Today in History: The Cotton Gin

On this day (March 14) in 1794 Eli Whitney received a patent for his cotton gin. This invention changed the course of American History because it made growing cotton much more profitable thus increasing the demand for slaves at a time in which many historians believe that slavery was losing its economic viability. Cotton blooms contains thirty to forty sticky seeds which had to be separated from the cotton fiber before they could be turned into cloth. One slave, working by hand, could clean approximately one pound of cotton per day. The cotton gin permitted one person to clean more than fifty pounds of cotton a day. Whitney’s “cotton engine” greatly enhanced the value of cotton farming and the need of slaves to work the cotton fields.