The cotton gin made the cotton industry of the south explode. Cotton was first spun by machinery in england in 1730. The cotton gin was an invention that cleans cotton so workers didnt have to manually clean it. Cotton gin petition cotton gin petition written by eli whitney on june 20, 1793 reprinted in the papers of thomas jefferson, vol.
The earliest versions consisted of a single roller made of iron or wood and a flat piece of stone or wood. Also contributed to the concept of interchangeable parts that were exactly alike and easily assembled or exchanged. The main impact of the invention of the cotton gin in 1793. After the invention of the cotton gin, the yield of raw cotton doubled. At that time, whitney was in the employ of catherine greene, the widow of general nathaniel greene. Eli whitneys patent for the cotton gin background eli whitney and the need for an invention. How did the invention of the cotton gin in 1793 affect the. Another myth relating to the south is relegated, shall we say. The myth of the sole inventor university of michigan law school. The development of the cotton gin, 1796 to 1844the triz. Immediately download the cotton gin summary, chapterbychapter analysis, book notes, essays, quotes, character descriptions, lesson plans, and more everything you need for studying or teaching cotton gin. The patent act of 1793 gave the secretary of state the power to issue a.
From then until the civil war the slave population increased to the astonishing level of 4,000,000. By producing more cotton in a day than any person could working by hand, the gin reduced the cost of processing. Before whitneys cotton gin, the cotton fiber and seeds had to be separated by hand, a very tedious and timeconsuming task. Cotton gin invention the complete history science4fun. Learn vocabulary, terms, and more with flashcards, games, and other study tools. Styrons novel confessions of nat turner won the pulitzer prize in 1967. Before the invention of cotton gin, people had to separate the seeds with their hands. Cotton gin influential agricultural inventions from the. While it was true that the cotton gin reduced the labor of removing seeds, it did not reduce the need for slaves to grow and pick the cotton. Eli whitney invented the cotton gin in 1794 and changed the world.
The first mechanical cotton gin was created by eli whitney in 1793, and was then patented in 1794. With the invention of the cotton gin, it became possible to process raw cotton much more quickly. The machine had spiked teeth on a boxed revolving cylinder to pick the seeds. This invention was a quicker alternative to picking seed out of cotton by hand.
The invention of the cotton gin, a device that separates cotton fibers from the seeds, is. Cotton gin inventions of the industrial revolution. The most significant of these was the growth of slavery. As eli whitney left new england and headed south in 1792, he had no idea that within the next seven months he would invent a machine that would profoundly alter the course of american history. Yet cotton gins existed for centuries before whitney invented his gin in 1794.
Prior to whitneys invention of the gin, cotton was a sideline crop grown. Eli whitneys invention allowed many of the southern planters to become rich as it increased the work labor that required millions of hands. Find all the books, read about the author, and more. In 1793, whitney returned to new haven and started manufacturing his cotton gin. A cotton gin is a machine that quickly and easily separates the cotton fibres from the seeds. This stimulated production, which created an increased demand for slave labor. In october of 1793, eli whitney sent a drawing of his new invention, the cotton gin, to secretary of state thomas jefferson in application for a patent. Thanks in large part to the cotton gin, cotton growing became very profitable, and cotton quickly became the most important crop across much of the southern united states.
It is a machine that rapidly removes cotton plant seeds from the valuable cotton fiber used to make thread and fabric. Many have assumed that whitneys gin sprang from his inventive mind, as the result of the need to mechanize the difficult task of separation, after observing the slaves manually separating fiber from seed. Although these machines were in their stage of infancy and not as modernized as the cotton gin, they served the purpose of reducing man power. After many discussion and letters, elis cotton gin was finally patented in 1794. Dear parent, i received your letter of the 16th of august with peculiar satisfaction and delight. On this day in 1793, young inventor eli whitney had his u.
The cotton gin the eli whitney museum and workshop. Sep 23, 2016 eli whitneys patent for the cotton gin background eli whitney and the need for an invention. A bottle neck in the production was removing in seeds from the cotton. He is most known for inventing the cotton gin, a machine that cleans cotton of its seeds powered by water, animals, or humans. Eli whitney invented the cotton gin in 1793, revolutionizing cotton production and molding the south in to a whole new animal, king cotton. It uses a combination of a wire screen and small wire hooks to pull the cotton through the screen, while brushes continuously. A cotton gin meaning cotton engine is a machine that quickly and easily separates cotton fibers from their seeds, enabling much greater productivity than manual cotton separation. Solved who invented the cotton gin in 1793, allowing for. Eli whitney, a native of massachusetts, secured a patent on the cotton gin in 1793, though patent. But the invention of cotton gin revolutionized the industry of cotton. This was a huge difference in the amount of labor required. After eli whitney unveiled his cotton gin, processing cotton became much easier, resulting in greater availability and cheaper cloth.
The invention of the cotton gin in 1793 was the key element which enabled the south to have sufficient vested interest in their traditional lifestyle in order to feel the need to defend it at all costs even from their northern countrymen. Before its invention, separating cotton fibers from its seeds was a laborintensive and unprofitable venture. The invention of the cotton gin the cotton gin and slavery. Eli whitney 1765 1825 was an american inventor best known as the inventor of the cotton gin. Answer to who invented the cotton gin in 1793, allowing for much greater cotton production. How much of an impact the gin which is short for engine had on the retention of slavery in the south is still being debated.
The separated seeds may be used to grow more cotton or to. Eli whitney went into business with phineas miller. Eli whitney invented the cotton gin in 1793 or 1794. Whitneys gin used a combination of a wire screen and small wire hooks to pull the cotton through, while brushes continuously removed the loose cotton lint to prevent jams. The eli whitney cotton gin phineas miller the eli whitney cotton gin was an amazing invention and vast profits could be made by farmers by using the eli whitney cotton gin that automated the seed separation process. The cotton seeds would not fit through the mesh and fell outside. The cotton gin is a machine that is used to separate the seeds from cotton fibers. What marine recruits go through in boot camp earning the title making marines on parris island duration. This manual separation process was very time consuming and laborious. The cotton gin animates the american imagination in unique ways.
The cotton gin, while invented in 1793, did not catch on in popularity until around 1815, at which time the demand for slaves and the number of cotton plantations rapidly increased. More information on adobe acrobat pdf files is available on our. Bell invented the telephone, again from his home invention laboratory, and famously. Coclanis technology and culture inventing the cotton gin is an education in economic and business history as much as a needed revisionist version of the cotton gin myth. The cotton g in was an invention created by eli whitney. The cotton gin was a wooden drum stuck with hooks which pulled the cotton fibres through a mesh. The machine quickly and easily separates the cotton fibers from the seedpods and the sometimes sticky seeds. This success of this plantation crop made it much more difficult for slaves to purchase their freedom or obtain it. Originally, whitney and miller planned to ask for the profits, and not sell any machinesgins. Cotton growing became so profitable for the planters that it greatly increased their demand for both land and slave. One of the important events during his presidency was the invention of the eli whitney cotton gin. Eli whitneys patent for the cotton gin national archives.
Apr 06, 2017 the development of the cotton gin is a very intense point of american history and needs to be mastered to understand the slave, cotton era, the production industries of the north, why the rapid political and economic transition from the south to the north. The cotton gin, patented by americanborn born inventor eli whitney in 1794, revolutionized the cotton industry by greatly speeding up the tedious process of removing seeds and husks from cotton fiber. The cotton gin automatically separates the seeds and fiber in a much faster and more effective manor, expediting cotton production and making it a viable cash crop. When the cotton gin was invented, cotton production went up by 50 times. A cotton gin meaning cotton engine is a machine that quickly and easily separates cotton.
One of the most significant inventions of the american industrial revolution, the cotton gin turned cotton into a highly profitable crop. The cotton gin was invented by eli whitney in 1793. Cotton had been made easier to clean and as it grew so easily it became the number one cash crop in the south. A modern mechanical cotton gin was created by american inventor eli whitney in 1793 and patented in 1794. In inventing the cotton gin, lakwete explores the history of the cotton gin as an aspect of global history and an artifact of southern industrial development.
Demand was fueled by other inventions of the industrial revolution, such as the. The cotton gin is a machine that is used to pull cotton fibers from the cotton seed. Be able tolist the pushpull factors of immigration. As you go through the collection you will find out more about the objects and people that were involved with the cotton gin. It gave me no small pleasure to hear of your health and was very happy to be informed that. The cotton gin is a machine invented in 1793 invented by american eli whitney granted a patent on march 14, 1794 to mechanize the production of cotton fiber. It evokes no images of antique machinery or fluffy fiber but rather scenes of victimized slaves and battlefield dead.
What were negative consequencesof the increase of cotton production. Soon, the cotton gin was pirated throughout the south, preventing eli from making a profit from it. Jan 21, 2015 the invention of the cotton gin 1793 coach kouba. Resulted in more cotton production and more slaves are needed for more acres of cotton fields. The cotton gin was invented in 1793 by eli whitney. Whitneys invention made short staple cotton into a profitable crop, which strengthened the economic foundation of. It provokes the suspicion that had eli whitney never invented the gin, united states history would have been somehow different. A single device could handle more than 50 times the amount of cotton per day than a person king cotton. He applied for a patent in patent granted the cotton gin is a machine that sped up the process of cotton production by reducing the time taken to remove cotton seeds from cotton fibre. The invention of the cotton gin and its historic impact. This revolutionized the cotton industry in the united states.
The invention of the cotton gin in 1793 history essay. The industrial revolution in england and the invention of the cotton gin in the u. Whitneys cotton gin cleaned up to 50 pounds of lint per day. Whitneys invention made short staple cotton into a profitable crop, which strengthened the economic foundation of slavery. The usage of machines for processing cotton seeds and removing fibers dates back to the fifth century ad. The cotton gin short for engine made this process much faster, making the cotton production much faster and more economical. The invention has thus been identified as an inadvertent contributing factor to the outbreak of the american civil war. His invention revolutionized cotton production, although whitney faced challenges enforcing his patent and saw little profit from it.
Farmers refused to buy elis gin and made their own version of the machine. The fibers are then processed into various cotton goods such as calico, while any undamaged cotton is used largely for textiles like clothing. With the gin short for engine, raw cotton could be quickly cleaned. How did the invention of the cotton gin effect the industrial.
Biography of eli whitney, inventor of the cotton gin. Eli whitney and his cotton gin, robert fulton and his steamboat, philo. Machine and myth in antebellum america johns hopkins studies in the history of technology revised edition by angela lakwete author visit amazons angela lakwete page. Suddenly we could turn a profit on this terribly laborintensive crop. This was one of the key inventions of the industrial revolution and shaped the economy of the south. Mar 03, 2016 originally, whitney and miller planned to ask for the profits, and not sell any machinesgins. Whitneys cotton gin patent not worth much the cotton gin was the little engine that could and did transform the economy of the south and change the course of american history. The sheer manpower required for this task made cotton very low profit, and not. The civil war was inevitable, only however, after one key event. Although whitney patented his invention in 1793, it was copied by a lot of people due to its simplicity.
The development of the cotton gin is a very intense point of american history and needs to be mastered to understand the slave, cotton era, the production industries of the north, why the rapid political and economic transition from the south to the north. The cotton gin could remove 50 pounds more cotton in a single day than one slave could in a day. Background eli whitney and the need for an invention as eli. Seeding it out was not a slogan that could be used for all persons in the united states. The erie canal is a waterway in new york that runs about 363 miles from albany, new york on the hudson river to buffalo, new york at lake erie. After this invention, the yield of raw cotton doubled each decade after 1800. While an enslaved person needed about ten hours to separate the seeds from one pound of cotton fiber by hand, two people using the cotton gin could produce about fifty pounds of cotton in the same timeframe. Numerous paintings found in ajanta caves in india are a standing testimony that people used singe roller machines to separate cotton fibers. The story of cotton national cotton council of america. Eli whitney december 8, 1765january 8, 1825 was an american inventor, manufacturer, and mechanical engineer who invented the cotton gin.
Ely whitney was born on december 8, 1767 in massachusetts. How much did the cotton gin cost in 1793, when it was. Dec 05, 2003 using the gin as evidence, they read failure back from the civil war into the choices that southerners made from the american revolution, tracing the steps that led them to appomattox. Sep 24, 2019 eli whitney december 8, 1765january 8, 1825 was an american inventor, manufacturer, and mechanical engineer who invented the cotton gin. This success of this plantation crop made it much more difficult for slaves to purchase their freedom or obtain it through the good will of their masters. During this period, eli whitney perfects the cotton gin. Sometime around 1820 it stopped being a luxury fabric, but by then global demand was high. The united states exported less than 500,000 pounds of cotton in 1793. The development of the cotton gin, 1796 to 1844the triz journal. The cotton gin is an important part of american history because it changed. Similar to todays massive machines, whitneys cotton gin used hooks to draw unprocessed cotton through a smallmesh screen that separated the fiber from seeds and husks. While there are claims that similar machines had been invented prior to whitneys gin, there is no firm. Eli whitney cotton gin for kids george washington was the 1st american president who served in office from april 30, 1789 to march 4, 1797.