The Cotton Gin

In the 18th and 19th centuries, cotton was the most important crop in the southern United States. Plantation owners depended on good cotton harvests. Once it was picked, the fluffy white cotton had to be separated from its husk. This was difficult to do. The type of cotton that grew best had sticky green seeds inside. Nobody would buy the cotton unless those seeds were removed. Fortunately for the farmers, a man named Eli Whitney came up with an answer.

When Whitney was growing up in Massachusetts, he knew his family would not pay for him to go to college. He worked on a farm to raise the money on his own. Wanting to be a lawyer, he studied law at Yale University. After getting his degree, he needed a job, but could not find one as a lawyer. Instead, he was hired as a children’s tutor in Savannah, Georgia.