Cotton's impact upon history is surprisingly significant. Europeans first encountered cotton in their trading missions to India, where they were impressed with the beauty and softness of Indian fabric. Cotton remained a luxury good in Europe until the United States began growing it in mass amounts in the nineteenth century; but the United States could not have become the “king of cotton” without the invention of one simple machine: the cotton gin. Invented by Eli Whitney, the cotton gin allowed for a full-scale cotton revolution, which had a profound impact on the history of antebellum America. In the South, the gin led to a boom in cotton growth that created a greater reliance on slave labor, which contrasted with the North's industrialization and anti-slavery sentiments. The economic divergence led to differing views on the subject of slavery, and these differing views helped to create tensions between these two regions, which threatened to split the country apart.
Eli Whitney, the inventor of the cotton gin, was born into a prosperous farming family in Worcester County, Massachusetts in 1765. He was blessed with mechanical skill, and “at an early age he showed a decided inclination and aptitude for mechanical pursuits and invention.” After graduating from Yale, in 1792, he was hired as a tutor in Savannah, South Carolina. On his way south, he became acquainted with the Greene family, who were returning to Savannah after spending summer vacation in the north. On his journey he was also introduced to Phineas Miller, Esq. who was journeying with them. When they all reached Savannah, Whitney discovered that his teaching post had been accidentally filled by another, and was stranded without money or a teaching position. So Mrs. Greene invited Whitney to come and stay for a while at Mulberry Grove, her plantation outside of Savannah.
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