Early Cotton Gin?

RichMill

I know there have been a number of "later cotton gin" and "no cotton gin" threads on the site, and a usual conclusion reached in those threads are that a later cotton gin (delayed by decades) would have adverse affects on the slave states, with places like Maryland, Delaware (and possibly Virginia) emancipating their slaves in time. However, what would be the effects of a young entrepreneur inventing Eli Whitney's 'gin' earlier (let's say sometime around the French and Indian War)?

Would slavery be more entrenched in the colonies, including the northern states?

Would this effect the American Revolution in any way, including the Revolutionary War?

What would be the effects on Britain's economy; would those in power be more inclined to keep the institution after the 'cotton economy' begins to boom?
 
BELFAST

BELFAST

RichMill said:
I know there have been a number of "later cotton gin" and "no cotton gin" threads on the site, and a usual conclusion reached in those threads are that a later cotton gin (delayed by decades) would have adverse affects on the slave states, with places like Maryland, Delaware (and possibly Virginia) emancipating their slaves in time. However, what would be the effects of a young entrepreneur inventing Eli Whitney's 'gin' earlier (let's say sometime around the French and Indian War)?

Would slavery be more entrenched in the colonies, including the northern states?

Would this effect the American Revolution in any way, including the Revolutionary War?

What would be the effects on Britain's economy; would those in power be more inclined to keep the institution after the 'cotton economy' begins to boom?
Click to expand...

How early?
 

David T

It would have little effect. The Cotton Kingdom could not arise until the Indians were cleared out of what became Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, etc., and that took decades. Tobacco would still be more profitable in Virginia and Maryland, and rice in the South Carolina lowlands. Cotton might get a somewhat earlier start in the rest of South Carolina and in Georgia, but that's about it. I can't see why it would have any effect on emancipation in the North.

As I stated elsewhere:

***
"It is a myth that slavery was dying out before the cotton gin. Too many people assume that slavery equals the Southern plantation system equals cotton. That was actually not true until *many* years after the invention of the cotton gin. As late as 1800 only about 11 percent of all slaves lived on cotton plantations. (By 1850, with greatly increased world demand for cotton, that had risen to 64 percent.) Tobacco made a considerable recovery after the Revolution, and spread to new regions in South Carolina, Georgia, Kentucky, and Tennessee. Slaves were also used in the production of rice, sugar (after Louisiana was annexed) and grains.

"Of course, there *were* some areas of the South that were much better suited for cotton than for any other crop--above all the black belt of Alabama and the alluvial areas of Mississippi. But these areas were not opened up to the plantation system until many years after the cotton gin...." https://www.alternatehistory.com/Discussion/showpost.php?p=9363591&postcount=15
 
BELFAST

BELFAST

I think until the power looms in industrial revolution in Britain there will be limited demand for cotton.
 

carlton_bach

I wonder whether the bihgger impact might not be felt in India and/or the Levant. Cotton industry was big there long before it grew in England and America. Removing the deseeding as the primary labour bottleneck should have a knock-on effect on productrion patterns. Regrettably, I don't know enough about the details.
 
BELFAST

BELFAST

carlton_bach said:
I wonder whether the bihgger impact might not be felt in India and/or the Levant. Cotton industry was big there long before it grew in England and America. Removing the deseeding as the primary labour bottleneck should have a knock-on effect on productrion patterns. Regrettably, I don't know enough about the details.
Click to expand...

Early cotton gins

The earliest versions of the cotton gin consisted of a single roller made of iron or wood and a flat piece of stone or wood. Evidence for this type of gin has been found in Africa, Asia, and North America. The first documentation of the cotton gin by contemporary scholars is found in the fifth century AD, in the form of Buddhist paintings depicting a single-roller gin in the Ajanta Caves in western India.[3] These early gins were difficult to use and required a great deal of skill. A narrow single roller was necessary to expel the seeds from the cotton without crushing the seeds. The design was similar to that of a metate, which was used to grind grain. The early history of the cotton gin is ambiguous, because archeologists likely mistook the cotton gin's parts for other tools.[3]
Between the 12th and 14th centuries, dual-roller gins appeared in India and China. The Indian version of the dual-roller gin was prevalent throughout the Mediterranean cotton trade by the 16th century. This mechanical device was, in some areas, driven by water power.[7]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cotton_gin#History
 

Oba

BELFAST said:
Early cotton gins

The earliest versions of the cotton gin consisted of a single roller made of iron or wood and a flat piece of stone or wood. Evidence for this type of gin has been found in Africa, Asia, and North America. The first documentation of the cotton gin by contemporary scholars is found in the fifth century AD, in the form of Buddhist paintings depicting a single-roller gin in the Ajanta Caves in western India.[3] These early gins were difficult to use and required a great deal of skill. A narrow single roller was necessary to expel the seeds from the cotton without crushing the seeds. The design was similar to that of a metate, which was used to grind grain. The early history of the cotton gin is ambiguous, because archeologists likely mistook the cotton gin's parts for other tools.[3]
Between the 12th and 14th centuries, dual-roller gins appeared in India and China. The Indian version of the dual-roller gin was prevalent throughout the Mediterranean cotton trade by the 16th century. This mechanical device was, in some areas, driven by water power.[7]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cotton_gin#History
Click to expand...
Exactly what I was going to say: By the 19th century, it was pretty much inevitable that the cotton gin was going to be improved by someone, even if no credit was going to be given to the East Indians who invented it.
 
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