Cotton Gin Positive Effects

In the early 19th century, a substantial amount of inventions in the United States sparked a revolution in American society on a political, social, and economic level. For instance, during the late 18th century, the southeastern region of the United States was dominated by cotton, which was being mass produced and sold as a cash crop. In order to efficiently harvest said cotton, numerous Africans were imported to the United States for the practice of slavery. With the creation of the cotton gin by Eli Whitney in the year 1793, many thought that it would diminish slavery from the United States for it allowed cotton to be harvested more quickly and efficiently than ever before, meaning that it called for less manpower. Though in reality, the effects of the cotton gin were quite the opposite

and the South’s hunger for slaves as well as cotton grew exponentially. Southern dependency on cotton soared, making cotton the sole cash crop of the South, eventually leading to the expansion of cotton plantations further through the South and also the West, accompanied by slavery. The first Industrial Revolution eventually led to a negative social shift regarding African-American worth in American society. Soon the South became a breeding ground for hatred against African-Americans, believing slavery to be the ‘necessary evil’ that kept the South thriving both economically and politically.
The Industrial Revolution, though more prominent in the minds of many as beginning in the United States, actually started in Britain years earlier. The Industrial Revolution originated in Britain beginning around the year 1750, for which a group of British inventors began to invent as well as patent machines that would be used to produce large masses of textiles. Britain had been a prime candidate for the birth of the Industrial Revolution during the 18th century due to a plethora of reasons. The leading reason was England’s sizeable deposits of coal and iron. These substantial deposits allowed for Britain’s industrialization to go quite smoothly, for the country had an ample amount of resources to pull from. Another contributing factor to rapid industrialization was Britain’s power over other lands, allowing them to substantially extend their markets around the world, thus increasing their profits. Eventually, as the century wore on, the high demand for manufactured goods, such as textiles, led to the creation of machines to produce more products faster and more efficiently. One such invention was the spinning jenny created by James Hargreaves in 1764. This machine was created for the purpose of spinning multiple spools of thread concurrently. Along with the spinning jenny, the power loom was invented to hasten the process of producing textiles. This machine revolutionized the textile industry due to the fact that it mechanized the process of weaving cotton thread into cloth. It was created in the 1780’s by inventor Edmund Catwright. In addition to textile production, the utilization of iron as well as steel played a large part in the Industrial Revolution in Britain. New methods were created to produce iron as well as steel in which they would be able to mass produce goods made from such materials. Lastly, in 1712 the steam engine was created by Thomas Newcomen, and the invention would eventually power things such as machinery, ships, and locomotives that would become central to the Industrial Revolution.
The Industrial Revolution in Britain, which began halfway through the 18th century had quite a positive as well as slightly negative impact on its country, both through social as well as social means.

The Industrial Revolution raised the standard of living among many people, most being a part of the middle to upper class. Those in the lower working class experienced little improvement for their situations as factory workers continued to receive low wages as well as having work taken away from them by machines. Due to the need to mass produce goods, production shifted from the traditional settings of homes to factories. This eventually led to a large scale construction of factories in large cities. With the creation of cities, also came the flow of population. In the mid-18th century there was a large population shift from the countryside to the cities as to find jobs. In the work place children labor became quite common, used to do highly dangerous tasks due to their small size such as fixing machines. The growth of child labor was also paralleled by the worsening of working conditions in factories around the country. Work environments were overcrowded and all around

unhygienic.