Whitney's invention of the cotton gin led to an increased demand for slaves:
Prior to the invention of the cotton gin, slavery was in decline. The profitably of crops grown with slave labor, such as rice, tobacco, indigo and cotton was steadily decreasing. Some slaveholders began freeing their slaves in response. By effortlessly separating the seeds from the cotton fibers, the cotton gin removed the main obstacle to producing cleaned cotton. As the price of cotton decreased, the demand for cotton soared; so too did the demand for more land and more slaves to grow and pick the cotton. The number of slave states increased from six in 1790 to 15 in 1860. By 1860, one in three Southerners was a slave.
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http://blog.ourfuture.org/20130410/the-obama-budget-wheres-the-change?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-obama-budget-wheres-the-change
Inventing the cotton gin is not necessarily pursuing narrow economic interests, is it? Does either branch of the duopoly oppose the free market free trade fairy?
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