That was the key: Don’t try to remove the seeds from the cotton, but remove the cotton from the seeds. The gin — short for ... famous for his labor-saving invention. He would go on to pioneer ...

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 ...

After his death, Eli Whitney was described as "one of the most distinguished men who our country as produced." ...

In 1794, the cotton gin was officially created, which made harvesting cotton easier and much faster. Whitney believed the gin would eliminate the need for slave labor, but instead the invention ...