Environment

The Cotton Gin’s Impact on Antebellum America

By Anna Wynveen | comments |

This examination of the antebellum America argues for a causal link between the invention of the cotton gin, the expansion of slavery and the outbreak of the American Civil War. Wynveen traces the history of Eli Whitney’s invention and illustrates how the new machine facilitated the growth and expansion of cotton production in the Southern States. According to her study of secondary and primary literature of the time a boost in cotton production, in turn led to a demographic shift in the slave population, as well as an increase in the total number of slaves. Building onto preexisting historiography concerning industrialization trends in the pre and post-war period, this paper focuses its argument onto the notion that cotton played a central role in creating two very distinct economic systems in the antebellum North and South; The North continued to move towards industrialization and free wage labour, while the south continued agriculture and slavery. Wynveen then demonstrates how this economic divergence contributed to growing differences in social, cultural and political values within these two regions—expressed in debates over slavery and other socio-economic issues—and ultimately led to the Civil War.

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Entering a Post-Bush/Post-Katrina Era?

By the editors | comments |

According to most, The Bush era is over. The election of Obama has spelled the undeniable downfall of neo-conservativism as a legitimate ideological position, shattering its ready access to apparatuses of the U.S. government and economy. The systemic failure of de-regulated privatization, the defeat of key political strategists in the John McCain camp, the faltering of American military and economic power in the Middle East and the near collapse of a hegemonic, American-centric global economic system have all contributed to an almost palpable sense that these are changing times. But is this truly a post-Bush era? And if so, exactly what does that mean for Americans, the U.S. and, just as importantly, the world?

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