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}}</ref> Cotton was a staple that could be stored for long periods and shipped long distances, unlike most agricultural products. It became the U.S.'s chief export, representing over half the value of U.S. exports from 1820 to 1860.
Whitney believed that his cotton gin would reduce the need for enslaved labor and would help hasten the end of southern slavery.<ref name="TIH" /> Paradoxically, the cotton gin, a labor-saving device, helped preserve and prolong slavery in the United States for another 70 years. Before the 1790s, slave labor was primarily employed in growing rice, tobacco, and [[Indigofera tinctoria|indigo]], none of which were especially profitable anymore. Neither was cotton, due to the difficulty of seed removal. But with the invention of the gin, growing cotton with slave labor became highly profitable – the chief source of wealth in the American South, and the basis of frontier settlement from [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]] to Texas. "[[King Cotton]]" became a dominant economic force, and slavery was sustained as a key institution of Southern society.
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