The Cotton Gin (1792)  

The cotton gin was invented by Eli Whitney in 1792. He was a native of the United States - having spent the early years of his life in New England . However, after college, he headed southward to work as a private tutor on a Southern Plantation . Here, he encountered the dire need of the cotton planters to gain profit from their plantation. There are two kinds of cotton, the first was the long staple kind, which was easily separated from the seeds but grew only on the coasts. The farmers with crops inland, however, grew a kind of cotton that had very sticky seeds, hence requiring much effort to separate them from the cotton balls. Here, Whitney realized that making a method to separate the sticky cotton from the seeds faster would be extremely profitable to him. If he invented a machine and got a patent for it, he knew he would have exclusive rights to the machine for fourteen years, giving him the ability to procure a large profit.  

His cotton gin revolutionized the cotton industry since it cleaned cotton – separating the fiber from the seeds quicker and more effectively. The smaller and earlier machines could be cranked by hand, but as they grew in size and ability, they needed stronger sources of energy – hence relying on horses and water power. These machines could clean up to 50 lbs of cotton a day. This increased the sales of cotton for farmers and aided the economy tremendously. Eli Whitney's business partner, Phineas Miller and Whitney considered several options ranging from patenting the cotton gin to selling it. Their plan was to install cotton gins all over Georgia and the southern Untied States were cotton plantations were prevalent. They were aware of the fact that these gins would be extremely beneficial and attract plantation owners. Due to this, they asked for an unusual surcharge in exchange for using their cotton gins – 2/5 of the profits earned from the cotton that was cleaned in the gin, paid not in money but in cotton. This enraged the farmers who needed the gin desperately but did not want to pay this absurd fee. Due to this, replications of Whitney's gin started appearing on the scene. Whitney, however, could not contest them for several years due to a loophole in the exact phrasing of the patent laws.  

The cotton gins were extremely beneficial to the industry. The amount of cotton produced after the invention of the gin doubled every decade after the dawn of the nineteenth century. Additionally, the gin created a large place for cotton in the economy of the United States . After this invention, the nation was growing three quarters of the world's supply of cotton – a commendable number. Since it increased the amount of raw cotton was produced, it aided in the creation of better weaving and spinning technology.  

The effects of the cotton gin were not all beneficial, however. The Southern United states discovered the value and the profitable nature of cotton. Although much labor was not required to actually clean out the cotton, which in earlier circumstances occupied most, labor was utilized more efficiently to grow cotton. Plantation owners in the South recognized the opportunity and bought more land, hence needed more help. Consequently, this led to an increase in the slave labor as more and more slaves were bought to pick cotton on the vast plantations. By the middle of the nineteenth century, approximately one-third of Southerners were slaves.  

In addition to inventing the cotton gin, Eli Whitney also invented a method of mass producing muskets in 1798. Both his discoveries greatly affected the way industries worked.  

Sources:  

Deane, Phyllis. The First Industrial Revolution . New York : Cambridge University Press, 1965.  

Industrial Revolution . 11 Mar. 2006 . 21 Mar. 2006

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