Of Inventing The Cotton Gin: Machine And Myth In Antebellum America

Inventing the Cotton Gin: Machine and Myth in Antebellum America, by Angela Lakwete, brings to light the idea that Eli Whitney did not actually invent the cotton gin. Lakwete exemplifies a vast amount of evidence proving the cotton gin dates back in time even before recorded history, or documentation. Through her persuasive approach and infinite amount of evidence, she proves to readers cotton gins were being used “since the first century of the Common Era.” The cotton gin has it's own history, it's own evolution, featuring different types of designs across the globe. Her writing includes a flow of background information and a better understanding of how different gins worked. She portrays the evolution of the cotton gin over time and brings

Each chapter is based on a new cotton gin and it's innovation through a certain time period. The first three chapters describe the development of the roller gin, foot gin, barrel gin, and Eli Whitney’s gin. These chapters prove themselves to be more dramatic because of the complications of the ownership of Eli Whitney’s cotton gin, causing there to be an array of lawsuits and nullified patents. Though the chapters are dramatic, they are still as important as the chapters that follow. The next chapters show Phineas Miller’s and Whitney’s gins evolving and the competition that took place over the course of time leading into the nineteenth century. The concluding chapter elaborates on how Whitney’s gin has persisted so long into the present and how it has become a significant part of American history. She explains how he has affected history, especially in the South, and how the idea of “Eli Whitney being the inventor of the cotton gin,” came about. She clearly emphasizes that no man can just invent something out of his own mind, out of no where, and with no background. She continues expanding on its affect in the economy and all the cultural choices that were made while inventing the cotton

Lakwete found artifacts, which she studied and was able to identify as parts of the cotton gin. With the help of museums, business records, and advertisements, as well as pictures and patent files, her book is filled with reliable sources that date back in history through the evolution of the cotton gin. Lawkete also relied on court records, credit reports, news papers, and city directories as sources. She has an abundant amount of research and primary sources making her writing an expository overflow of information. Lawkete starts her book in the first century, before recorded history. “The first gin was made from a single roller and a hard, flat surface.” “They were used to remove cotton fiber from the seed.” After some period of time, the cotton gin had finally reached America in 1607. Western Europeans accidentally found their way to America while trying to bypass trade in the Indian Ocean and Mediterranean. The cotton gin had already been in parts of Asia, India, and Africa, as well as the Muslim, Byzantine, and Mongol