Quote (sirthom @ Mar 10 2023 01:29am)
No, it replaced the hardest manual work that had to be done by the slaves before.
Yes I payed attention, didn't even have to look up Eli Whitney or how to spell it.
Everyone always feels more kinship with people they are more closely related to....always.
both are true, the cotton gin replaced manual labor of slaves getting ready cotton for processing, and it made slavery more profitable.
if you had 100 slaves, and 100 picked a field full of cotton in a day, you'd then have to have them spend a few days getting the cotton ready for processing. with a gin a few slaves can do that work in a single day. freeing the other slaves up for more work, presumably picking more cotton you planted knowing you could process it faster.
plantations pre-gin were limited by the processing step of cotton, and post-gin could plant far more cotton and produce far more cotton.