The Southern Times
T H E SOUTHERN TIMES EIi Whitney had always understood Now, Eli Whitney's gins could supply depended ~ on slave labor. More machines. When he was just 12 Samuel Slater with all the cleaned and more slaves were bought. years old, he made his own violin. cotton Samuel's mills could spin. Soon, Within ten years, the price of a slave When he was a teenager, he cotton was no longer a luxury. Instead, doubled! Slavery became began to sell nails that he made with machines doing most of the work, entrenched in the south. with a machine he had invented. its price dropped, and it became a common cloth. Eli Builds 10,000 Guns A Problem With Cotton Eli Whitney could have stayed angry When Eli first showed Mrs. Greene his In 1792, when he was about 27 when others stole his gin invention. cotton gin, they invited many people to years old, Eli Whitney went south Instead, he decided to invent to teach. Instead, he ended up come and see the new invention. They realized their mistake when the gin was something else. He heard the inventing. He was living on a government needed guns made. Eli easily copied, and some people went Georgia plantation owned by Mrs. had never made a gun. Still, he away and made their own. Someone Catherine Greene, the widow of the wrote a letter to the government. In even broke in and stole Eli's gin one Patriot General Nathaniel Greene. the letter, Eli said, "I have a number night. As/a result, Eli made very little While living there, Eli spoke with of workmen & apprentices,… I Mrs.
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