Crediting white men with the work of minorities and women

[happyslug]

102. And no one has mentioned the Cotton Gin?

Last edited Sun Jun 26, 2016, 01:16 AM - Edit history (1)

In 1793 the widow of America Revolutionary General Nathanial Greene, ask Eli Whitney to come to her plantation in Georgia, where he then invented the cotton Gin. That is the official story. The big question is why would a Connecticut inventor (then working on interchangeable parts) go to Georgia and invent something for a crop you can NOT grow in Connecticut?

First you must remember Greene and his wife were from Connecticut, but moved south when Washington sent Greene to command the Southern Army during the Revolution.

Nathaniel Greene is noted for two things, being denied a commission because he limped on parade, a decision later reversed, and for NEVER winning a battle. Greene defeated the British in the South while losing every battle. Greene is considered one of the greatest generals this country has ever produced, his losses were never fatal and he realized he could defeat the British without winning any battles. Cornwallis and Greene's campaigns against each other are studied to this day as an example of two great Generals fighting each other.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nathanael_Greene

For driving out the British, Georgia gave Greene a Plantation. Nathaniel Greene died in 1786, but his widow continue to run his plantation and invited Eli Whitney to that planation in 1793. In 1794 Eli Whitney is suppose to have invented the Cotton Gin. Some historians doubt this, but also do not doubt Whitney did patent the Cotton Gin. The Cotton Gin's great advantage was it made upland Cotton profitable. Low land cotton had always been profitable for it was easy to remove the seeds from low land cotton (this had been done by machines since at least 500 AD). The key was designing a machine to remove the much harder to remove seeds from Upland Cotton.

Low Land Cotton grows in damp almost swamp land, such land is ready available in India and Egypt and parts of the American South, but most of the South is just not swampy enough for low land cotton. The Cotton Gin permitted rapid removal of seeds from High Land Cotton (Now just called Cotton in the US) and made cotton highly profitable.

Thus while Whitney won the patent, it appears either Greene's Widow or one of her slave actually invented the Cotton Gin and she contacted Whitney to patent it for she did not think that as a woman she could fight to get people to pay her the patent rights.

In simple terms Whitney was hired to not only patent the Cotton Gin but also to enforce that patent (Which he tried to do). The problem was the gin was so simple anyone could make one and did and refused to pay the patent fees. Whitney tried for a couple of years to enforce the patent, but even he could not.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eli_Whitney

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cotton_gin

I bring up the Cotton Gin for it is an early example of a Woman (or an African American) having invented something, but gave it to a white male to patent, for a white male had the time and position to enforce a patent, when African Americans or women could not.

More on Greene's widow, Catharine Littlefield Greene:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catharine_Littlefield_Greene

The Wikipedia article downplays her part in the invention of the Cotton Gin, but why else would Whitney be in Georgia? He was NOT that well known as a teacher, to take that job on a plantation, but it would be a good cover story.

Just a comment a lot of women's invention (and other minorities) were attributed to white men simply on the grounds it would be easier for a white man to enforce the invention then a woman or another minority.