, prompting them to grow larger crops, which in turn required more people. Because slavery was the cheapest form of labor, cotton farmers simply acquired more slaves.

Detailed explanation-5: -With a gin, a single slave could do the work that previously required as many as twenty slaves. Practically overnight, the ability to plant and profitably harvest short-staple cotton with the labor of slaves made cotton the new gold-and there was so much land.