Fact or Myth: Was Eli Whitney the first to invent the cotton gin? Monique Manna HI-411: Historian s Craft 2017 October 5

Transcription

1 Fact or Myth: Was Eli Whitney the first to invent the cotton gin? Monique Manna HI-411: Historian s Craft 2017 October 5

2 1 In 1794 Eli Whitney, a native of Westborough, Massachusetts improved technology on the cotton gin, which he then submitted the paperwork for a patent. However, it is widely perceived that Whitney invented the first cotton gin. For well over a century there has been controversy over this even with research done that has disproved Eli Whitney being the inventor of the first cotton gin, which would put this debate to rest. 1 However, textbooks give the perception that Eli Whitney was the first inventor of this machine. Four sources were used for this paper; a textbook, two primary sources, and one secondary source. The textbook I have chosen to use as an example is one used at the college level. It is titled Visions of America, A History of the United States. One primary source which was used titled Memoir of Eli Whitney, gives the notion as well, that Eli Whitney was indeed the first inventor of the cotton gin. I intend to show through an analysis of two other sources, that Eli Whitney did not invent the first cotton gin, and how the notion came to be. The textbook does not provide much information regarding the cotton gin, except for the short synopsis it gives to students. Some quotes that can be found that are relevant are; The cotton gin, an invention by Eli Whitney 2 and Whitney's cotton gin revolutionized cotton agriculture. 3 These two quotes mislead the student. Eli Whitney did not invent the cotton gin, as has been proven. Although the cotton gin did help improve the production of cotton, the text again shows as the invention being Whitney s. Another quote from the text states that Before 1 Daniel Augustus Tompkins, The Cotton Gin :The History of Its Invention / (Charlotte, N.C. :, 1901), 4, Tomkins writes on the history of the Saw Cotton Gin which dates back to 300 B.C. 2 Keene, Jennifer D.; Cornell, Saul T.; O'Donnell, Edward T.. Visions of America: A History of the United States, Volume One: 1 (Page 210). Pearson Education. Kindle Edition. 3 Ibid., 210.

3 2 his invention, an adult slave needed a whole day to clean a pound of cotton. 4 Again, with his this gives the readers the perspective that Whitney was the inventor of the cotton gin. However, there is nothing said about the history behind the invention nor on Eli Whitney himself except him being an Industrious Connecticut Yankee working as a tutor on a Southern plantation. 5 The text does provide information though, on the production of cotton after the invention of Whitney s cotton gin. The book tells us that In 1790, the South produced 3,000 bales of cotton. By 1810, the cotton gin facilitated the production of 178,000 bales. 6 Eli Whitney s cotton gin was created in The perception which is given in the textbook, is one of Whitney s cotton gin being the cause of this boom in production. There is not mention of any other cotton gin with this source to compare to. In Memoirs of Eli Whitney, Esquire, which is written by Denison Olmsted and first published in 1832, tells the story of Eli Whitney through his older sister s memories. Denison Olmsted was a Professor of Natural Philosophy and Astronomy at Yale College. 7 A brief description is given of Whitney, and his fascination with mechanics as a child, along with a brief description of his college entrance to Yale, at the age of twenty-three. It is after this Olmsted starts writing the story that led to the invention of the Whitney cotton gin. Olmsted details the story of Whitney s first job fresh from college, as a private family tutor in Savannah, Georgia. However, this job fell through. Whitney was fortunate to have become friendly with a widow he met when travelling to Savannah, named Mrs. Greene. Her 4 Ibid., Ibid., Ibid., Denison Olmsted, Memoir of Eli Whitney, Esq. (New Haven, Durrie & Peck, 1846),

4 3 husband was the late General Greene. She invited him to stay at her residence after this unfortunate event. It was here he started to study law, and it was during this time Olmsted tells the story which leads to Whitney creating his cotton gin. Olmsted tells us of a conversation that took place between Major Bremen, Major Forsyth, and Major Pendleton while on a visit to Mrs. Greene. 8 Mrs. Greene then took it upon herself to introduce the Majors to Whitney, and so the story of Whitney s cotton gin begins. How accurate this story is though, is unclear as this memoir is written through interpretations of Whitney s sister. Olmsted describes Whitney creating the machinery in the basement of Mr. Miller s 9 house. Olmsted describes the date of completion as being May 23, 1793, and writes this as being An invention so important to the agricultural interest 10 Once word of Whitney s invention spread, and before this could be patented, the machine was stolen with duplications already manufactured. Olmsted writes, so determined were some of the populace to possess this treasure, that neither law nor justice could restrain them they broke open the building by night and carried off the machine. 11 It is clear that Olmsted is biased with this writing as he describes Whitney throughout the years; this is witnessed throughout his writings. With The Cotton Gin: The History of its Invention, which was written by D.A. Tompkins in 1901 as part of an advanced publication to a book titled Cotton and Cotton Oil, Tompkins gives a description of lawsuits that were filed in the State of Georgia that 8 Olmsted, 13; The conversation between the majors: there was no means of cleaning the green seed cotton, or separating it from its seed, since all the lands which were unsuitable for the cultivation of rice, would yield large crops of cotton. But until ingenuity could devise some machine which would greatly facilitate the process of cleaning, it was in vain to think of raising cotton for market.". 9 Phineas Miller and Eli Whitney became business partners in Phineas Miller was a Lawyer and a graduate of Yale. He was a native of Connecticut. According to Olmsted, Phineas Miller was also Married to Widow Greene, and was very wealthy. He helped finance the cotton gin Whitney was creating. 10 Olmsted, Memoir of Eli Whitney, Esq., Olmsted, 16, Olmsted writes: "before Mr. Whitney could complete his model and secure his patent, a number of machines were in successful operation, constructed with some slight deviation from the original, with the hope of evading the penalty for violating the patent right".

5 4 question the patent of Whitney s cotton gin. One gin Tompkins hones in on is that of the saw gin. Alongside this is a description of the saw gin, also given is a brief history on gins 12 that were in use, prior to the saw gin, some of which date back to 300 B.C. Tompkins tells us that a Patent was issued to Eli Whitney [for his cotton gin] on March 14, 1794, and signed by George Washington, President, Edmond Randolph, Secretary of State and Wm. Bradford, Attorney General. 13 However, the patent for the Whitney gin was not validated until With the patent laws still relatively new to the country, this allowed others to infringe upon Whitney s design. With this came patent infringement lawsuits and in 1804 a copy of the complete patent and specification drawing was filed with the court. 14 Tompkins also discovers in his research there was no certified copy of a patent for Whitney on record in Savanah. However, there was information received [at the Savannah Court House] from some source not shown on the records, on May 2, 1841, what purported to be a copy of the Whitney patent. 15 When Tompkins compares these records, he realized that there is a conflict. 16 He also describes a noticeable mistake in the drawing from 1841, 17 which is the location of the handle on the machine. A fire destroyed the original patents and drawings that were issued in Tompkins argues that, whoever made the drawing for the patent office after the fire, could not 12 Tompkins, The Cotton Gin, 4, Tompkins tells us that the process of removing the seeds from lint was at one time done with the fingers. A roller gin was invented in India in 300 B.C. The process of the roller gin was to put the lint in the middle of the rollers, which would running closely, and once through the seeds would be left behind. 13 Tompkins, Tompkins, 8., The original copy filed with the court is essential to note, as this is said to be the only original left in existence that is recorded. A fire at the patent office in 1836 destroyed all original patents issued and drawings. (See last paragraph.). 15 Tompkins, Tompkins, 11, (See paragraph two.). 17 Tompkins, 11, (See paragraph three).

6 5 have understood the principles of the gin, otherwise, this error in placing the winch (or hand crank) could not have occurred. 18 The sketch also makes suggestions of a saw being used, this is something the original drawing did not have. Tompkins explains; These peculiar additions, which occur in the substantial documents, were evidently intended to establish a claim for Whitney of the saw gin, whereas the authentic papers amply refute such a claim. 19 There are many more times this was challenged in court, along with claims that Whitney helped refresh the minds of his witnesses to the events that took place with the original patent of his machine. 20 Tompkins notes during the litigations, it was finally admitted by the defence [sic] that Whitney s invention was new, but the infringing machines were made before Whitney s model was publicly exhibited, or before it was publicly announced that he had a patent. 21 Tompkins writes that rumors of his machine being stolen, can now be put to rest. There is no evidence to support the claim in the history of the infringement suits that were filed that a burglary into Mr. Whitney s shop had taken place to which his gin was stolen. Tompkins gives a very detailed description into the various types of cotton gins and untangles the controversy surrounding the litigation with patents that plagued Whitney throughout the remainder of his life. With Inventing the Cotton Gin: Machine and Myth in Antebellum America, Angela Lakwete describes many different cotton gins that had been in use previous to that of Whitney s. Lakwete writes, The earliest gin was made from a single roller and a hard flat surface [g]inners in Asia, Africa, and North America used it to batch process fuzzy seed, short 18 Tompkins, Tompkins, Tompkins, (pages 15-17). 21 Tompkins, 17.

7 6 staple cotton. 22 Lakwete explains how these machines evolved over time and she also writes that scholars have documented its existence in the fifth century C. E. [which is] still being used in the late twentieth century. 23 Further into her writings Lakwete describes the cotton gin as being a sign of prosperity in antebellum America and also how this degenerated into a signifier of Southern failure [which] paralleled the extinction of the foot-roller gin and the adoption of the idea that Eli Whitney invented the first cotton gin. 24 Lakwete also writes on the controversy that surrounded the notion of Eli Whitney being the first inventor of the cotton gin. With this, she gives us a brief history on the writings of Olmsted s book of memoirs on Eli Whitney. She tells us that Olmsted [finally] conceded...[t]he roller gin was a competitor and a substitute...but not a precedent." 25 Lawkete also describes how Southerners believed that the roller-gin preceded the Whitney gin and hones in on the saw gin as being the controversy surrounding Whitney s gin. 26 She writes [that an article in] The Small Planter, a newspaper, reminds readers as had Olmsted, that Whitney did not invent the saw gin but the wire toothed gin. 27 Lakwete s findings are more in-depth, as she not only goes into detail 22 Angela Lakwete, Inventing the Cotton Gin: Machine and Myth in Antebellum America, Revised edition (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2005), Ibid., 3.,Lakwete writes in the last paragraph "British industrialists responded to the domestic craze for colorful Indian cotton prints by initiating industrialization on the production of cheap substitutes for the expensive imports. Hand and foot-powered spinning wheels and looms facilitated industrial expansion; cotton-processed by hand-and foot-powered gins-fueled it." On page 14, Fig 1.3 shows a one roller gin which dates to China Lakwete, 177. Angela Lawkete gives a timeline of events that took place that describes how Southerners finally understood why Eli Whitney could not have invented the first cotton gin. (see sentences 5 12) On Southern failure postbellum - The Civil War transformed the saw gin into a culpable agent of social change. The postbellum environment reshaped the gin into an ideological weapon that was wielded against freed African Americans and against the South as a whole. 25 Lakwete, Lakwete, 185. Lakwete describes a source used in the Cotton Planters Manual (1857) The editor of the manual added articles to a story on the history of the cotton gin that was published which accused Whitney of wrongfully stealing the idea from Southerners and others that claimed a southerner had rightfully stolen it from him. 27 Lakwete, 185.

8 7 about the history of the cotton gin and its use as a machine, but she also details the use of the seed itself and also offers many scholarly sources that refute the claims of Eli Whitney being the first to invent this machine. As she so eloquently writes In 1794 Eli Whitney patented not the first, but a new type of gin. 28 The textbook used does not go into detail on the history of ginning cotton, it only focuses on the idea of cotton being more productive and how Whitney s machine made this happen. The textbook should state clearly what the actual machine is that Whitney developed, the wire toothed gin. It should also give more detail on the history of the cotton gin which should include its longevity and how the first gin can be dated back to 300 B.C. 28 Lakwete, viii, Lakwete tells us on vii of the preface that the revisions noted [through research] have overturned many once cherished beliefs but have scarcely affected the standard textbook interpretations of the gin.

9 8 Bibliography Keene, Jennifer D.; Cornell, Saul T.; O'Donnell, Edward T.. Visions of America: A History of the United States, Volume One: 1 (Page 210). Pearson Education. Kindle Edition. Lakwete, Angela. Inventing the Cotton Gin: Machine and Myth in Antebellum America. Revised edition. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, Olmsted, Denison. Memoir of Eli Whitney, Esq. New Haven, Durrie & Peck, Tompkins, Daniel Augustus. The Cotton Gin :The History of Its Invention /. Charlotte, N.C. :,