COTTON KINGDOM:Revolutionizing the Nation.

Interesting fact: The average boll of cotton weighs about three grams. That is

only .oo6 pounds.

Textile Mills A textile mill was a factory that

revolutionized the making of thread. These mills were places by streams and

rivers so the mill could run on natural water power.

As more and more textile mills were built, the need for cotton grew rapidly.

The picking and cleaning the cotton took many slaves and a lot of work. The increase in textile mills made it difficult to keep up with the demand for cotton.

Textile Mill

The Cotton Gin. The Cotton Gin was invented by Eli

Whitney. This machine revolutionized the process

of cleaning cotton; making the procedure much faster than it was before.

Only one slave was needed to run this machine but it could produce the work of fifty.

The cotton gin separated the seeds from the cotton far faster than doing it by hand.

These seeds could then be used to plant more cotton or be used to make oil.

Cotton Gin

Inside look at the cotton gin.

Cotton Gin (cont.) This machine could also produce fifty

pounds of cotton in one day. Remember: one boll of cotton weighs only 6/1000 of a pound.

Many people found out about Eli Whitney’s cotton gin and made different versions of it before he could release his.

Cash Crop A cash crop is a crop that produces a lot

of money. Many of the cash crops in the eighteen

hundreds were rice, tobacco, corn, and peanuts.

Tobacco had been the “chief” cash crop. As the need for cotton increased so did

the price. Cotton was making huge amounts of money for the sellers and cotton became the top cash crop.

Pictures of cotton

Answers to my objectives: 1) A cash crop is a crop that you can sell

and produces a large income. 2) Cotton was so valuable because it was

used to make many popular products like shirts and blankets. It was also shipped to textile mills across the world.

3) The cotton gin was a device invented by Eli Whitney, used to separate cotton seeds from the cotton. It was useful because you only needed one person to run it and it could do the work of fifty.