Extra slaves on every plantation started adding up very quickly and the southern states became dependent on slave labor.
- By 1859, America was home to almost two million more slaves than before the invention of the cotton gin
- There were hundreds of slaves per plantation
- By 1860, one out of every three southerners was a slave
- Seventy years after the invention of the cotton gin, there were fifteen slave states compared to a pre-cotton gin amount of six
- Many slaves were smuggled into America to bypass laws against importing slaves
- As the North was cutting back on slavery, the South's slave population was growing faster than ever