WORLD HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -Whitney received a patent for his cotton gin in 1794 (his idea was based on earlier gins and also on ideas from other people, including Greene and enslaved laborers; some say that these were the rightful inventors of the cotton gin).

Detailed explanation-2: -He took the problem as a challenge and designed a cotton “gin” (derived from the word “engine”). The gin could remove the seeds from cotton quicker and more efficiently than the plantation’s enslaved labor.

Detailed explanation-3: -The modern cotton gin, first patented by Massachusetts native Eli Whitney while in Georgia in 1793, is a simple machine that separates cotton fibers from the seeds.

Detailed explanation-4: -Whitney believed that his cotton gin would reduce the demand for enslaved labor and would help hasten the end of southern slavery.