Worth 50 points How did technological innovations in textile mills affect the practice of using enslaved workers? Faster and cheaper production of cloth raised demand for cotton plants, which increased the need for enslaved workers. Increase of machinery in textile mills meant that large numbers of enslaved workers were needed to run the machines. As the number of machines in textile mills increased, the number of enslaved workers declined. New technologies enabled more cloth to be made from less cotton, decreasing the number of enslaved workers on plantations.