Eli Whitney was born December 8, 1765 in Westboro, Massachusetts. As a child he was very expressive with his talent for inventing. Whitney was able to create machines that would mimic a job done by hand. During his youth, Whitney was a blacksmith. At one time he was the only producer of lady’s hat pins.

Attaining a degree during his time was usually for those that were studying law or theology. Whitney, against the wishes of his parents, was determined to get a degree from Yale University. He entered Yale at the age of twenty-three. To pay his way through school he taught classes at Yale. After graduating at the age of twenty-eight he remained a teacher at Yale. Whitney, realizing that no career existed for the profession that he wanted, excepted a position as a tutor in South Carolina.

On the trip to South Carolina Whitney met the widow of Nathaniel Greene. After arriving in South Carolina

Whitney’s machine, the Cotton Gin, had a sieve of wires to hold the seed, a rotating drum to pull the lint, and a rotating brush to pull the lint from the drum. His machine could turn out a days worth of work in one hour. The demand for his machine was so great that he could not keep up with the production. Whitney and his partner made two big mistakes. First, they did not receive a patent before they let them go to plantations. He filed for a patent on June 20, 1793. He did not deposit a model until February 1794. On March 14, 1794 he finally received a patent. Second, they did not set a reasonable price for the Cotton Gin. The unwillingness of the planters to pay for its use. Whitney and his partner were desperate for compensation so they agreed to accept grants from the states. The grants guaranteed the states right to the Cotton Gin as public property. He received $20,000 from one state, another $20, 000 from North Carolina, $10,000 from Tennessee, and $10,000 more from various states. This added to $90,000. That barely covered the court costs. The pirating of the Cotton Gin finally put Whitney and his partner out of business in 1797.

he found that the wage he was guaranteed was going to be cut in half. Whitney refused the position. With no job he accepted an offer from Mrs. Greene to be an assistant to the plantation manager and to read law. Slavery was becoming less popular in the South. Hard times were becoming very common. Farmers did not rotate crops because land was so cheap. They had to move farther west each time. The farther west they went the harder is was to grow cotton. The plantation owners were forced to gr

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