How did the cotton gin affect the Southern economy? Check all that apply. It increased the demand for enslaved laborers.
It increased the speed at which cotton could be produced.
It increased the growth of farms and plantations.
It increased the demand for cotton.
It increased the demand for skilled workers.

To understand the effects of the cotton gin, one must understand why the cotton gin was created. The cotton gin was created by Eli Whitney that essentially featured a hollowed box in which contained a turn-based set of razors that are used to remove the seed more easily from the cotton itself. This was created in the hopes that the South can potentially get rid of slaves as it helped speed up the process, but instead it caused the south to buy even more slaves to up their profits. Essentially, your choices will be:

- It increased the demand for enslaved labors.

As the cotton gin allowed for faster production of product cotton from raw cotton, more owners tried to maximize profits by deploying multiple gins and large amounts of slaves to plant, process, and finally sell the cotton.

- It increased the growth of farms and plantations.

Faster processing speeds allowed for even more land usages, resulting in a larger yield and finished product.

Why it is not:

- It increased the speed at which cotton could be produced.

You cannot control how fast cotton grows on a plant, rather, it simply controlled how fast cotton is processed, rather than produced. If wording is terrible, this may be a choice, but mother nature controls when cotton ripes for picking, rather than a cotton gin, which processes the finished product of the cotton.

- It increased the demand for cotton.

Technically this can be a choice, but they got the steps switched. It was because of a greater demand for cotton that the cotton gin was created. The cotton gin was a effect rather than a need.

- It increased the demand for skilled workers.

The cotton gin did not need skilled workers to use. Most plantation owners who owned slaves allowed the slaves to use the gin to maximize profits.

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