Posted on 01/08/2025 1:16:57 PM PST by Borges
I see nothing in the news about it. I'm sure something was noted in 1925 and 1975.
The man who really freed the slaves.
Didn’t get the memo? He is responsible for slavery now. Had he not invented the cotton gin, they might not have grown cotton in the south. And then they might it have needed slavery.
So his selfish short sightedness as he tinkered away, caused all that misery.
Nevermind that slavery was well established before him, and that his device was labor saving, probably meaning you needed fewer slaves. And nevermind that it’s insane to go after him as a cause of slavery.
They truly make those aguments.
An important figure.
I suspect that he has fallen out of favor, in part, because slavery in the late 1700s was losing it’s economic viability. Sure, slaves could grow tobacco and rice and stuff but it was fairly minor economic activity. Then Whitney came along and made cotton an actual cash crop. All of a sudden America needed a lot of people out in the hot sun picking cotton all day. Whitney was a great inventor, but in a Woke age, he may be seen as a bad guy.
Invented a way to make gin from cotton? Another way to get drunk? Why remember that?
Signed: *another victim of the modern education system*
“Lord loves a working man, don’t trust Whitey, see a doctor and get rid of it!”
All statues to be removed. His name struck from the history books.
An American giant, who helped Make America Great Again.
Cotton plantations existed before the invention of the cotton gin, but the cotton gin significantly transformed their scale and profitability. Prior to the cotton gin, cotton production was labor-intensive and less profitable due to the difficulty of separating cotton fibers from seeds. Here are some key points about cotton plantations before the cotton gin:
Cotton Plantations Before 1793: Cotton plantations existed in the American South, but they were limited in scale and profitability. The process of separating cotton fibers from seeds was extremely time-consuming and required a large amount of manual labor.
Manual Labor Intensive: Before the cotton gin, separating cotton fibers from seeds was done by hand, which was a slow and labor-intensive process. This limited the growth and profitability of cotton plantations.
Limited Cotton Production: Due to the labor-intensive process of cotton production, the amount of cotton produced was relatively small, and the crop was not as dominant in the Southern economy as it would become after the invention of the cotton gin.
Regional Focus: Cotton plantations were primarily located in the coastal areas where long-staple cotton could be grown. Short-staple cotton, which could be grown in more diverse regions, was less commonly cultivated due to the difficulty of processing it. Impact on Slavery: Even before the cotton gin, slavery played a significant role in the Southern economy, but the invention of the cotton gin greatly increased the demand for enslaved labor as cotton production became more profitable and widespread.
Economic Impact: The cotton gin revolutionized the cotton industry by making cotton farming more profitable and efficient, leading to the expansion of cotton plantations and an increased reliance on slave labor.
I grew up in Connecticut, so Eli Whitney was a big deal. We did not commemorate the anniversary of his death in 1975, though.
the person that abolishes the irs is the person that really freed the slaves...
Absolutely right! Don't get me started on the IRS and the income tax, I have a bigger problem with that abuse than I have with immigration.
“Keep your cotton-pickin’ hands off my gin”. - Eli Whitney
An ancestor of mine.
No... his invention did not cause an explosion of slavery. That is like saying the the Wright Brothers caused the misery of WWI and WWII by inventing the Flyer.
In fact, he literally invented to Cotton Gin to reduce the need for human labor and hopefully eliminate the excuse for so much slavery. Only a DNC cadre or woke person would excoriate him for slavery.
Here’s an example.
https://www.nhregister.com/opinion/article/Opinion-We-need-to-talk-about-Eli-Whitney-15346322.php
The scribbler says that Whitney explained to Jefferson that it required a man to turn it by hand... and that hand would be a slave. Nevermind that it reduced a job that was done by dozens and scores of slaves, to one that could be done by one or two people.
The logic of the idiot, removed over 200 years from the problem.
Cotton still had to be harvested by hand at that time.
While it may take only one to turn the handle, but that one person could not do it for many hours at a time. So, that is a misleading statement.
The cotton gin, a historical invention that revolutionized cotton production, continues to intrigue us with its ingenious operation. Invented by Eli Whitney in 1793, this remarkable piece of technology transformed the laborious process of separating seeds from cotton fibers, forever changing the face of American history.
The cotton gin’s mechanism is quite fascinating. It relies on a wooden drum embedded with hooks that catch the cotton fibers and drag them through a mesh. As the fibers pass through the mesh, the seeds, being too large, are unable to make their way through, leading to their separation from the cotton. This innovative process vastly increased efficiency and productivity in cotton processing.
Whether operated manually, powered by a horse, or later by a steam engine, the cotton gin played a pivotal role in the cotton industry. Eli Whitney’s invention gained a patent in 1794, leading to the formation of a cotton gin manufacturing company. However, this groundbreaking invention also inadvertently impacted the institution of slavery and contributed to the outbreak of the American Civil War.
Key Takeaways:
The cotton gin, invented by Eli Whitney, revolutionized cotton production in 1793.
Its mechanism involves a wooden drum with hooks that catch cotton fibers and separate them from the seeds.
The cotton gin’s operation significantly increased efficiency and productivity in cotton processing.
The invention of the cotton gin inadvertently strengthened the institution of slavery in the South.
Eli Whitney gained a patent and formed a cotton gin manufacturing company, leaving behind a lasting legacy.
It would be another 67 years before the Civil War started, be it due to tax issues or slavery.
The link you provided seem to come to the same conclusion. I was expecting it to offer an argument that supported your statement.
If you can provide someone making the argument that slavery reduced after the invention of the cotton gin was put into use, I would be interested to look at what arguments it makes.
But since it enabled greater production & profit generation, it only makes sense that slavery did increase, but to what degree I am not sure as to what the percentage of that increase actually was, but I'm convinced, at this moment in time, that it did cause an increase in slave labor.
Some of those ideas work, some don't. Whitney's idea did cause the affect he hoped. Charles Gatling became disenchanted with his invention.
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