Who Is Eli Whitney An American Inventor

Eli Whitney was an American inventor born on December 8th, 1765. His inventions played a crucial role in the advancement of America. Eli Whitney was educated at Yale University where he planned to study law until funds went short. After Yale he took the offer to become a private tutor at a South Carolina school. Eli was married to Henrietta Edwards. The couple had three daughters and one son. Their son, Eli Whitney Jr. would be known to carry on his father’s work. On January 8th, 1825 in New Haven, CT Eli Whitney passed away. He will always be remembered as a great inventor. Eli Whitney is known for inventing many things but one of the main things he is known for is the cotton gin. The cotton gin is a device that sped up production of cotton

Eli invented the cotton gin in 1793 and applied for a patent and was granted one in 1794 but the patent was not validated until 1807. Eli had a partner to help him with the cotton gin. His name was Phineas Miller. “The two entrepreneurs planned to build cotton gins and install them on plantations throughout the South, taking as payment a portion of all the cotton produced by each plantation.” (history.com) Many farmers did not like the idea of them taking their profit. So before the cotton gin was patented some farmers made their own copies of the cotton gin. Some of their copies even worked better than Eli Whitney’s. Since plantation owners took his invention Eli did not see much profit from the cotton gin. Although, this invention changed America’s economy drastically. The cotton gins were made of different sizes. There was a small one that was a hand

He is credited with inventing three major things that changed the United States completely. The cotton gin exploded the cotton production in the south, the milling machine made production of all products easier in the northern factories, and interchangeable parts made producing and fixing certain things like clocks or muskets so much easier. Instead of having to have a specialist for that particular product come fix it or buy a completely new one people could fix their own stuff! Although some people may not like Eli too much because he made the need for slavery go up I don’t think he did it on purpose. I do not think that he knew while he was inventing the cotton gin that the need for slavery was going to drastically increase. I like how Eli was always up for a challenge for example when he asked for the order for thousands of muskets. Finally, I like how Eli Whitney didn’t get discouraged or give up when his cotton gin got pirated. He did not let that get to him. He kept inventing more products. Eli Whitney Changed the US