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Invention of the Cotton Gin
Eli Whitney invented a machine that made cotton economically and politically important. It increased the rate of cotton production, simultaneously increasing slavery. Both North and South benefitted from this deal. Without slavery, the North would have no cotton for their textile factories (the main source of economic growth in the North). However, the North placed tariffs on cotton that directly punished the South to try and stop the usage of slavery by upping the price to ship cotton.