Eli Whitney Essay
Joe Corkery
10714
Period G
An Innovative and Important Man Eli Whitney had an immeasurable impact on the culture, economics, and tensions of all regions of the United States. His 1793 invention of the cotton gin had many transformed the
Southern economy and affected the entire nation as well. Interchangeable parts, developed by
Whitney at the end of the century helped the Northern factories just as the cotton gin had helped plantations in the South. Meanwhile, the South came to rely more heavily on slave labor to tend expanding plantations. Eli Whitney made the American Civil War much more likely with the cotton gin but improved the Union's chances because of interchangeable parts.
The most recognized accomplishment of Whitney's was the invention of the cotton gin.
Developed in 1793, it replaced the laborious role slaves played in separating the cotton seeds from fibers that Whitney had observed as a tutor in the deep South. The ingenious machine multiplied productivity by fifty. Overall, it made the cotton industry a worthwhile investment.
Whitney gave the cotton industry, and slavery with it, new life. In this way, Whitney made the
Civil War more likely by revitalizing slavery and the South's desire for it. Planters moved westward, eager to produce the now very profitable cotton as much as possible. The cotton gin intertwined the economies of the North and Southcotton grown in the South would be transported to textile mills in the North, where it could be traded within the country or be exported globally.
Yet another of Whitney's developments arguably had an equal if not greater effect in
America. 5 years later, in 1798, Whitney came up with the idea of interchangeable parts, with the
example of U.S. Army muskets. This could apply, however, to a wide variety of manufacturing industries, and by 1850 the practice was widely used. It gave the Union an advantage of mass production of manufactured weapons and supplies over the South.
10714
Period G
An Innovative and Important Man Eli Whitney had an immeasurable impact on the culture, economics, and tensions of all regions of the United States. His 1793 invention of the cotton gin had many transformed the
Southern economy and affected the entire nation as well. Interchangeable parts, developed by
Whitney at the end of the century helped the Northern factories just as the cotton gin had helped plantations in the South. Meanwhile, the South came to rely more heavily on slave labor to tend expanding plantations. Eli Whitney made the American Civil War much more likely with the cotton gin but improved the Union's chances because of interchangeable parts.
The most recognized accomplishment of Whitney's was the invention of the cotton gin.
Developed in 1793, it replaced the laborious role slaves played in separating the cotton seeds from fibers that Whitney had observed as a tutor in the deep South. The ingenious machine multiplied productivity by fifty. Overall, it made the cotton industry a worthwhile investment.
Whitney gave the cotton industry, and slavery with it, new life. In this way, Whitney made the
Civil War more likely by revitalizing slavery and the South's desire for it. Planters moved westward, eager to produce the now very profitable cotton as much as possible. The cotton gin intertwined the economies of the North and Southcotton grown in the South would be transported to textile mills in the North, where it could be traded within the country or be exported globally.
Yet another of Whitney's developments arguably had an equal if not greater effect in
America. 5 years later, in 1798, Whitney came up with the idea of interchangeable parts, with the
example of U.S. Army muskets. This could apply, however, to a wide variety of manufacturing industries, and by 1850 the practice was widely used. It gave the Union an advantage of mass production of manufactured weapons and supplies over the South.