Eli Whitney (December 8 1765 – January 8 1825) was an American inventor best known for inventing the cotton gin. This was one of the key inventions of the Industrial Revolution and shaped the economy of the Antebellum South. Whitney’s invention made upland short cotton into a profitable crop which strengthened the economic foundation of slavery in the United States.
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birth date
1765-12-08
birth place
Province of Massachusetts Bay, Westborough Massachusetts, British America
death date
1825-01-08
death place
Connecticut, New Haven Connecticut
depiction description (caption)
Eli Whitney painted by Samuel F. B. Morse 1822. Yale University Art Gallery
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