Final answer:
Before the invention of the cotton gin, short-staple cotton was preferred due to the ease of manual processing; after its invention, long-staple cotton became more desirable because of its quality.
Step-by-step explanation:
The preference for short-staple cotton over long-staple cotton prior to the invention of the cotton gin can be explained by considering the labor involved in the processing of cotton. Short-staple cotton, though inferior in quality to long-staple cotton, was easier to grow in a variety of climates and was less labor-intensive to process by hand. The invention of the cotton gin by Eli Whitney in 1793 changed this dynamic by making it easier to separate the seeds from the cotton fiber, regardless of the staple length. This made long staple cotton more desirable due to its better quality as the gin reduced the labor required to process it.
Short staple cotton was indeed preferred before the cotton gin's invention because it was easier to manually clean, despite its lower quality compared to long staple cotton. Post-invention, the gin allowed for all types of cotton to be processed efficiently, making the quality of the fiber the main consideration, thus shifting preference towards the long staple variety.
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