WI: Cavaliers don't colonize Virginia

Wikipedia says that the cavaliers were wealthier than the settlers Virginia had been attracting earlier and that they often became the landed class of Virginia. To me that implies that in this POD Virginia is somewhat poorer and very possibly doesn't have a wealthy planter class.
 
Wikipedia says that the cavaliers were wealthier than the settlers Virginia had been attracting earlier and that they often became the landed class of Virginia. To me that implies that in this POD Virginia is somewhat poorer and very possibly doesn't have a wealthy planter class.

This could mean that the need for slaves is lessened in Virginia by the time the cotton gin is invented. A greater concentration of planters farther south means that protecting slaveowners’ interests long-term becomes something of a fool’s errand. If areas like Virginia produce more cotton with paid laborers (perhaps a cultural shift making this plausible,) those who are tied to slavery may secede from the Union and either be laughed out of it or overrun in a matter of months, if not weeks.
 
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