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An elderly Black man stands beside a cotton mill, holding a tool. Cotton falls from one machinery into another.
A Black laborer works at a cotton gin.

The invention of the cotton gin.

1794

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A Black laborer works at a cotton gin.

The increased profits gained through this new agricultural development help spread the cultivation of cotton to the Deep South and Southwestern states. This leads to the need for more laborers, raising the demand for enslaved Black people and leading to the rise of a conservative Southern political order.