Making more money off the forced labor of africanamericans than they ever have before. I have seen statistics from economists that study this, and the amount of wealth from cotton exceeds every other investment in america. Tons of money has been made off the cotton empire. And we see how americans have gotten into the cotton empire with the invention of the cotton gin in the 1790s, americas transition from tobaccobased agriculture to cotton agriculture. If there is one thing i want you guys to get out of this class, slavery is not just a southern history topic. It is an American History topic. Scholars who study this subject emphasize the fact that the slave system has its tentacles into every corner of northern and southern society. This is not just down there in the moonlight and magnolias. New york bankers were in the cotton empire up to their eyeballs. As a matter of fact, when the war breaks out, many of the people who sympathize from the confederacy are from new york because they