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The Cotton Gin, the US Civil War and a Connection to our Climate Crisis
Manage episode 359153932 series 3456262
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This podcast is about the cotton gin, invented by Eli Whitney. We will discuss the impact of that labor saving device on the history of the United States including the timing of the civil war and the role that it played in extending the scourge of enslavement of black people in America. Eli Whitney thought his invention would help end that era.
In fact, it strengthened the grip of slavery because the South believed it could not continue benefiting from its primary cash crop, cotton, without subjugating people to do the work. The civil war was not about states’ rights as many Florida students believe, it was about the South’s desire to continue their economic way of life based on enslaved labor.
Is their inability to give up slavery because of its economic benefit comparable to our addiction to fossil fuel that is destroying our planet?
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