Eli Whitney's Impact On Slavery

Along with the demand for cotton came a demand for labor. Black slaves from Africa were used to hand pick cotton in cotton fields, a tedious and daunting job. After Eli Whitney's invention of the cotton gin, cotton production skyrocketed from the average 3,000 bails per year to 300,000 bails per year. Unlike the north, the south lacked transportation improvements such as railways, roads, and water canals.

The cotton gin, invented by a man of the name Eli Whitney, might be one of the most influential invention in its time. This was one of the most important inventions of the industrial revolution and shaped the the South into what it has become today. Whitney's invention made cotton into a very profitable crop, which helped the economic situation of slavery. Despite the impact of his invention, Whitney lost his profits in legal battles over patent infringement, and nearly filed bankruptcy.

The cotton gin was created by Eli Whitney, who sent a letter to Thomas Jefferson asking for a patent on the product before it was produced. The cotton gin allowed for a faster production on cotton by cutting down the time it takes to clean the cotton. Jefferson replied to Whitney with a huge desire for the gin, showing how other slaves owners would also want one urgently. This cotton gin changed the world for slaves and slave owners. Since it cut down the time for cleaning the cotton, it made cotton production faster, which allowed slave owners to have more slaves picking cotton than cleaning it.

     Another major effect of slavery caused by Eli Whitney’s cotton gin was the Compromise of 1820. As the farmers spread westward, they took the practice of slavery with them. This led to a problem when in 1819 Missouri petitioned to enter the Union as a slave state. This idea scared the North who realized the

When Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin in 1794 there was not much of an impact at first, but once the 1800’s came around the cotton gin gained popularity. The cotton gin was used in the south by slaves to separate the cotton fiber from the seeds. It had teeth that pulled the fiber apart and let the seeds fall out. The north and south, both, were impacted by the cotton gin, but depending on who you ask; workers, slaves, slave/ plantation owners, mills owners; people would have different opinions.

“The Underground Railroad was neither underground nor a railroad” (Foner). The reason why The Underground Railroad got its name was because the activities that were taking place on it had to be done quietly and secretively. Stopping places alone the Underground Railroad were known as stations. The people who were so kind to help along the railroad were known as conductors. Harriet Tubman was one of the most famous conductors to have used the Underground Railroad. Tubman took 19 trips using the Underground Railroad to help free more than three hundred slaves.

The inventor of the cotton gin Eli Whitney almost went broke because as a result of his invention. He was fighting almost 60 lawsuits over the patent of his cotton gin. #1 “An invention can be be so valuable as to be worthless to the inventor.”- Eli Whitney. With the invention of the cotton gin, America supplied three quarters of the world with cotton during the 1800s While the cotton gin did do well in supplying the world with cotton it increased slavery. #1 In 1790, there were 657,000 slaves in the south and after the invention of the cotton gin In 1810, there are 1.3 million slaves in the south. In 1793, Whitney patented the gin and at the time, 188,000 pounds of cotton are produced. In 1810, there are 1.3 million slaves and 93 million pounds of cotton are produced each year. As a result of the increase in slaves, more than 600,000 US citizens died on the Civil War battlefields.The Civil War can be attributed in some ways to the invention of the cotton gin.#9 The cotton gin was a very important

The underground railroad had a lot of important things. It helped people, and there were a lot of people/conductors that helped with the underground railroads like conductors. The underground railroad was a system of safe houses where the escaped slaves would hide beginning in the early 1800’s. This system assisted slaves

Invented by Eli Whitney in 1793, the cotton gin made it possible to produce cotton faster. The machine did the job of separating seeds from cotton continuously. Prior to this invention, it took hours of work to do the same job. Since cotton was now easier to deal with, it could be produced in a greater amount and faster. Since cotton was being produced in a bigger quantity, plantation owners needed more slaves to work on their fields.

Simply put, it was an organization used to help slave’s runaway from slavery. It consisted of symbols and codes such as the terms conductors, lines, cargo, and many others. Each one was related to actual railroad terms to keep undetected. These terms stood for the name of people harboring slave, the path slaves could take, the slaves themselves traveling like cargo and so forth ("Underground Railroad: A Path to Freedom"). The Underground Railroad was dangerous and illegal for everyone involved.

With Eli Whitney’s invention of the cotton gin in 1793, cotton became very profitable. This machine was able to reduce the time it took to separate seeds from the cotton. However, at the same time the increase in the number of plantations willing to move from other crops to cotton meant the greater need for a large amount of cheap labor, i.e. slaves. Thus, the southern economy became a one crop economy, depending on cotton and therefore on slavery. On the other hand, the northern economy was based more on industry than agriculture. In fact, the northern industries were purchasing the raw cotton and turning it into finished goods. This disparity between the two set up a

The Underground Railroad was neither a railroad nor underground. It was a system of secret routes and people who helped African American Slaves escape to the North and to Canada during the 19th century. Why was it called that? The reason it was named “The Underground Railroad” was because it was figuratively underground as the network was illegal so they needed to stay “underground” to keep from being caught. The word “railroad” was used because the railroad was a rising mean for transportation and its users used railroad code to talk to each other in secret.

The Underground Railroad was what many slaves used to escape slavery. It was not an actual railroad, although it could easily be compared to one. It was a route, with safe houses and many other hiding spots for the slaves to use. The paths had conductors telling you where to go and people who would drive you to the next safe house. You had to be quick, you had to be strong, and you had to be very courageous. The Underground Railroad led all the way to Canada. There were many people helping the slaves, and even more people that were opposing them. It was no easy task. Many slaves died of sickness or natural causes, gave up and returned back to the plantation, or were caught and either killed or brought back. It was a rough journey but a

Throughout American history, there comes a time where a great invention is crafted that comes and impacts our society greatly. Inventions usually have an overall positive affect on the world, but not in the case of the cotton gin. 1792 is when Eli Whitney invented this machine(king cotton) When Eli invented it, he had no idea of the effect that it would have to American Society. The invention of the cotton gin caused an increase of slaves in the south with harsher working conditions, and it also fluctuated the southern economy, which all played a major role in the Civil War.

     Eli Whitney created one of the first causes of the Civil. In 1793 Eli Whitney’s invention of the cotton gin greatly increased the amount of cotton produced. The cotton gin cleaned the cotton by extracting the cottonseeds efficiently. In the 1800’s, 36,000 bales of cotton were exported, but