Lesson: Eli Whitney and the Cotton Gin

Lesson: Eli Whitney and the Cotton Gin

1793

Have you ever wanted to invent something?

When Eli Whitney was a young man, he

found that he was good at inventing. Eli

Whitney was born on December 8, 1765, in

Westborough, Massachusetts. His father was

a well-to-do farmer who also served as a

justice of the peace. When Eli was 24, he

began attending Yale College. He was

expected to become a lawyer. But when he

graduated in 1792, he was short on money.

He decided to work for a while as a tutor,

teaching young men skills they needed for

college.

Open Ended

What was Eli Whitney expected to do as a career?

He traveled by boat to Savannah, Georgia, for a teaching job. On the

way, he made friends with Catherine Greene, the widow of

Revolutionary War General Nathaniel Greene. Mrs. Greene invited

him to her plantation. There he became good friends with her

plantation manager, Phineas Miller.

Eli Whitney and the Cotton Gin

The plantation owners longed for some crop that would bring in a

good income. Tobacco was on the decline. It depleted the soil and left

it infertile after only a few seasons. Other crops, such as rice, wheat,

corn, or indigo, were just not very profitable. However, there was a

great market for cotton. The cotton mills in England were hungry for

more cotton than they could get. The problem was that the only

profitable variety of cotton in the United States, the black-seed,

long-staple variety, would grow only in coastal areas. This severely

limited the amount of cotton that could be grown. The other variety of

cotton, the green-seed, short-staple variety, could be grown elsewhere, but it was hard to separate the seed from the cotton fibers. It took one person most of a day to separate just one pound of fibers. It seemed impossible to turn a profit on this variety of cotton.

Open Ended

What was one positive thing that made green seed cotton better than black seed cotton?

Open Ended

What was one negative about green seed cotton?

Eli watched the hands of the slaves as they worked the seeds from the

balls of cotton. Then he began working. A few days later, he had a

prototype model of the cotton gin. It could separate fifty-five pounds in a day.

Multiple Choice

T/F: Based on the text, Eli likely created a machine to mimic how humans separate seed from cotton.

• True

• False

After the machine was demonstrated, planters decided to plant more

green seed cotton. Eli thought this would be his opportunity to finally

get a good income for himself. He formed a partnership with Phineas

Miller. They did not intend to sell gins. They planned to charge cotton

growers to use their gin. They wanted two-fifths of the cotton crop of

each farmer. Outrage over this high cost, plus the ease of building

their own gins, led to many other people making cotton gins. They

used Eli's ideas and made their own gins. They did this in spite of

Whitney's patent, which gave him and his partner, Miller, the only

rights to the invention.

Open Ended

Why was Eli Whitney unable to make any profit from his

cotton gin?

Eli Whitney's dream of profiting from his own cotton gin soon died.

Legal costs put him out of business in three years. After years of legal

battles, Whitney and Miller were awarded several legal settlements

over the ownership of the cotton gin. It barely covered the debts

incurred in the business. He decided that "an invention can be so

valuable as to be worthless to the inventor." Whitney never patented

any of his later inventions.

From his experience with the cotton gin he learned how to become a

manufacturer. His reputation for integrity soon gave him another

direction in which to turn.

Multiple Choice

T/F: Eli got very rich from his invention of the cotton gin.

• True

• False

The federal government was looking at a possible war with France in

1797. The government needed more muskets than the national armory

could make. There was no mass production of parts, and each gun was custom made by a gunsmith. Each part of each weapon was unique. When a part broke, it had to be remade by hand.

Eli Whitney knew that much time could be saved by making

interchangeable parts for the muskets. He convinced the government

to give him the contract. Again, he ran into problems. It took him ten

years instead of two to produce the 10,000 guns that he had promised.

At the age of 52, Eli Whitney finally married. Three of his four

children survived childhood. One, Eli Whitney Jr., eventually

followed in his father's footsteps and continued making firearms.

Eli Whitney died in 1825. He endured many disappointments

throughout his life, but he learned to keep going in spite of troubles.

His ideas helped usher in a new era in manufacturing.

Open Ended

What is something that can be learned from Eli's life that can be helpful to you?