Individual and multiple stress factor effects of temperature on cotton growth and development were studied in four cotton cultivars. In Experiment I, seedling emergence rate and shoot and root morphological growth traits were measured on plants grown at five day/night temperatures from 20/12 to 40/32 °C. In Experiment II, multiple stress factors (CO2, temperature, UV-B radiation) and their interactions were evaluated during the seedling growth stage. Seed emergence and above- and below-ground growth and developmental traits were recorded in both experiments. Linear (TM-1 and PHY496W3R) and quadratic (DP1522B2XF and ST47447) functions best described seed emergence rate with an increase in temperature. Similar responses were also observed for many root traits among the cultivars. Based on vigor and principal component analysis, DP1522B2XF was identified as the most tolerant, PHY496W3R and ST4747GLB2 as moderately tolerant, and TM-1 as the least tolerant cultivar to multiple environmental stresses.