How did Eli Whitney's cotton gin impact the South? * A-It made the need for slave labor less essential because a machine could now be used to do the work for which slaves had been previously needed
B-It made the South the nation's leader in manufacturing and caused many plantations to shut down so that they could be replaced by cotton mills
C-It increased the speed with which raw cotton could be cleaned, making cotton the foundation of the southern economy
D-It was rejected by southerners who felt that machines might replace the hard working farmers of that region