In the South "Cotton is king." The rise of the cotton industry dates from the invention of Eli Whitney's cotton-gin. Before its invention the labor of removing the seed from the fiber was so tedious that the growth of the cotton was not profitable. Partly because of this fact and partly because the Revolutionary War was just over, the South lay dormant; its plantations were heavily mortgaged, its people were moving away in streams. Then came a little machine that awoke the South from its sleep and made it rouse itself. It brought energy, hope, and prosperity, where before were languor, indifference, and stagnation. It increased the exportation of American cotton from less than 190,000 pounds in 1791 to 41,000,000 pounds in 1803.
From the historical point of view the invention of the cotton-gin was tremendous in its influence. This machine multiplied by many times the demand in the South for slave labor and made slaves far more profitable. One writer has said of Whitney: "He was, through his invention, probably one of the most potent agencies for the extension of slavery and the terrible struggle that marked the first half-century of our nation's existence. While he was quietly sleeping in his grave, the very earth was shaken with the tread of contending armies that he had done more than any other one man to call forth to battle; for there is little doubt that but for the invention of the cotton-gin slavery would not have lived out the century of the Revolution." Macaulay says: "What Peter the Great did to make Russia dominant, Eli Whitney's invention of the cotton-gin has more than equaled in its relation to the power and progress of the United States." In the light of the wonderful, widespread material growth and prosperity that have come to the whole of our country in recent years, Macaulay's statement is overdrawn. But as matters were when it was written by the great Englishman, it was probably true.
Whitney achieved much success as the inventor of improved methods of manufacturing firearms. He was the first to conceive the plan of making the different parts of firearms by machinery, so that any part of a weapon would fit any other like weapon equally well. This principle has made possible the production of cheap watches, clocks, and sewing machines. He died in New Haven, Connecticut, January 8, 1825.