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→Slavery: Combat revisionist history in Civil War article
[[Eli Whitney]] patented the cotton gin in 1793. Prior to that, slaves were harvesting cotton, pulling the seed from the boll, and packing it by hand for market at a rate of 100 bales a week. The gin did the hard work of separating the boll, enabling bales of cotton at a rate of over 1000 a week, often more. The result was the number of annual cotton harvests increased to three, which saw a concurrent rise in profits made by plantation owners; the number of slaves needed for the fields and other tasks increased as well, climbing from 300,000 in 1790 to over three million by 1860.
[[Eli Whitney]] patented the cotton gin in 1793. Prior to that, slaves were harvesting cotton, pulling the seed from the boll, and packing it by hand for market at a rate of 100 bales a week. The gin did the hard work of separating the boll, enabling bales of cotton at a rate of over 1000 a week, often more. The result was the number of annual cotton harvests increased to three, which saw a concurrent rise in profits made by plantation owners; the number of slaves needed for the fields and other tasks increased as well, climbing from 300,000 in 1790 to over three million by 1860.
Although a recent push of [[Revisionism]] atempted to cast the Civil War as a debate over solely this issue, the issue of States' Rights was much more powerful.
===Political machinations and compromises===
===Political machinations and compromises===