Final answer:
The Cotton Gin, due to its role in making large-scale cotton agriculture profitable, was the invention most responsible for reducing economic diversification and increasing the demand for slavery, options (2).
Step-by-step explanation:
The invention that was most responsible for reducing economic diversification and increasing the demand for slavery was the Cotton Gin. Invented by Eli Whitney in 1794, the cotton gin made large-scale cotton agriculture profitable due to its ability to quickly separate cotton fibers from their seeds.
This spurred an increased demand for slaves, whose labor was essential in the growing and harvesting of cotton, which formed the foundation of the Southern economy.
In fact, the profitability of cotton was largely reliant on the institution of slavery. After the international slave trade was outlawed in 1808, the domestic slave trade exploded, creating economic opportunities for white people involved in the trade and substantially increasing demand for enslaved people.
By the 1850s, slavery and cotton had become so intertwined in the Southern economy that they fundamentally shaped each other.
Therefore, it was the cotton gin's influence on the growth of the cotton industry that led to a surge in demand for slave labor and reduced economic diversification in the South.
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