United States
On March 14, 1794, Eli Whitney received a patent for the cotton gin. The machine quickly separated cotton fibers from seeds, vastly speeding up cotton processing. This invention helped cotton become a dominant cash crop in the American South. However, it also increased the demand for enslaved labor, since plantation owners expanded cotton cultivation. The cotton gin thus tied technological progress to the deepening of slavery. Its impact on American industry, agriculture, and society was both transformative and tragic.
