Class Discussion Lead: White Gold: The International Empire of Cotton

Miranda Winter

History 147

Class Discussion Lead

White Gold: The International Empire of Cotton

In 1793, Eli Whitney’s cotton gin enabled the cotton market in the South to expand into an international market. The new cotton gin had wire teeth that pulled the cotton fibers from the sticky seeds which allowed clean cotton to be produced in mass amounts because hand picking the seeds was no longer necessary. Cotton quickly became the new major cash crop and quickly changed the economic structure of the world. From America’s South cotton was sent all over Europe. With this excess of cotton England was then transformed into a major cotton fabric manufacturer and became the first industrial society. America ruled the world market for 150 years thanks to the cotton gin.

1) How did the cotton gin affect the world economic structure?

2) How did the invention of the cotton gin affect life in the South?

3) What affects did the cotton gin have on Europe?

4) What positive and negative outcomes did the cotton gin have?