Answer :
Final answer:
The cotton gin, invented by Eli Whitney, made it much easier to remove seeds from cotton, greatly increasing production efficiency. This led to a rise in the cotton industry without reducing the demand for enslaved labor. It was a pivotal invention for agriculture in the American South.
Explanation:
The Importance of the Cotton Gin
The cotton gin, invented by Eli Whitney in 1793, was a revolutionary machine that significantly impacted the cotton industry and the economy of the American South. Among the options provided, the correct answer is:
OD. Made it much easier to remove seeds from cotton.
This invention mechanized the laborious process of separating cotton fibers from their seeds, allowing one worker to process as much cotton in a few hours as would have previously taken several days. As a result, the efficiency of cotton production increased dramatically, leading to a boom in cotton farming.
Moreover, this increase in cotton production did not reduce the demand for enslaved people; rather, it unfortunately exacerbated the issue by making cotton farming more profitable and expanding the need for labor on plantations. Therefore, while the cotton gin helped farmers grow more cotton, the most significant aspect of its invention was making it easier to remove the seeds, marking a pivotal shift in agricultural practices in the United States.
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