Cotton Gin Patented: Whitney's Machine Transforms the South and Slavery
Eli Whitney's 1794 patent for a mechanical cotton gin instantly transformed raw fiber processing by using wire hooks and brushes to separate seeds from lint at unprecedented speeds. This surge in productivity skyrocketed demand for enslaved labor across the American South, inadvertently entrenching the institution of slavery as the engine of the regional economy and setting the stage for the Civil War.
March 14, 1794
232 years ago
Key Figures & Places
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