Cotton Gin

Paper Summary:

This paper examines how the invention of the cotton gin at the end of the eighteenth century marked the beginning of American industry in many ways, as it adapted a new technology to agriculture and increased the ability of an industry to produce at a saving in cost and time. It looks at how Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin in 1793 and how the principle he employed would then be used in thousands of cotton gins around the world, at one time preparing over 98 percent of the American crop for market.

From the Paper:

"The invention also changed the nature of agriculture thereafter. Only a few farmers raised cotton at the time, and black-seed or long-staple cotton was the only viable cotton crop. While the seeds could be removed from this variety easily, the crop could not be raised profitably beyond the Sea Islands of South Carolina and Georgia or more than fifty miles inside the interior of the coastal plain. In 1793, the farmers in South Carolina and Georgia only raised about three million pounds, and by 1811, southern farmers were producing 80 million pounds. Because of the invention of the cotton gin, cotton culture was able to expand to the West (Hurt 93)."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Cornell, William Bouck and John George Glover. The Development of American Industries, Their Economic Significance. New York: Prentice-Hall, 1941.
• "Cotton Gins." American Farmer 4 (2)(February 1823), 380-381,
• Hooker, Richard. "The Industrial Revolution." The European Enlightenment (1996). April 15, 2006. http://www.wsu.edu/~dee/ENLIGHT/INDUSTRY.HTM.
• Hurt, R. Douglas. American Agriculture: A Brief History. Purdue University, 2002. Kennedy, Roger G. Mr. Jefferson's Lost Cause: Land, Farmers, Slavery, and the Louisiana Purchase. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003.
• Kennedy, Roger G. Mr. Jefferson's Lost Cause. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003.

More papers on Cotton Gin:

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• Cause and Effect Essay # 106232 : "Impact on Slavery"

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