Shivani Jani English 121-41 Dr.

Rabinowitz

The Cotton Gin A cotton gin is a machine that quickly and easily separates cotton fibers from their seeds. The first modern of the machine cotton gin was created by an American name Eli Whitney in 1793 in state of Georgia. Then later in 1794, it was designed with combination of wire screen and a wire hook that pulls cotton through. Where it brushes to remove the cotton and prevent jams. The factory owners thought the machine did more work than their two hands can do. The cotton gin didnt earn him fortune that he hoped of but he die gained a lot of fame. However, Eli Whitney's invention automated the seed separation process. (Bellis) Eli Whitney was born in Westboro, Massachusetts on December 8, 1765 and died on January 8, 1825. Whitney was graduate student of Yale University. In Whitneys childhood, he liked working at his dads workshop. He would love to take things a part like, a clock, and then put it back together. And when he became a young man, he worked on a Georgian plantation tutoring children. He noticed how slaves were having trouble picking out seeds from the cotton, so he made an instrument that would make it easy for them to take out the seeds.

Mary Bellis, The Cotton Gin and Eli Whitney. About.com Inventors. Web <http://inventors.about.com>

After the invention farmer were more likely to plant more cotton. Cotton was too easy to grow but it was very difficult to clean. Cotton can grow anywhere, even on the land that is drained. After the invention cotton became the number one cash crop in South America, but then the farmers needed more land to grow cotton. They used the Native American land to harvest the cotton and slaves were more likely to help them because they needed more workers. The cotton gin had positive and negative effects on the production of cotton. It mostly effected in South America. Cotton production expanded from 750,000 bales in 1830, so as a result more dependent on slavery. It took a one slave about ten hours to separate a single pound of fiber from the seeds, while three or more slaves using a cotton gin could produce around fifty pounds of cotton in just a day. The numbers of slaves increase in cotton production. While it cannot be stated with certainty that the invention of the cotton gin saved and sustained slavery in the United States, it certainly was a major factor in the spread of slavery into Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi. (Scheeren) Eli Whitney had a business partner name, Phineas Miller. Whitney and Miller produced as many cotton gins as possible. They install them in the some areas in the south and in Georgia. Struggling to make the profit, the partners agreed and decided to license gins at a certain price. In 1802, South Carolina bought the patents from Whitney for $50,000. The partners also sold some of them in North Carolina and in Tennessee. And then the demand of the machine grew. William O. Scheeren. Invention Of Cotton Gin. eHistory Achieve. January 1, 2009 Web <http://ehistory.osu.edu>

After years of court suits, several southern states finally paid Whitney. He received almost $100,000 for the patent rightsa relatively modest amount for a patent that would increase cotton production in America from 3,000 bales in 1790 to more than 2 million bales By 1850. By 1836 cotton comprised two-thirds of all American exports. Patented improvements in the mechanization of the earlier roller gin began in the 1830s, and improvements in the saw gin continued throughout the nineteenth century, although the basic principle remained the same. (Britton) After Whitney Left the south, he returns to the North and decides to start again. He changed face of the south so he thought now its time to change things in North. He asked the US government to give him 10,000 muskets in two years. The guns were always made my hand. He decided to make all the parts exactly the same so the machine can put them together without a skilled technician, though he couldnt finish it on time. It took h im eight years to complete the order. In 1798 he figured out how to manufacture muskets by a machine. After his that invention, Whitney finally became rich. He was already a genius in south but then his invention was a big help in the north wining the civil war. Eli Whitney had prostate cancer at the age 59, he died on January 1825. He left a widow and 4 children behind. During his illness, he did try to make an invention and created a machine to ease his pain, though it didnt last long.

Britton, Karen "Cotton Gin." Dictionary of American History. 2003. Encyclopedia.com. 7 Mar. 2013 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>