<P> Many new products revolutionized agriculture in the West . John Deere, for example, invented a horse - pulled steel plow to replace the difficult oxen - driven wooden plows that farmers had used for centuries . The steel plow allowed farmers to till soil faster and more cheaply without having to make repairs as often . </P> <P> In the 1830s, Cyrus McCormick invented a mechanical mower - reaper that quintupled the efficiency of wheat farming . Prior to the mower - reaper, wheat farming had been too difficult, so farmers had instead produced corn, which was less profitable . As in the South after the cotton gin, farmers in the West raked in huge profits as they acquired more lands to plant more and more wheat . More important, farmers for the first time began producing more wheat than the West could consume . Rather than let it go to waste, they began to transport crop surpluses to sell in the manufacturing Northeast . </P> <P> The market revolution further exacerbated sectional tensions in the United States . As King Cotton became the primary crop in the South, the need for increase in labor arose; thus, the South increased its use of slaves in producing crops . The North and European countries banned slavery in their countries / regions, and attempted to push the South to abolish slavery as well . The slave trade ended, but slavery did not end . As the textile industry in the North drastically increased, changing women and children's roles and further revolutionizing family structure, the demand for raw products such as cotton increased, meaning an increase in the South's demand for more labor . Ironically, this Northern demand for more cotton for the textile industry increased the Southern demand for slavery, making it harder for the North to end slavery in the South . This increase of labor and industry brought the United States into the world picture for economy and commerce, planting the seed for the United States to increase in wealth and power . </P> <P> Sellers argues: </P>

The market revolution in the first half of the 1800s