Without it, slavery would have ended earlier

On March 14, 1794, Eli Whitney's patent for the cotton gin was approved.

The cotton gin was a machine that Whitney developed so that cleaning the seeds off of cotton bolls. He said that his machine would do the work of fifty men and that he would make a fortune with his invention. However, cotton farmers chose to "invent" their own versions to avoid paying money to use Whitney's.

When Whitney invented the cotton gin, the cotton industry and the tobacco industry were on the decline in the South. It has been speculated that if the cotton gin had not been invented, slavery would have ended earlier than it actually did. Instead, the increase in production that the cotton gin yielded, resulted in the expansion of slavery and extending it until finally, the Civil War was fought and slavery was ended.

(Whitney's patent drawing)

(Example of a cotton gin)