<P> The invention of the cotton gin caused massive growth in the production of cotton in the United States , concentrated mostly in the South . Cotton production expanded from 750,000 bales in 1830 to 2.85 million bales in 1850 . As a result , the region became even more dependent on plantations and slavery , with plantation agriculture becoming the largest sector of its economy . While it took a single slave about ten hours to separate a single pound of fiber from the seeds , a team of two or three slaves using a cotton gin could produce around fifty pounds of cotton in just one day . The number of slaves rose in concert with the increase in cotton production , increasing from around 700,000 in 1790 to around 3.2 million in 1850 . By 1860 , black slave labor from the American South was providing two - thirds of the world 's supply of cotton , and up to 80 % of the crucial British market . The cotton gin thus `` transformed cotton as a crop and the American South into the globe 's first agricultural powerhouse '' . </P>
<P> The invention of the cotton gin caused massive growth in the production of cotton in the United States , concentrated mostly in the South . Cotton production expanded from 750,000 bales in 1830 to 2.85 million bales in 1850 . As a result , the region became even more dependent on plantations and slavery , with plantation agriculture becoming the largest sector of its economy . While it took a single slave about ten hours to separate a single pound of fiber from the seeds , a team of two or three slaves using a cotton gin could produce around fifty pounds of cotton in just one day . The number of slaves rose in concert with the increase in cotton production , increasing from around 700,000 in 1790 to around 3.2 million in 1850 . By 1860 , black slave labor from the American South was providing two - thirds of the world 's supply of cotton , and up to 80 % of the crucial British market . The cotton gin thus `` transformed cotton as a crop and the American South into the globe 's first agricultural powerhouse '' . </P>
how much of the world 's supply of cotton came from the south
how much of the world 's supply of cotton came from the south
two - thirds
two - thirds