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During the Industrial Revolution many important inventions made an impact in the economy of America. One of the greatest inventions in this time was made by Eli Whitney on March 14, 1974, he invented the cotton gin. The invention of the cotton gin made an impact in the Agriculture and manufacturing industry in the south of America. The south region used slaves in the production and collection of cotton. The cotton gin was a machine that was able to remove the cotton fibers from the seeds. This machine was more efficient and faster than a slave. The raised of cotton production made the slavery system even more important in the south. The idea of Whitney was to sell his machine to the farmers and get a percentage of the profits over the time.
The invention of the cotton gin was a simple design that was copied over the time by farmers. Slaves in large cotton plantations were forced to worked from sunup to sundown and during full moon they worked all night because they had enough light to work. Also slaves had physical violation involved in some cases when they did not follow directions. Slaves lived in small log cabins that were hot during the summer and cold in the winter. Children from 10 to 12 were forced to work. The invention of the cotton gin made the processing of cotton more efficient and affordable because the owners of the cotton plantations did not have to pay salary to their slaves.
Eli Whitney was the inventor of the cotton gin and a pioneer in the mass production of cotton. Whitney was born in Westboro , Massachusetts., on Dec. 8, 1765, and died on Jan. 8, 1825. He graduated from Yale College in 1792. By April 1793, Whitney had designed and constructed the cotton gin, a machine that automated the separation of cottonseed from the short-staple cotton fiber.
Jennifer Thompson-Cannino was raped at knife point in her apartment. She was able to escape and identify Ronald Cotton as her attacker. The detective conducting the lineup told Jennifer that she had done great, confirming to her that she had chosen the right suspect. Eleven years later, DNA evidence proved that the man Jennifer Identified, Ronald Cotton was innocent and wrongfully convicted. Instead, Bobby Poole was the real perpetrator. Sadly, there are many other cases of erroneous convictions. Picking cotton is a must read for anybody because it educates readers about shortcomings of eyewitness identification, the police investigative process and the court system.
"Forgiveness" and "racism" are two words that usually do not go together. Surprisingly enough Picking Cotton tells the story of how Jennifer Thompson and Ronald Cotton showed the upmost forgiveness for a wrongful conviction that in part was caused due to the racism. Racism was surely present in the South in the early 1900 's, but historically one does not think racism was a major issue in the 80 's. In one man 's opinion, Ronald Cotton, the Burlington police had racist views that contributed to him serving a life imprisonment for a crime he never committed. In 1984 when two white women were raped by a black man, race played a role in convicting the wrong black man in Burlington, North Carolina. Ronald Cotton was wrongfully convicted by racism
Prior to the cotton gin, a laborer could only pick the seeds out of approximately one pound of cotton a day. The cotton gin made it possible to clean up to 50 pounds per day. The farmers could now plant as much cotton as they wanted and not have the worry about the difficulties of seed removal. Eli’s invention spurred the growth of the cotton industry, and the South took up the slogan “Cotton is King.”
America’s economies and regions were becoming more connected than ever, which also contributed to a resulting better economy. However, the dependence on agriculture and slavery in the South resulted in further sectionalism and isolating ties to England. Though the connection between the Midwest and the North was strong due to numerous railroads, canals, and paved roads, the South was not as included in the new Market Revolution that was taking place. In addition to this, the South barely traded with any of the other regions. In fact, the South exported most of its cotton to England, and imported foreign goods more than any other region. Only connected to England, the South cut off a substantial amount of ties with its American sister regions. Slavery also contributed to the economy of the South. The only region that relied on slaves, the South was the minority when it came to favoring the peculiar institution. The invention of Eli Whitney’s Cotton Gin revived the need for slavery in the South which made the picking and production of cotton faster and more profitable that it was before. In the South, “Cotton was King,” and because of this, the
The 19th century market revolution was a period of dramatic socioeconomic development in the United States. According to Ronald Takaki, this “revolution” culminated in a boom of entreprenuership, ease of business, and an insatiable demand for labor that led to the racialization of minorities in the United States. After a stagnate economy in the late 1700s due to poor soil quality, the invention of the Cotton Gin by Elie Whitney jumpstarted the market by allowing tougher strains of cotton to be grown and processed. Suddenly, the “Cotton Kingdom” was immensely profitable. In addition, a decrease in shipping costs (76) and spreading use of banking and capital (76) made doing business in the US easier. The United States also had, in contrary to
In 1793 Whitney saw the difficulty of taking out cotton seeds by hand (Cefrey 10-11). He decided to create a machine that could clean cotton faster than a human could. The Cotton Gin made the processing of cotton much faster and quicker. As a result of this, land owners were now able to have large cotton plantations
The King Cotton, phrase frequently used by Southerners and authors pre and post-Civil war era, indicating the economic and political importance of cotton production. “After the invention of the cotton gin in 1793. The cotton gin was a machine that easily separates cotton fibers from their seeds, allowing for much greater productivity than manual cotton separation”(Cotton in the South, Eichhorn). The cotton gin allowed cotton to surpass tobacco as the dominant cash crop in the agricultural economy of the South, soon comprising more than half the total U.S. exports. “At the time of the American Civil War Southern plantations generated 75% of the world 's cotton supply” (Cotton in the South). Throughout this essay I will examine the North Atlantic
Eli Whitney played an important role during the industrial revolution, and through some challenges, Whitney was able to create one of the greatest innovations of the eighteenth century. Eli Whitney was born during the revolutionary war in 1765, and has had an interest in machines and technology as an early teen. Some of the challenges he faced occurred before Whitney even started building his famous cotton gin. Whitney attended the prestigious Yale University in his twenties, and when graduating at age 27, he was broke. Eli Whitney was able to turn all of his challenges into later accomplishments by staying determined and continuing with his technological advances of creating the cotton gin and later the creation of interchangeable parts with firearms.
Along with Whitney's cotton gin, inventions in society came about. This was a stark contrast to pre Jacksonian rule out of which few inventions came: The decade ending in 1800 saw only 306 patents, while the decade ending in 1860 saw 26,000 patents. Elias Howe and Isaac Singer contributed to the clothing industry with their 1846 invention of the sewing machine. This contributed to northern industrialization, and when combined with the power of steam to produce an automatic sewing machine, it was capable of producing clothing on its own in large quantities with little supervision. John Deere helped to revolutionize farming once more with his invention of the steel plow in 1837. This plow enabled the "virgin soil" of Western lands to be broken, furthering agriculture. It was also light enough to be horse-drawn, which meant it was easily maneuverable. Cyrus McCormick's 1831 horse-drawn grass reaper enabled one man to do the work of five. This caused an abundance of cash crops to be produced.
The Cotton Gin was an invention that allowed the mass production of cotton. Cotton was previously a very difficult crop to profit from, because of the long hours required to separate cotton seeds from the actual cotton fibers. This all changed when Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin in 1793, a machine that sped up the process, thereby making cotton farming a profitable industry for the Southern States. With large areas of prime land ready for crops the Southern states bought and transported slaves in record numbers in order to work on their cotton farms. Although there are no definitive statistics approximately 1,000,000 slaves were moved west from the 'old Southern states' to the new ones; i.e. Maryland, Virginia and the Carolinas to Georgia, Tennessee and Alabama. The new ease of cotton ginning coupled with the high demand for cotton in the textile industry gave rise to the need for a workforce to harvest the cotton. The farmers turned to a readily available labor force they didn't have to pay: slaves.
The invention of the cotton gin helped speed up the growth of the United States, of course with the help of Eli Whitney who helped the United States in many other ways. As a result, cotton became the cheapest and most widely used textile fabric in the world.
This paper traces Eli Whitney's efforts to improve the processing of raw cotton by inventing and perfecting his cotton gin. Topics included are his early background, how he came to invent the cotton gin, disputes about patent rights, the global impact of the cotton gin, Whitney's contributions to mass production methods and his lasting legacy.
Green’s monetary support helped Eli Whitney a lot. Throughout the winter her support help him financially, thus helping him to create a machine through the winter. Eli Whitney was fascinated with solving problems, dealing with complications and building machines. For the reason that, cotton dealt with various amount of difficulties and complications, he wanted to improve and regulate the problem. He wanted something to clean the cotton and remove the seeds. During the winter, the invention of the “cotton gin” machine was created. In fact, to pull the cotton fibers, he used wire screens, rotating brushes and small hooks combined. Rather than having a large amount of workers to clean more cotton, the machine cleaned more cotton in a couple of hours. Eventually, he demonstrated and exposed the idea to other acquaintances. In fact, his colleagues were shocked to witness a fascinating machine that in less or around a hour could clean an excessive load of cotton. The fact that Eli Whitney attended Yale University opened other doors for him with the building of clientele and
Eli Whitney was a very famous leader in agriculture. He was able to gain this title and his fame by his revolutionary invention of the cotton gin. Not only did he invent the cotton gin that helped cotton farmers all over the world he also created guns and supplied them to the government.