Life before the cotton gin
What was used before the cotton gin?
Before the Cotton gin was invented in 1794 people had to do it by hand. You would have to pick the seeds out of the cotton bolls by hand. You had to separate the seeds from the fiber and then bale the cotton fibers. To do this you would hold the seed with one hand and pluck the lint out with the other. Doing this would separate the seeds or staples from the fiber.
How was life different?
It was too difficult to make thread from the cotton lint so it was not a common crop grown. It took an amount of time to remove the seeds from the cotton. A lot of time was needed for this process which made it a lot more difficult.
How were peoples lives different?
More people were needed to remove the seeds from the cotton bolls. That then lead to slavery increasing. Also it took up more people's time because they had to take the time to remove the seeds from the cotton. It was a difficult thing to do that took up a lot of time.
How was the country different?
In the south before the cotton gin, cotton was not a major crop grown. Less cotton crops were planted because they were too difficult to separate. They were exported less. Also they had less transportation or less ways to export their crops.
Slavery
Slavery was still happening at this point. Although before the cotton gin came about slavery was dying out. Slaves were needed to remove the seeds from the cotton but not that many slaves. Cotton wasn't grown as much because it was to difficult to clean. Not many slaves were needed for this process.