this hope died with the invention of the cotton gin in 1793. With the gin (short for engine), raw cotton could be quickly cleaned; Suddenly cotton became a profitable crop, transforming the ...

On June 20, 1793, Eli Whitney, who had graduated from Yale the previous year, wrote to Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson, requesting a patent for his new invention, the cotton gin. The gin ...

Previous to the invention of his cotton gin, in 1793 or 4, scarcely a pound of upland cotton was raised for exportation. In the short period of twelve years, the export amounted to about ...