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Eli Whitney

Eli Whitney Jr. (December 8, 1765 – January 8, 1825) was an American inventor, widely known for inventing the cotton gin in 1793, one of the key inventions of the Industrial Revolution that shaped the economy of the Antebellum South.[1]

For other uses, see Eli Whitney (disambiguation).

Eli Whitney

December 8, 1765 (1765-12-08)

Westborough, Province of Massachusetts Bay, British America

January 8, 1825 (1825-01-09) (aged 59)

New Haven, Connecticut, U.S.

Yale College

Engineer

4

Eli Whitney, Elizabeth Fay

Whitney family

Interchangeable parts, cotton gin

Whitney's invention made upland short cotton into a profitable crop, which strengthened the economic foundation of slavery in the United States and prolonged the institution. Despite the social and economic impact of his invention, Whitney lost much of his profits in legal battles over patent infringement for the cotton gin. Thereafter, he turned his attention to securing contracts with the government in the manufacture of muskets for the newly formed United States Army. He continued making arms and inventing until his death in 1825.

Whitney family

Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences

Eli Whitney Museum

The Eli Whitney Museum

Eli Whitney Biography on at Whitney Research Group

Inventor of the Week: Eli Whitney (MIT)

Archived April 5, 2013, at the Wayback Machine

Entry in New Georgia Encyclopedia

Photograph of house in which the Cotton Gin was invented, Wilkes County, Georgia, ca. 1910

Letter from Eli Whitney to his Father regarding his invention of the cotton gin, September 11, 1793

Letter from Thomas Jefferson to Eli Whitney Jr. regarding his cotton gin patent, November 16, 1793

Obituary for Eli Whitney, in Niles Weekly Register, January 25, 1825

Eli Whitney papers (MS 554). Manuscripts and Archives, Yale University Library.

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