U.S. Labor and Work: The Invention of the Cotton Gin

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U.S. Labor and Work
Introduction
The invention and patenting of the cotton gin by Eli Whitney brought several changes, including reintroduction slavery in the southern region. While most people were self-employed by the beginning of the 19th century, the invention of cotton gin resulted in almost half of these individuals reverting to employment and re-introduced slavery in the mid-19th century (Clark, Christopher, and Nancy 499). By the start of the civil war, the United States produced more than three-quarters of the global cotton supply. Although it was much easier to cultivate and store cotton compared to other cash crops such as tobacco and food crops such as corn, separating the cotton seed from the white fiber was very hard, and the introduction of cotton gin eased this process.
Masters were forced to seek labor from slaves or employees, but separating seeds from soft fiber using hands allowed the production of less than one pound of cotton each day by a single person. However, the invention of the cotton gin greatly improved the separation of seeds from white fiber, which resulted in more people engaging in cotton farming. Large cotton plantations were set up in the southern region of the country, which in turn increased the need for labor. Consequently, the plantation owners resorted to buying slaves from all over the southern region of the country who would provide labor in the cotton plantations (Clark, Christopher and Nancy 501).
Moreover, most of the self-employed people started abandoning agriculture and other forms of employment to work in industries that processed cotton to produce various products such as clothes. The number of industries processing cotton had increased tremendously following the increased supply of cotton from plantations (Clark, Christopher, and Nancy 377). Clark, Christopher, and Nancy state that by 1840s, “the failure of farms and businesses had lessened competition, and demand for many goods, including cotton, once again rose” (431). Apparently, mechanization industrial work lured people to start moving to urban regions abandoning agriculture and other artisan jobs. Therefore, it is apparent that the invention of cotton gin played a crucial role in reviving slavery because the processing of cotton greatly improved, which necessitated cultivation of more cotton to sustain the high demand, and the labor was expected to come from slaves.
It is also important to note that the natives’ lives were impacted significantly by the invention of the cotton gin. During this era, societal inequalities can be linked to the invention of gin, which resulted in the displacement of several native Indians and revolts by slaves all over the southern region. Since displacements happened immediately after the introduction of the gin, the intentions were to create more room for growing cotton. The natives were not happy about this, which led to constant conflicts (Foner 27). The clothing mills that majorly depended on growing of cotton offered adequate jobs for individuals from the white population. The introduction of cotton gin meant that more cotton was available for industries to manufacture more clothes, which provided more jobs to the native population.
Besides, social inequalities were evident within American society following the invention of the cotton gin (Foner 27). Tocqueville contends that the creation of a market economy led to two classes of people in the society; one composed of workers, whereas the other comprised of manufacturers. The latter had the power to control the production process through the former. An arrangement that allows the manufacturers to have full control over their workers is what Tocqueville refers to as aristocracy (Tocqueville, para. 6). Aristocracy, from a personal point of view, is, therefore, a form of governance where a few elite individuals have fulfilled particular standards in wealth, education, and ownership of production. This form of governance is designed to perfect the inequality between workers and employers. Unfortunately, workers do not realize this as they are busy working on finishing their assignments, which makes them not focus on their aspirations and ambitions to become rich one day.
Prior to the invention of the cotton gin, a significant number of people were self-employed in either agricultural or artisanal sectors (Clark, Christopher, and Nancy 499). Unlike in the master-servant form of employment, workers in self-employment enjoyed great independence in work because the master factor had been eliminated. As Tocqueville suggests in his book, the principle of labor division is much evident in the manufacturing sector where the worker is subject to doing all hard work to ensure goods are produced constantly and in good state (Tocqueville, par. 4). On the other hand, a master’s work is only oversight. “Thus, at the very time at which the science of manufacturing lowers the class of workmen, it raises the class of masters” (Tocqueville, par. 4).
Therefore, by working independently, workers’ class improved significantly because barriers to growth were much less compared to when one works for someone else. Tocqueville indicates that “When a workman is unceasingly and exclusively engaged in the fabrication of one thing, he ultimately does his work with singular dexterity; but at the same time, he loses the general faculty of applying his mind to the direction of the work. He every day becomes more adroit and less industrious” (Tocqueville, par. 2). Thus, it is evident that working in the same factory for so long denies a person a chance to be creative because they are supposed to work on the same thing for several years.
Conversely, according to Smith, productive labor achieves two milestones, which include the creation of surplus and production of tangible goods (Smith,...