December 8: Birthday of Eli Whitney (1765)
Prayer Idea
Pray for people who are working to improve agricultural and manufacturing techniques.
History Note
Eli Whitney was born in Massachusetts on December 8, 1765. He grew up during the American Revolution. He entered Yale College in 1789 and graduated in 1792.
Whitney planned to become a teacher, but he ended up stuck in Georgia without a job. He got to know a local plantation owner, Catherine Greene, and one of Greene’s managers, Phineas Miller.
On Greene’s plantation, enslaved workers grew a type of cotton with green, sticky seeds. Separating these cotton seeds from the cotton fibers was a difficult process. Enslaved people had developed tools to make the process easier.
In a workshop provided by Greene, Eli Whitney began working on a cotton gin (short for engine). Using concepts developed by the enslaved workers and ideas from Catherine Greene, Whitney built a working machine. He applied for a patent, which he received on March 14, 1794.
Eli Whitney and Phineas Miller started a business to manufacture the machines. However, instead of paying for the right to use one of Whitney’s machines, many people simply made their own similar machines based on his design. Whitney spent years in legal battles attempting to assert his patent rights.
During the late 1790s, Whitney took on another project to manufacture guns for the U.S. government. At the time, a skilled worker usually made and assembled an entire gun with custom parts. Whitney developed a system in which less skilled workers could each manufacture separate parts. These could then be assembled into finished guns using interchangeable parts.
Eli Whitney married Henrietta Edwards, granddaughter of minister Jonathan Edwards, in 1817. They had four children. Their son, also named Eli Whitney, later took over his father’s gun-making business.
Whitney died in 1825 at age 59.
An 1827 painting by William Giles Munson of Whitney’s gun factory in the community of Whitneyville, Connecticut. Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons.
Learn More
Watch a short video about Eli Whitney, who deserves credit for his technological developments. However, like many technologies, the cotton gin and the use of interchangeable parts were not the sole creation of one person.
Find more resources at Homeschool History.
