At the time of the birth of this country, slavery had largely died out in the north, and was dying in the south. However, with the invention of Eli Whitney’s Cotton Gin in 1793, slaves became in high demand as cotton production skyrocketed in the south. This enabled the burgeoning American textile industry to start competing with the European manufacturers (most notably those in Britain). Thereafter, an uneasy alliance arose between the industrialists in the north and the slaveholders of the south that did not end until the Civil War.
Famous depiction of slave in bondage.
The Cotton Gin
A slave market in Atlanta GA (cir. 1850)
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