Eli Whitney and the Cotton Gin - Research Paper Example

taying on her plantation, he learned about the production of cotton, and the difficulty farmers faced making a living.Cotton was a very important crop, it was easy to grow and its fibers could be stored for a long time. The problem was that cotton plants contained seeds that were very hard to separate from the fibers. Another type of cotton called long staple was very easy to clean but grew along the coast.Most of the farmers had to grow the short staple cotton, which required a lot of labor. It had to be cleaned by hand, which was a very difficult and very time consuming.

A cotton picket could pick the seeds from one pound of short staple cotton a day. In the process; Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin. This significantly revolutionized the cotton industry amid of creating a very profitable business in the cotton industry1. Therefore, the aim of this thesis is to look into how the invention and production of Eli Whitney’s cotton gin created a very profitable business in the cotton industry. Secondly, whether this ultimately lead to the increase amount of slavery and in the end caused the Civil War.

The researcher used various arguments both for and against the position that the invention of the cotton gin created more profitable cotton industry and it triggered slavery and civil war. The invention of the Eli Whitney’s cotton gin (Engine) created a very profitable business in the cotton industry. The cotton gin is one of the mechanical devices invented to remove the seeds of cotton from the husks. Previously, the process was very labor-intensive and hence low output experienced. The cotton gin was wooden drum with some hooks stuck all over and pulled by some wire mesh.

The invention of the cotton gin led to an increased productivity level that inturn promoted high profitability level. This is because the cotton gin could generate over 55 pounds of cotton per day which is equivalent to 25 kilograms. As a result,this led to continuous economic growth in