History of the United States I / Unit 9 USH1 1225 short lesson, about 20 seconds
Eli Whitney
Captions available
The idea
Eli Whitney patented the cotton gin in seventeen ninety-four, which cleaned seeds from raw cotton far faster than enslaved workers could by hand.
In practice
A machine that multiplied what a plantation could process.
Where people slip
The gin sits in the chapter on northern industry, and its consequence is in Unit 12. It made short-staple cotton profitable and slavery more valuable.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
Builds on
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