How the Cotton Gin helped technolgy.

The cotton gin had turned the whole South toward the cultivation of cotton. The South was not manufacturing any considerable proportion of the cotton it grew, but the textile industry was flourishing in North. A whole series of machines similar to those used in Great Britain, but not identical, had been invented in America. American mills paid higher wages than British and in quantity production were far ahead of the British mills, in proportion to hands employed, which meant being ahead of the rest of the world. The cotton gin helped the south regain strength after the civil war.