Final answer:
It is false that short staple cotton was preferred to long staple prior to the invention of the cotton gin. Long staple cotton was easier to clean by hand, but with the creation of the cotton gin, short staple cotton became more popular because the gin could clean it efficiently.
Step-by-step explanation:
The statement 'Short staple cotton was preferred to long staple prior to the invention of the cotton gin' is false. Before the invention of the cotton gin, long staple cotton was more valued because it was easier to clean and separate from its seeds by hand. However, Eli Whitney's cotton gin, invented in 1793, significantly changed this preference. The invention made it much easier to separate the seeds from the short staple cotton, which was more abundant but harder to process manually. As a result, short staple cotton became more popular after the cotton gin's invention because the machine could process it quickly and efficiently.