Eli Whitney and the Cotton Gin - Research Paper Example

Introduction People around the globe today wear cotton clothes. Besides, artifacts of cotton clothing have been in display in Mexico, Egypt, china, Greece, Rome and regions around the river Indus and along the northern coasts of Africa. The history of cotton cloths, cotton farming and the invention of cotton related machines such as the cotton gin dates back to the years of slave trade and slavery around the world. Famous scientists such as Eli Whitney are remembered for their enormous contributions in revolutionizing the lives of cotton farmers besides making tremendous improvements in the war fields of his time. The most famous inventions of Eli Whitney was the cotton gin which saw forth the revival of slave trade, a practice that was by the time of the invention was on its rapid decline not only in the south but also in the northern parts of the American continent (Alan, 2014)1. The cotton gin bore tremendous benefits to the slave owners and plantation farmers. The invention and production of Eli Whitney’s cotton gin created a very profitable business in the cotton industry. This invention later led to increased slavery in both the south and northern America and consequently seeing through the dawn of civil wars. Eli Whitney was born in Westborough, Massachusetts on December 8, 1765. He graduated from Yale College in 1792 with some hopes of becoming a lawyer (Olmstead, 1832: 207)2. After graduation, he got a job as a tutor in South Carolina. On his way to South Carolina, he met a woman by the name of Catherine Greene, who was a widow of a general. She had invited Eli to stay on her plantation called Muylberry Groove to study law (Mitchell, Simon, & Schuster, 1954: 75)3. After Eli found out that his tutor job was not going to be half of what he was told, he accepted Catherine Greene’s offer. While staying on Catherine Greene’s plantation, Eli learnt about cotton production and the difficulty farmers underwent while eking out a living from cotton production. Cotton was a very important crop, it was easy to grow and its fibers could be stored for a long time. The problem however, was that cotton had seeds that were very hard to separate from the fibers. Another type of cotton called ‘the lone staple’ was very easy to clean but only 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 consuming4. A cotton picket could pick the seeds from one pound of short staple cotton a day. In this paper, I will demonstrate using references and other works of literatures that apply to my working thesis. I will include various arguments both for and against my position as it relates to my thesis. In addition, I will develop several arguments in favor of my thesis. The invention of the cotton gin The development of the cotton gin by Eli Whitney was considered a great breakthrough in the history of inventions and the agrarian revolution in America and in the world. Cotton gin as John, (2009: 2)5 describes is the machine that is used to separate the cotton seeds from pure cotton for commercial uses. John, (2009) has investigated into the history behind the development of cotton gin. John, (2009: 2) records certain salient features that describes the phase of its invention in relation to its intended use. He notes that Whitney’s invention was a clear calculation of a careful observation representing a clear work of a real craftsman. The cotton gin was invented in a way that it is able to separate clean cotton from the grains just as human beings. Yale, (2012: 12)6 has compared the use of cotton gin and human laborers with regard to the ease and time needed to carry out the work. The amount of time taken for one to clean one tone of impure cotton was almost five times reduced with the use of cotton gin. According to Fogo, (2011: 20)7 the use of cotton tremendously increased the productivity of cotton in the south as well as in the north. As Knick, (2013: 6) mentions, cotton cleaning became easier with the use of the cotton gin as compared to the use of human laborers. Whitney made the cotton gin owing his artistic skills from the works of Mulberry Groove. The financial support during the development of the gin was provided by Phineas Miller and Mrs. Greene since Eli had no stable income at the moment. In his letter to Jefferson, Whitney confirms how easily he conceived the idea and developed a rudimentary model of the gin in just ten days. Working steadily on the model all through the winter season, Eli was able to develop the gin with just encouragements from Jefferson (Cotton Times, 2014)8. Upon the inception of the machine and its tremendous applications in cotton farming, the people in the region were madly in love with the new invention to an extent that they wouldn’t wait to see more of the gins being made. The turn out was overwhelming as most farmers could harvest and gin large amounts of cotton in just a short while compared to the earlier times. Rapidly, news of Whitney’s invention was Influence of the cotton gin on slavery Upon Eli’s realization of the need to make the remarkable invention, he knew not of the turn of events that would follow afterwards. The invention came at a time when most of the tycoons in the south as well as those in the north were giving in about harboring slaves since cotton production was rapidly declining in both regions. John, (2009: 5)9 observations are a clear justification of this fact. Several articles and literary journals have focused into the development of slave trade from along the African coasts into Europe and America. A force of enormous income was required by the nations in the south and in the north to keep the slaves on farms. This move came in at a time when slavery was, as Knick, (2013) mentions, a moral anachronism among most of the western nations. Some scholars have argued in opposition to the arguments supporting the redemption of slavery by the invention of cotton gin. Among the great opposers of this argument is Knick, (2013) who argued that slave trade was a common practice in most of the western nations. According to, Knick (2013: 5)10, families kept slaves for other purposes besides working on farms. Moreover, alongside cotton growing, other plantation farming activities such as corn growing equally needed lot of laborers. To him, slaves in the south or north never lacked work with the decline of cotton growing in the region but only shifted roles, working environments, conditions and masters. When cotton farming was revived by the coming of the cotton gin, former slaves in the region resumed their former duties, cotton growing and harvesting. The need to increase the number of slaves among plantation farmers however increased due to increased demand for more laborers for the additional work availed. Even though most slaves retained their usual chores both in the south and in the north, more slaves were brought into the region to boost the number that was originally available and tend the increasingly large cotton fields11. Despite the various attempts to challenge the fact that demand for slaves did not fall with the fall in cotton farming, a lot of literature has endorsed the assertion. John, (2009: 4) for instance has maintained that availability of a proper means of harvesting cotton led to the expansion of cotton farms consequently calling for more slaves to work on them. After slaves’ emancipation, at the beginning of the 1800, free black slaves continued to work on the cotton farms for close to a hundred years. During this time, the northern slaves were restricted to slave camps and did not experience the turn of events that unfolded after the famous emancipation. Comparisons have been on the contributions of cotton to the economy of America alongside that of the other crops. Several literature have addressed the issue supporting the fact that cotton farming contributed a larger share of income to the American economy thereby calling for more laborers to work on the farms. Insights into agricultural developments detail that king crops often call for more funds and laborers to boost their performance. Major crops as Yale, (2012)12 calls it are the most preferred crops in any region. A lot of capital, both human and monetary, has to be invested into farming of the preferred crop. This argument is contrary to the propositions that slave trade was an existing practice on rise even with the down fall of cotton farming. The preferences accorded to cotton after the invention of the cotton gin and its level of economic contribution in comparison to the other crops at the time accorded it the biggest priority. As a result, a lot of labor activities, efforts, and finances were diverted to cotton farming. With its decline in the previous years, many slave owners repatriated their slaves as they felt the burden of withholding the slaves with less benefit. The invention cotton gin was a very big push to the cotton industry. More cotton could be cleaned in a short time using the gin compared to the use of human beings. There was therefore a great need to expand cotton production since the difficult part of its production, during cleaning, had been made easy John, (2009: 3)13. The expansion of cotton farms in the south led to increased demands for slaves among the cotton farmers. More slaves were therefore acquired by plantation farmers to supplement the few slaves that were not repatriated and meet the increased cotton harvesting needs. Conclusion In conclusion, the invention of cotton gin by Eli Whitney is considered a special advancement in the cotton industry. The hard work of cleaning impure cotton, a fact that lowered cotton productivity and repatriation of slaves both in the South and North America, was made easier compared to using human laborers. As a result, many plantation farmers in the south as well as in the north re-embarked on large scale cotton farming. Increase in the size of farms in the region consequently increased demands for slaves. More farmers bought more slaves to supplement the few remaining ones and improve farm activities. Easing of cotton processing in the region, through the invention of cotton gin, therefore, reversed slave trade in America. References Alan, M. (2014). Eli Whitney Biography.com (1765- 1825). How Products are Made , 1- 6. Cotton Times. (2014). Understanding the industrial revolution. Retrieved 2014, from Http://www.cottontimes.co.uk/whitneyo.htm Fogo, P. (2011, September ). TAH PROJECT: Technology and History: Eli Whitenys Cotton Gin and photography. A Compilation of Lessons and Sources aligned with Massachusetts State Frameworks , 10- 38. John, H. (2009). Unintended Consequences: The Abolition of the Atlantic Slave Trade. Teaching American History , 2- 8. Knick, H. C. (2013). Discussion Papers in Economic and Social History. SLAVERY, THE BRITISH ATLANTIC ECONOMY AND THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION , 113, 2- 29. Mitchell, W., Simon, & Schuster. (1954). Eli Whitney: The Inventor. In American Science and Invention: A Pictorial History (pp. 78- 83). Eli Whitney Museum and Workshop. Retrieved 2014 from. Https://www.eliwhitney.org/7/museum/about-eli-whitney/inventor Olmstead, D. (1832). “Memoir of the Life of Eli Whitney, Esq. Inventor of the Cotton Gin,”. The American Journal of Arts and Science , 21 , 207. Yale, D. C. (2012, September 28). Cotton and Race in the Making of America: Global Economic Power, Human Costs and Current Relevance”. Cotton and Race in the Making of America,Gene Dattel, 2009 , 2- 39. Read More