Cottongin: In 1793, Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin to quickly clean cotton and take out all of the seeds. Almost overnight, cotton has become the number one crop in the South, and Georgia became the largest producer. Unfortunately, there were many effects on slavery due to his invention. The number of slaves in the United States rose from 700,000 in 1790 to around 3.2 MILLION in 1850.
Railroads: In 1834, many workers began building the Georgia Railroad, which was going to extend from Augusta to Athens. In 1860, there were over 1250 railroads in all of Georgia! Georgia's increase in cotton production led to the need for faster transportation. This was important so cotton could get from interior Georgia to Savannah's port to be traded. This main railroad was called the Western and Atlantic Railroad.