In 1794, Eli Whitney had his U.S. Patent for the cotton gin approved. This event led to a great improvement in the cotton industry, accompanied by a significant change in the American economic and social history. According to Sparks (2018), invention of the cotton gin was one of the leading causes of the Civil War. The gin revolutionized the cotton industry by speeding the process separating cotton fiber, seeds, and husks. The device used had hooks and a small-mesh screen to process the raw cotton. This invention and approval had an immediate impact because the demand for cotton sharply increased (Berry, 2018). The demands and productivity of slaves also increased, leading to a controversy on the policies on slavery and the slave trade.
Eli Whitney was born to a farming father, meaning that he had some experience in the industry. He was also a talented mechanic with the knowledge and skills of inventing. After graduating from college, Whitney moved to Georgia to live on the plantation of Catherine Greene. This is where he learned about the problems cotton growers had in making a living. It was difficult separating cotton seeds from soft fiber. Farmworkers were forced to pick the seeds manually using their hands. This was a slow process as one person would only pick a maximum of one pound of cotton (Ford, 1988). After careful examination of the process, Whitney developed a gin that could process up to 50 pounds of cotton per day.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
The invention of the cotton gin had a great historical significance by causing a sudden explosion in the cotton industry of the South. Before, the cotton separation was slow and tedious, making the cotton industry labor-intensive and unprofitable. After the gin, it became much easier to separate cotton seeds from the soft fiber. Cheap cloth made from cotton became available. However, there was a need for more slaves to work in the cotton plantations. After the Whitney decade, demand for cotton would double nearly every decade (Ford, 1988). The machine could only process cotton after it had been harvested. This means that more slaves were needed to harvest the crop and work in the plantations.
There were constitutional debates in 1787, and one of the resolutions was to end slave importation by 1808. Many people also believed that slavery would finally fade away due to social reasons, and because the slaves were becoming unproductive. In 1807, Congress official banned the importation of slaves through an act (Sparks, 2018). However, the booming cotton industry demanded more slaves, and this made the population in the South grow to 4 million people. The slaves’ children also grew to become part of the workforce. The nation got divided into two; the Northern and Southern regions. This division was caused by different policies on the legality of slavery. Before the gin, slavery was dying, and the whole nation had agreed to abolish the trade. However, the Southern region began to realize the profitability of the slaves, making them change their ideologies. This explains how the cotton gin invention caused the Civil War.
Whitney did not profit from the invention due to the disputes that surrounded the invention. The gin directly contributed to maintaining slavery, making it a subject of criticism. Congress had a constitutional power to create patent laws. However, many loopholes made it difficult to enforce the rules. Also, many cotton planters began to build their gins. Whitney began to collect damages through lawsuits, and in 1807, his patent on the cotton gin was validated (Ford, 1988). The question that remained unanswered was the fate of slavery in relation to the invention and after the increased profitability. The initial agreement to abolish slavery was because the slave trade had become unprofitable. Due to the new developments, everything became unclear.
References
Berry, S. (2018). Slavery's Capitalism: A New History of American Economic Development ed. by Sven Beckert and Seth Rockman. Journal of Southern History , 84 (4), 993-997.
Ford, L. K. (1988). Origins of Southern Radicalism: The South Carolina Upcountry, 1800-1860 . Oxford University Press.
Sparks, R. J. (2018). The Weeping Time: Memory and the Largest Slave Auction in American History by Anne C. Bailey. The Journal of the Civil War Era , 8 (3), 532-535.
