U.S. Labor and Work: The Cotton Gin (South) and Division of Labor (North)

U.S. Labor and Work
5 April 2020
Big Influence of Cotton Gin
In the 19th century, two developments occurred that would shape the history of ancient America and the modern working person. The cotton gin in the South and the division of labor in the North coincided. They influenced the lives of the various groups of people that existed in that era, both positively and negatively. The North comprised of Native Americans, artisans, merchants, journeymen, and their masters who would later become their employers. The South, on the other hand, had slaves, slave traders, Indian Americans, and the natives divided into the wealthy whites, the elite planters, and the poor who freely mingled with the blacks Americans and other races. The positive impacts of the South gin included the development of the North, the creation of social and economic bonds, the acquisition of new territories, and many others discussed in the essay. The division of labor led to, among many others, the rise of labor unions and collective bargaining that employees enjoy to date and improvement of transport infrastructure due to increased productivity. However, the negative impacts of the developments seemed to be more significant, affecting the Northern artisans, journeymen, southern slaves, and even native Americans. The essay seeks to evaluate and put into focus the positive and negative effects of the cotton gin on the Southern slaves, Native Americans and the cotton industry in America.
From the 17th and 18th centuries, Sothern America was the undisputed cotton kingdom with the help of men, women, and their children who worked as slaves on the plantations. Most lived in broad cotton areas in the Deep South that stretched westward like a belt, from coastal South of Carolina inland through central Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi and New Orleans (Clark 272). Then came a machine, cotton gin that revolutionized the world of cotton production in America. The engine was able to separate cotton from the seeds faster than humans could thus efficiently. It also had some sort of brushes that frequently cleaned the inner parts off cotton remnants that would make the machine slow. It dramatically reduced the time spent in the production of cotton. Even small-scale farmers resorted to cotton farming due to the profitability index. By the early 18th century, cotton produced profitability was almost everywhere in southern Virginia, Kentucky, and Missouri (clack 273). However, the use of the machine in America was sluggish because they mostly produced long-staple cotton, and the gin processed the short one. It is the early 19th century that the device became prominent due to later inventions and improvements from animal power to steam power.
The division of labor existed way before the 19th century, with the slaves engaging in repetitive tasks in non-conducive conditions under their masters to produce commodities such as sugarcane and cotton. However, the rise of mass production in the following years put the division of labor into perspective. Foner (28) introduces us to the merchants, journeymen, and artisans of the ancient Philadelphia. Artisans were different from journeymen because it required different skills and multiple routines that made them so difficult to repla...