The Missouri Compromise — Unit test

Question 14 • (AG Q3) American History 8: 25-26 (AHostetler)

How did the invention of the cotton gin in 1793 affect the labor of enslaved people in the South?

Answer

Although the cotton gin affected the tasks performed by enslaved workers, the number of workers needed remained constant.

Although the cotton gin did not alter the tasks performed by enslaved workers, the number of workers sharply increased.

Because the cotton gin was so efficient, plantation owners needed fewer enslaved workers to produce cotton.

Because the cotton gin processed cotton so quickly, farmers needed increasing numbers of enslaved workers.

Explanation

The cotton gin made it much faster to separate seeds from cotton fibers, making cotton more profitable to grow. As cotton plantations expanded across the South, plantation owners demanded more enslaved labor to plant, tend, and harvest the larger cotton crops. So the gin’s efficiency led farmers to seek increasing numbers of enslaved workers, not fewer.

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