On this day in 1794, Eli Whitney, an American inventor, patented the design of the cotton gin, a machine that would make the process of straining cotton from the plant far easier. Whitney’s product would produce adverse effects, revitalizing the institution of American slavery.
Eli Whitney was born in the American state of Massachusetts. A son of a farmer, Whitney from a young age demonstrated skill in design and invention; he most notably designed and built a nail forge, as well as a violin. As a young adult, Whitney attended modern day Yale University where he would study law, and after his graduation he would travel South in order to pursue a job in tutoring. Though before Whitney was able to settle into his intended profession, he was invited to stay on the Mulberry Grove plantation. The invitation was extended by Catherine Greene, the widow of Revolutionary War general Nathaniel Greene. It was during his stint at Mulberry Grove that Whitney began to learn about the cotton plant and the process of the production of cotton – a system that relied heavily on slavery.
The growing of cotton was incredibly labor-intensive, requiring work done by hand in order to remove the seeds from the cotton – this was a process that took an incredibly long period of time and a task most often forced upon slaves. It was through Catherine Greene that Whitney learned of the arduous labor that was necessary in the manufacturing of her crop. It was soon after Whitney had gained a comprehensive understanding of the procedure that he designed and built a prototype of his cotton gin (gin short for engine). A relatively simple machine that acted as a sieve, the cotton gin was capable of cleaning and separating 50 pounds of cotton from seeds per day; this was in contrast to the one pound that most individual workers would have been expected to accomplish. On March 14th, 1794, Whitney received a patent for his design, but would receive very little payment for his invention as farmers across the South stole Whitney’s design and recreated their own devices based on the original.
The creation and installation of Whitney’s machine would drastically transform the South and America as a whole. Able to produce cotton at a much higher and cheaper rate, cotton, by the 1850’s, had become the number one export throughout America. The profit made by the use of the cotton gin also strengthened American slavery. Farmers, now able to produce their product for far cheaper than they had been able to previously, began to invest in more expansive crop production. Higher potential yields meant that a larger workforce was required to work the fields, and for that the American South turned once again to the institution of slavery. As the cotton industry grew, so did the American slave population – Whitney had unintentionally prolonged one of the most barbaric and inhumane institutions in history.
Whitney’s now infamous device helped shape 19th century America, it became a vital factor in America’s reliance on and protection of slavery, perhaps even so far as playing a role in the eventual American Civil War. Eli Whitney, an inventor born to a Massachusetts farmer, played an incredibly influential role within the American institution of slavery.
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