In the early 19th century, in the Southern United States of America, cotton became the backbone of the economy and society, transforming it into the industrial powerhouse it is today. This is mostly thanks to Eli Whitney and his cotton gin. Invented in 1793, the cotton gin revolutionised the picking of short-staple cotton, turning it from a hard and fidgety task to one that could be done with much more ease and efficiency. This resulted in an economic boom that not only encouraged the already established institute of slavery but also redefined the social hierarchy and agricultural practices. To understand this revolution in the history of the United States of America and its expansion into a global powerhouse, one must also understand the lifecycle …show more content…
Whitney was born on December the 8th 1765, in Westborough, Massachusetts, to a family of farmers. Whitney was never much interested in the labour work of the farm and took up more of an interest in mechanics, and in 1792 he graduated from Yale College, now known as Yale University. Shortly after graduating, Whitney travelled to Savannah, Georgia, on the promise of a Tudor job, which he never received, but instead began to live on a plantation called Mulberry Groove, owned by a lady named Cathrine Greene, the widow of Civil War hero Nathanel Greene. During his stay at Mulberry Groove, Whitney learned of the tedious job of separating seeds from short-staple or upland cotton and made it his mission to solve this problem and create a gin to make the job more manageable, which he did successfully. Eli Whitney’s cotton gin made it so that cotton was much more easily picked, which allowed it to become the main cash crop of the Southern United States. Three years before the invention of the cotton gin in 1790, the Southern United States of America only produced about one point five million pounds of cotton; however, by 1800, it was producing thirty-six point five million pounds and only twenty years later, one hundred and sixty-seven million pounds of