How the Cotton Gin Lead to Reforms in Slavery

Mike Barkan

2 The modern cotton industry in the United States alone attracts a revenue of nearly 100 billion dollars, yet this market would be unnoticeable if it wasnt for the work of one man (National Cotton Council). In 1794, Eli Whitney patented a new type of cotton gin, a machine that vastly increased cotton production speed. His gin created the largest American export of the time, and changed the face of slavery forever. The gin was directly responsible for a six hundred percent increase in the United States slave population during the seventy years prior to the civil war, as well as the cause of an influx of African slaves (Wahl). Although the cotton gin caused hardships for millions of slaves, it was ultimately the cause for the civil war, and with it their liberation. The Southern region of the United States has been a prosperous area dating back to the discovery of the cash crop tobacco. Originally colonized due to the hope of an abundance of gold, the South was found to be nearly devoid of the precious element. Many colonists were left wondering what the area could possibly do for income. Brown gold as it was called, was the main source of income to the Southern colonies until the cotton boom (Virginia Places). In 1613, a new type of tobacco was grown by John Rolfe, and found to be extremely popular in Britain (Virginia Places). Within five years of the discovery, the exports to Britain were in excess of 50,000 pounds of tobacco (Virginia Places). The profits of the Southern tobacco industry were not without sacrifice however; the creation of the product needed a labor force that could keep up with the demands. Slavery was not a new concept to the early Americans, but the slaves that were in the colonies prior to the tobacco market were mainly house and subsistence farming workers. When the demand for tobacco was increased, people turned to slaves as the solution. In 1680 slaves only made up about ten percent of the population, however by the mid 1700s until slavery's abolishment in

3 1865, slaves accounted for a third of the Southern population (Wahl). Most of the slaves were concentrated in several states, with the Carolinas, Maryland, and Virginia all leading the way (Wahl). Slavery was predominantly a Southern practice, as it was only necessary for states with an agriculture-based economy, and the northern states inferior soil prevented the same quality crops from being grown. Most northern states had taken massive steps towards abolishing slavery by 1800 as well, with Vermont as the first in 1777 (Wahl). To the Southern colonists, the tobacco plant was just the thing they needed to recover from the lack of gold. While tobacco was a satisfactory way of kick-starting the Southern economy, it had some major drawbacks that lead to the Southern colonists looking for yet another way to make money. Tobaccos largest disadvantage as a cash crop was it had a limited niche of people to sell to. Not all Americans used some form of tobacco, sharply reducing the potential of tobacco (Virginia Places). This resulted in an increase of more universal crops that could be sold to a much wider sample of people, and used for many more things. Much of the tobacco was exported to Europe, where tobacco could be sold at a higher price, but King James I was against tobacco use to the extent of issuing A Counterblaste to Tobacco, in which he expressed his dislike of tobacco smoking, and even warning about its dangerous side effects to the lungs. While these two events did not cause a noticeable drop in tobacco sales or production, they certainly did nothing to boost the productivity and profits of the industry. This brought about the beginnings of the rise of the cotton industry. Cotton was a much more universal product than tobacco with uses in rapidly growing textile industry. Its uses could be applied to exponentially more people (Phillips 262). Additionally, there were no health concerns for the average person to use it. Many people began to see cotton as the

4 next frontier for profit. Cotton was beginning to show some promising signs as a cash crop in the mid 1700s, but its problems were beginning to evolve. The cotton industry grew, but the demands for it couldnt be met, because much like tobacco, producing large amounts of cotton became troublesome (Lakwete 3). In a cotton plant, the two parts that are picked are the fiber and the seed, which are attached to each other. The desired part, the fiber, is used in textiles as well as a variety of other areas, while the seed is primarily used to replant more cotton. All of cottons problems stem from the fiber and the seed being connected, and the difficulty in separating them. Each clump of fiber encompasses several seeds, and in order to be used the seeds have to be removed from every clump of fiber (Lakwete 5). It could take a slave upwards of a day to separate a pound of fiber from the seeds, which drastically cut cottons chance for success (Lakwete 27). There was a need for a better way to get cotton, and that need was satisfied in 1793 with Eli Whitneys invention of the cotton gin. When Whitney invented the gin, he unknowingly created a ripple effect throughout history that sequentially lead to the Civil War. In October of 1793, Whitney had written a letter to president Thomas Jefferson that outlined the design of the gin and inquired about patents. Jefferson responded with great haste saying he had considerable interest in the success of his invention (Jefferson to Whitney 1793). This incited Whitney to complete the revolutionary product he had been working on. The gin Whitney invented was not the first cotton gin invented, but all prior gins were handheld, where Whitneys was larger and mechanical. The gin pulled the cotton over spikes that acted as a comb, not allowing the seeds to pass through, thus giving pure cotton fiber as a result (Lakwete 73). Suddenly the cotton industry was able to overcome the only opposition that stood between

5 the mediocrity in which the industry resided, and the supermassive one it became. When Alexander Hamilton promoted cotton as a crop in 1790, the US produced only .04% of the worlds cotton. After the invention of the gin, American cotton production doubled each decade. By 1860, that number had skyrocketed to more than two thirds of the worlds cotton production (Richardson). Additionally, cotton had become the United States top export and between 1820 and 1830, cotton accounted for upwards of 80% of all American exports (Weider History Group). As the industry grew, more space to grow cotton was needed. Many members of the Creek, Cherokee, Chickasaw and Choctaw Indian nations were forced to leave 70,000 square miles of land in three states known as the cotton belt; Georgia, Mississippi, and Alabama. A primary cause for the annexation of Texas in 1845 was that fertile cotton growing land was discovered in abundance, prompting a growth of the industry farther west (Richardson). As the cotton industry exploded into existence, a need for more laborers arose, and was met with the solution of a massive increase in slaves. From the time the cotton gin was invented, until 1808, over 80,000 Africans were imported as slaves (Shur). In 1807, under president Thomas Jefferson, the Embargo Act of 1807 abolished the importation of foreign slaves. The act installed a monumental fine of $20,000 for any person caught attempting to import slaves. (New York Public Library, n.d). However, Jefferson was well known for his distaste of free colored Americans, and even when smugglers were caught, the slaves were not returned to Africa (New York Public Library, n.d). With the foreign slave trade criminalized, the value of slaves already in the country began to increase. The average price of a top-notch slave doubled from around $300 in 1792, to around $600 in 1809, and the price didnt stop there (Phillips 266). Nine years later, the average price had inflated to a full thousand dollars

6 (Phillips 267). In the few years leading up to the civil war, slave prices could top out at over several thousand dollars just for one slave. More impressive than the prices of the slaves being bought and sold was the sheer number of slaves in the South. In 1790, there were just over 600,000 slaves, but by 1860, over 4 million slaves lived in the South, compared to just 8 million free Americans (Wahl). The productivity of the cotton industry, and the slaves that accompanied it, brought considerable tension between the Southern slave states and the free northern states. Cotton and slavery had brought considerable wealth to the South that the tobacco industry never provided, but enhanced tensions with the northern states. In an 1837 speech, John C. Calhoun stated that slavery was far from a necessary evil and more of a positive good for the benefits it gave (Calhoun 1837, Weider History Group). Both the uncontrollable slave trade in the South, and the simple fact that the profits from slavery didnt affect the northern states to the same degree, were catalysts for high tension between the north and South. Cotton still benefitted the northern states in the textile industry, but the profits were negligible compared to the monstrosity of cotton. Abolitionists had been advocating for the end of slavery as soon as America became its own nation, and they hadnt given up (Civil War Home). Eventually all of the factors culminated, and South Carolina seceded from the union in 1860. Ten other states followed, and became the Confederate States of America. In March of 1861, shots fired upon Fort Sumter began the civil war and the end of slavery (Civil War Home). Four years later the war ended, and the thirteenth amendment, which officially liberated slaves, was ratified in December and 3 billion dollars worth of slaves were freed (Richardson). Without the help of slaves during the civil war, the cotton market crashed to its

7 lowest production rate since the invention of the gin, only 300,000 bales at five hundred pounds each in 1864 (Richardson). After the civil war was over, the market made its slow return to normal, with freed slaves working on plantations for paid wages. By 1878 the industry was outputting the same amount of cotton as it was in 1860, but a lower demand for the product resulted in 30% less profit (Richardson). Whitneys invention of the cotton gin brought slavery full circle. From what many saw as a dying out art, the gin initially turned slavery into a full-blown industry, then effectively exterminated it once and for all. Eli Whitney had no idea of the domino effect he created supplementary to his gin, its effects resonated throughout history, ultimately freeing slaves and benefitting the young country.