The invention of the cotton gin by Eli Whitney in 1793 turned to be one of the most significant events in the history of America. Though being rather simple in its mechanism, this machine triggered dramatic changes in American society that especially concerned slavery ideology that acquired a new cycle of its existence. As R. Garrison (2005) claims, this invention was “a breakthrough that helped set in motion the expansion of chattel slavery in the South and quick-ended the industrialization of the North (p. 142).” Generally, the cotton gin became a symbol that marked a chain of economic, social, and cultural changes in American community and formation of a new national ideology.

One of the fields that underwent the most vivid changes under the influence of Whitney’s invention was American economy. In the antebellum era, before the cotton gin was introduced to the public, American agriculture was in a state of stagnation. Growing mostly rice and tobacco, white plantation owners did not earn much, and the number of those investing money in agriculture was declining. However, the invention of the cotton gin, “a wire-studded wooden roller to pull the cotton line through a metal breastwork separating seed from the fibers (Garrison, 2005, p. 142),” made agriculture one of the most profitable sectors of the economy of the state, especially of its southern part. With the help of this revolutionary mechanism, laborers could complete their work at least twice faster and more effectively than before that, naturally, reflected on plantation owners’ attitude towards their business. Since the amount of produced cotton increased, planters and farmers gained a chance to find new sales markets such as European countries and the North of the state. It led to the cultural exchange between the countries and became a starting point in the process of globalization in America. Traders not only brought a part of their culture to Europe but also borrowed many concepts and ideas of those existing in European communities.

Another group of changes that took place in the ideology of Americans under the influence of industrial revolution concerns the social structure of the state. Before the cotton gin was introduced, the era of slavery in America had seemed to be coming to an end, but the so-called “cotton boom” pushed its second wave. As R. O. Woods (2009) describes the role of Whitney’s invention, “his gin involved only a few hundred kilograms of matter, but it shaped the future among the people who were to be born into it (p. 56).” Nevertheless, this invention also gave rise to a chain of changes in the relations between plantation owners and slaves. As P. S. Corbett et al. (2017) state, before the industrial revolution, “southern whites frequently relied upon the idea of paternalism – the premise that white slaveholders acted in the best interests of slaves, taking responsibility for their care, feeding, discipline, and even their Christian morality – to justify the existence of slavery (p. 337).” However, the slaves soon learned how to take an advantage out of this ideology of white supremacy and used it to gain some degree of freedom.

For instance, African American slaves started organizing sabotages by breaking tools and machines and even started planning local rebellions against white masters that were supported by another specific stratum of society that appeared at the end of the eighteenth century – free black population. Though almost all of those rebellions were suppressed, they still marked the first steps of African Americans to their primary goal – freedom. Moreover, the gap between the rich and the poor became larger since almost all money was concentrated in the families of wealthy plantation owners while the living conditions of the rest of white population were not much better from those of slaves. As a result, a strict social hierarchy according to which white people were considered to be initially superior and all Black Americans were slaves, was changed and formed a basis for future social differentiation and development of ideas of racial equality.

The changes that occurred on the economic and social levels also influenced American culture at the beginning of the nineteenth century. According to P. S. Corbett et al. (2017), “during the antebellum years, wealthy southern white manhood and womanhood and shaping the culture of the South (p. 345).” The culture of slaveholder elite was based on the racial discrimination and proclaimed that only the traditions and customs of white Americans were worth respecting and following. In fact, it was one of the reasons African Americans were prohibited to get married – in order not to let them sustain their cultural heritage within a family. Nevertheless, these measures did not prevent slaves from developing “their own communities and cultures (Corbett, 2017, p. 337).” Moreover, many African Americans followed the ideas and morals of Christianity. All these factors together contributed to the process of formation of a new multicultural type of American society.

All the things considered, the invention of the cotton gin in 1793 can be viewed as one of the most significant and symbolic events for American society. It did not only brought economic prosperity to the state and turned America in the biggest exporter of cotton in the world, but also triggered a number of changes in economic, social, and cultural structures of the state. In particular, it turned America in a state with one of the most modern and developed agricultural sector, reshaped the social hierarchy giving African Americans some hope for freedom, and gave rise to the synthesis of a unique culture and a new national ideology.