The American Industrial Revolution

Age of Industry By the 18th century a revolution swept across Europe and the United States Products which had been handmade in small workshops were now being made by power-driven machines

Beginnings Although the Industrial Revolution began in England, Americans did not copy British advances America had different needs and resources and this led its industrialization

Cotton Gin Eli Whitney, an inventor in New England, was visiting the friend of the family in Savannah, Ga When asked to repair a broken watch, the friend wished aloud for a machine to separate cotton from its seed, work that was done by hand and was very time consuming

Cotton Gin cont. After working several weeks, Whitney developed a model for the cotton gin that separated the cotton from the seeds Whitney later built a factory near Augusta and had a working cotton engine, later shortened to just “gin” Before its invention, a worker might have to separate 6-7 pounds of cotton seed a day by hand

Success, kind of… After the cotton gin’s introduction, workers were able to separate about 50 pounds a day Eli Whitney earned almost nothing from his invention because planters “pirated” the gin before Whitney could register his patent He had to appeal to Congress to save him from going broke

“King” Cotton The southern climate was so well-suited to growing cotton, which could grow in almost any soil, more and more land was devoted to growing cotton The southern economy became heavily dependent on growing cotton and more and more workers (slaves) were needed to grow the crops