The Cotton Gin - Seeds of a Lie - US History - Extra History

Bowling Green Plantation, Wilkinson County, Mississippi, 1795. Eli Whitney has planted the seed of the American cotton industry's industrial revolution by engineering the cotton gin! Which would revolutionize cotton production and create less of a need for slavery. However, these were just the seeds of a lie.
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#ExtraHistory #CottonGin #History

[@extrahistory]

Want to support the people who make this show? Then why not think about becoming a Patreon Member? Vote on future Extra History episodes, get early access to videos and other cool rewards! bit.ly/EHPatreon

[@ejharvey2764]

I just did a project about the cotton gin and Eli Whitney. For my college history class.

[@BestOfTsars]

Filipino-American war & Boxer Rebellion

[@Tarasque.]

Don't you think conflating a Gadsden Flag with being a symbol the pro slavery pro suscessionist south is dishonest. And maybe trying to link the modern liberterian movement to the confederacy is also dishonest.

[@rrshowtime3900]

Solid Proof of all claims made required to validate the real facts.

[@margaretkairu7418]

am your greatest fan.

[@jamcdonald120]

Whitney: I will make a machine to end slavery! [slavery continues] Whitney:... fine then, I will make guns to end slavery

[@sabotabby3372]

John Brown's body lies moudering in the grave but his soul goes marching on

[@M.E.ANDHistory]

Oh, the irony.

[@Sleepy_Cabbage]

PARRY THIS YOU FUCKING CASUALS

[@def3ndr887]

not only continue but revive ironically

[@CoralCopperHead]

@@Sleepy_Cabbage I appreciate that reference

[@LadyDeirdre]

In grade 5, my teacher got hold of a half-bale of raw cotton, a dozen cotton combs, and a hand cranked gin. Six kids with combs in 15 minutes managed to de-seed a single palmful of cotton each. Then the gin crew, three kids, went to work. 15 minutes later, they'd separated half the bale.

[@generalalduin9548]

I hope to god there weren’t any African American kids in your class, that would’ve caused a media circus.

[@1000nod]

@@generalalduin9548 Haa ha ha🤣

[@generalalduin9548]

1000nod you laugh but you know the teacher would be cancelled in this day and age. Granted they’d be especially dumb for not realizing the impact, but still

[@WardNightstone]

@@generalalduin9548 actually i belive that DID in fact happen even thoughthe teacher in question had done this for year and his point wasn't slavery but as a demonstraition of what a game changer the Gin was

[@1000nod]

@@generalalduin9548 fair

[@catcharide56]

6:15 Eli Whitney can rest easy knowing his work on interchangeable parts helped defeat the Confederacy in the Civil War.

[@abcdef27669]

Sweet posthumous ironic revenge.

[@JohnKopasakis]

I think this should be stressed more had they not screwed him out of his profits for his invention he may not have created the exact device that destroyed the southern slave owners

[@thiccchungo1041]

Died making the invention that would put the traitorous dogs that pirated his original invention in their place, bloody legend

[@offduty23]

(Quietly) Both sides had that technology, as did the arms dealers in France and the UK, making the war even bloodier and facilitating late 19th century Imperialism worldwide.

[@caboose.20]

Why the hell would you think the South didn't have interchangeable parts on muskets almost 40 years after the the fact?

[@Corristo89]

Ironically the cotton gin contributed to the South's defeat during the Civil War, as the continued reliance on the slave-based cotton industry kept the South from industrializing to the extent the North had. Steel and iron production, miles of railway laid, goods produced, etc. The South was wholy based on producing and exporting cotton, while the North industrialised and diversified its economy.

[@setcheck67]

More then that. The greedy jackass barons didn't actually re-invest any of their wealth back into their states. So every single thing was just inherently shittier in the south and their armies knew it. It's one of those situations of rich people just assuming they have to do nothing, because everything should be given to them for free.

[@matthewjones370]

The south made more railroads than the north dumb dumb

[@ntfoperative9432]

@@matthewjones370 yes, but they were more spread out. Look up a map of what railroads looked like back then, and you can see a clear divide

[@dfmrcv862]

@@matthewjones370 ...that mattered EXTREMELY little when the industry is slave based. "Oh cool! More railroads for your six trains to transport the badly made bullets to the front! I sure am glad you have seven railroads for those six trains. Boy, I sure do hope nothing bad happens to one of them, cause the British aren't supplying any more warships after the Trent Affair!"

[@Cypherwraith001]

@@matthewjones370 Even then, they didn't have the industry to maintain their engines and tracks. Trains don't work without those.

[@jamesvanantwerp1516]

"The concept of progress acts as a protective mechanism to shield us from the terrors of the future." - Frank Herbert

[@unimprezzedmclastname4220]

It's not funny how true that quote is. Just look at emerging technologies like machine-learning and just how many industries AI is disrupting.

[@bbh6212]

@@unimprezzedmclastname4220 The man predicted corporations willingly causing climate change and Radical Islamic Terror. He knew of what he spoke.

[@johnnyarm3181]

Smh

[@bbh6212]

@snailwithinternetaccess miscommunication. Predicted Corporations and climate change. Also predicted Islamic Terror.

[@mscar7609]

@@unimprezzedmclastname4220 can’t tell you how many businesses are looking for employees.

[@johnyricco1220]

A simple form of the cotton gin has been used in India and China for centuries before the Whitney patent. Those were not nearly as efficient, but they were far better than using fingers alone.

[@thomascrawford7597]

Fascinating and thank you for informing me of such. Did the racist slave owners ever try and use such or were they too wrapped up in their centrism to look to outside methods? Not that the worm gear roller would have helped the enslaved any more than Whitney's did.

[@jaschaeidam7469]

I think those where not exactly people looking to other cultures for solutions....

[@thomascrawford7597]

@@jaschaeidam7469 Good point. And thanks again

[@insaincaldo]

@@thomascrawford7597 These slavers probably never knew of that, but as Jascha said also weren't general fans of what they considered people beneath them. That included every culture foreign to them, or just the culture they left behind while finding out what was American over it's roots.

[@ericmoore9952]

Yes, and no. Those were roller gins, and they were known to the southern planters, but only worked with long staple cotton. The long staple cotton didn't grow well through most of the South, while short staple cotton grew well. Eli Whitney's cotton gin could process the short staple cotton that grew through much of the South.

[@brianblake9589]

Being from Connecticut, we all learn about the ironic tragedy that was the cotton gin. It's also worth mentioning that Whitney us a hero here. There are many major streets, and a science museum named after him. From my understanding, he's honoured just as much for his anti-slavery views, as for his engineering brilliance.

[@GuapoG0tGuap]

Even though most southerners weren't slaveowners, I think it's worthwhile to say how many were. 30% of Southern households owned slaves, almost a third of the south. And, although many rank and file Confederate soldiers didn't personally own slaves, it's also worth saying that they were still enthusiastic supporters of slavery and knowingly supported secession as a slavery issue.

[@fedrickthegreat2138]

Unknown fact thank you

[@noahjohnson935]

yeah. Many were either very much pro slavery, or indifferent at best. I had family that served on both sides of the war. My family has the advantage of stories from both sides allowing a larger picture.

[@dtboss33jr82]

@@noahjohnson935 Most southerners I know are generally friendly, but there are also racists and neoconfederates. However, this is a very small group of peoples.

[@HamSaladtv]

Also, according to Historian Glatthar, confederate soldiers were more likely to either own slaves or had family who did.

[@AgentLando]

Yea, but most still just fought for the confederates because their state was part of the confederate, for example an excelent general named Robert E Lee

[@kieranpriest9609]

My grandad used to talk as bout his grandad and how being sold down the river to a cotton plantation was worse than Death.

[@gadaadhoon]

Good grief, every once in a while I hear something like this and realize how little time has passed since slavery.

[@navilluscire2567]

@@gadaadhoon A lot can happen in just a few generations, also alot of nothing can change in many more generations...

[@xman4399]

@@gadaadhoon I mean yeah, when Harriet Tubman was born Thomas Jefferson was still alive and she was alive when Ronald Reagan was born Thomas Jefferson 1743-1826 Harriet Tubman 1822-1913 Ronald Reagan 1911-2004

[@charlettegonzalez2737]

I honestly got scared thinking about that.

[@bernardosantos8020]

Your great-great-grandfather was a slave?

[@CliffCardi]

Slaves: “So this machine will make our lives easier?” Plantation owners: “Well yes, but actually no.”

[@AnimeShinigami13]

Plantation owners: Soooomeee of you.

[@navilluscire2567]

@@AnimeShinigami13 *Slaves:* By how much? *Slave owners:* Eeeehhh...a tiny bit...maybe? That is if I don't just have them do a bunch of other stuff since they'd have more time to. So I'd say...not at all in the long term! *Slaves:* ...**desires for freedom intensifies**

[@CrabJelly5225]

*random chimp in a suit appears*

[@ddobefaest9334]

This is the story of almost all pre-20th Century technology. New technology advancements don't allow us to do less work. The allow us to do MORE work in the same amount of time.

[@Raziel312]

It's the story of 20th century technology too. There was a time when people thought that technology like the desktop computer would have us all working 3 hour workdays. This goes far to explain why the Halls of Finance and Business aren't run by engineers. The suits figured that, if technology let one person do the work of two, what did they need the second person for? So they laid off workers, gave themselves bonuses, and laughed as their remaining workers worked even harder out of fear they would be next.

[@inanefool8781]

The technology DOES allow you to do less work. The BOSS doesnt. The problem is the boss.

[@DTDdeathmas]

That's a flaw of capitalism not technology.

[@timavoievodin3255]

@@DTDdeathmas that's flaws of not democratic institutions, not capitalism

[@8is]

This is only a small part of the truth. The average person after the industrial revolution was much richer than the average person before.

[@davididiart5934]

The Poor: Gee! Maybe with this innovation, the rich will finally give us a fair shake! The Rich: Well yes, but actually no. The universal constant.

[@Nostripe361]

Kind of the modern economy. Someone invents a technology to make work easier so that the workers won't suffer as much. Then company owners just use the easier work to push their workers to do even more work with the same pay, resources, and time; making nothing better. Or worse, use this as an excuse to fire most of their workers and force the remaining workers into worse situations for the "privilege" of keeping their jobs.

[@joelanderson5285]

Envy is not a form of moral outrage and someone being better then you is not slavery.

[@swansonjoe7121]

@@joelanderson5285 being better, you mean being born with better living conditions lmao

[@hfnna]

What lol over the last 200 years extreme poverty rates have gone down globally while real average income has gone up drastically, countries with more economic freedom have more prosperity and higher gdp per capita

[@marloyorkrodriguez9975]

Look at Amazon they make innovations but those were at the cost of their workers warehouse or otherwise while Jeff Bezos continue sending space d*cks in the sky.

[@XILOX_]

Been a long time fan of extra history and extra mythology since the last 4 years, thx for getting me through my school life with something that always relieved my stress and helped me study carefree afterwards, thx for the knowledge too

[@taxidriverxdscp4242]

@what what

[@T.GLongstaff]

Yeah extra history helped me feel better when I was dealing with my brother dying. There were a few KZbin pages that took my mind off him. I’ll always appreciate extra history for that.

[@clonetrooper8669]

I’ve been hooked since the series on the hunt for the Bismarck.

[@M.E.ANDHistory]

As a crazy Romanov nerd, I must say that they do an excellent job on the series that involve the dynasty (their Rasputin series was REALLY well done).

[@taxidriverxdscp4242]

@@clonetrooper8669 same

[@nelleneulmer5385]

One of the biggest things that I remember about the cotton gin, despite not knowing what it did, except that it was used in cotton production, was all of the horrific injuries and mutilations it caused slave workers.

[@The_mrbob]

@@BREAKCORE-DISSOCIATE :|

[@BREAKCORE-DISSOCIATE]

@@The_mrbob got em

[@jroden06]

Thank you for teaching me and my wife something that we were NEVER taught in either high school or college. We live in North Carolina.

[@juanferrer5924]

This is a common topic in many states, and a big part of AP exams in US history, in California, and from what my friends in Colorado and Texas say, there too. It’s unfortunate that this isn’t regulated

[@freeNode5]

little detail not mentioned here: Those cotton seeds inside are SHARP like thorn-covered little burrs. Getting them out of there is painful. Although, eventually your fingers would become callus and tough.

[@ahistoric_gamer9716]

It’s sad because Eliah hoped that his invention would make slavery no longer necessary.

[@ocean6828]

Extra credits allows me to continue learning things that aren’t just for tests and school, and continue to enjoy learning. Thank you guys :)

[@safe-keeper1042]

I love how they not only cover the more well-known subjects like how the firstr world war began, but also all these topics I'd never even hear about otherwise.

[@capybaraRed]

In Brazil we're changing how we refer to the Africans forcefully brought to our country - not as "slaves" anymore but as "enslaved". It's one of the language changes that I find to be actually good and useful. After all, no one "is a slave", people are enslaved.

[@joelanderson5285]

Sounds like someone is trying to bamboozle people, that is always the real motivation behind these language changes.

[@iapetusmccool]

If someone is enslaved, then they _are_ "a slave". Because that's what the word means. I really don't see how changing a well-understood and long-used term to a clunky new one that means exactly the same thing helps anyone.

[@capybaraRed]

@@joelanderson5285 explain. How so?

[@joelanderson5285]

@Aditya Chavarkar Awesome example of the Motte and Bailey tactic where a real position which is difficult or even impossible to defend is replaced with an easy to defend but fake position "showing basic decency".

[@Studdblog]

I get it. Enslaved means you're a normal person who's been taken. Calling a person a slave forgets that it's actually a humam captive.

[@ozymandiaskingofkings621]

Ironically, the cotton gin ensured that slavery would only end at the tip of a bayonet.

[@scottanos9981]

I suppose that just shows that automation of the wrong side of the supply chain first leads to disastrous consequences for humanity

[@ozymandiaskingofkings621]

@@scottanos9981 That's a good way of putting it.

[@ejharvey2764]

I just did a project about the cotton gin and Eli Whitney. For my college history class.

[@camrong5680]

did u pass

[@christianfath2653]

The earliest and one of the saddest instances of the rebound effect I‘ve hear of.

[@eckoreckofantasy]

Already i know this is gonna be sad due to slavery.. Also the artist for this is INCREDIBLEY talented!! The lineweight and designs are just so nice to look at, but still recognizable that its in extra history!

[@reillycurran8508]

Wow imagine that, not being able to simply invent your way around systemic societally rooted issues!

[@Praisethesunson]

The only time I can think of where that actually happened was water plumbing to housing. Which ended the practice of making women fetch water from Wells/rivers wherever the plumbing was placed.

[@SpoopySquid]

[side-eyes climate crisis technocrats]

[@shawnheatherly]

Obviously the slaves are the true victim of this invention, but I do feel bad for Eli Whitney. The man's plan backfired on basically every level.

[@M.E.ANDHistory]

Oh, that has been the case with many an invention (*cough*guillotine*coughcough*).

[@iapetusmccool]

@@M.E.ANDHistory or Alfred Nobel's idea that if he invented really, really deadly guns, no-one would ever dare to go to war.

[@alfredsanders9493]

@@iapetusmccool Well, we sort of did get to that point with nukes, but the US and the USSR just made nations without nukes fight their battles.

[@Zefurion1988]

@@iapetusmccool I thought Nobel had nothing to do with weapons other than the initial invention of TNT for mining purposes which was then used by others to make more powerful artillery.

[@iapetusmccool]

@@Zefurion1988 he also invented smokeless powder, and established a number of arms factories.

[@AsbestosMuffins]

at least Eli Whitney had a lot of innovation in machinery used for making guns to get back at the people who made this atrocity

[@M.E.ANDHistory]

And having guns with interchangable parts played a significant role later on in the Civil War.

[@89technical]

@@M.E.ANDHistory Whitney was a fraud. He did't actually make the guns or do so interchangeably.

[@Sanguivore]

Now think about how those same innovations in firearm technology led to slaveowners in other countries that rule through use of modern firearms. Everything is cyclical.

[@Mr_Metro]

On day in my engineering class we were talking about slavery and such because we had finished our work and someone brought up how people thought the cotton gin would free slaves and My engineering teacher said “remember when how I said there’s always something you have to loose something when gaining something in engineering? How you always have a trade off in mechanical advantage? Same applies to society, not a single invention has made someone’s life better without also in some way making someone else’s worse”

[@copiousamountsofrandomness4952]

Man imagine if the aristocracy didn’t have influence in the government and was banned from doing so

[@someguynamedsomething9612]

comrade we shall overthrow the global north to enrich our brothers across the world, from brazil and argentina to ukraine and lao

[@JCdental]

aristocracy by definition has influence in the government

[@billcipherproductions1789]

An d who will pass this legislation? *The Aristocracy*

[@billcipherproductions1789]

@@someguynamedsomething9612 *Facepalm*

[@maysugar800]

I mean the question then is how would one ban them in, really any kind of legal way,

[@johnzengerle7576]

I have also wondered what would have happened if someone would have invented a machine to do the harvesting at around the same time.

[@presidentedemexico716]

When my Abuelo came to the u.s in 1957 he told me he worked in Cotton fields for about 7 years

[@brokensky2378]

Funnily enough, interchangeable parts and industrialization helped the north crush the south in the rebellion purge.

[@razgrizgaming6653]

I love the videos these guys do, but it always reminds me of how poor the American Education system is. I graduated High School in 2015, and I'm still learning new things that were not taught such as the negatives of the Cotton Gin. How can a school in the North not address these negative aspects, all we learned was that it was an industrial innovation and it made life easier.

[@jonathanfornwalt4919]

I graduated in 2002 and had learned about the cotton gin backfiring on Eli Whitney, but I went to school in Connecticut and he's a major figure in the state's history. There are schools named after him here.

[@TheGrowlingAraknid]

There's a reason why the establishment doesn't teach you more about civil war history other than "southern slavery bad but northern slavery that still exists TO THIS DAY, good". Like for example the corwin amendment? Or the fact that hundreds of thousands of native Americans allied with the south meanwhile only thousands of natives joined the north

[@CrabJelly5225]

I graduated in 2020 and the second we learned about the cotton gin we were also taught that it caused slavery to surge.

[@andrewsmithphoto]

Good to see everyone learned a lesson from this moment in history and we have not repeated one of these errors for the last 150 years!

[@mathgasm8484]

lesson is if you write a program to make your job more efficient never tell the boss.

[@cr76802]

I remember seeing a replica at the Dallas Fair. Thought how cool but then I thought that means they can plant more

[@christianaquilina5434]

I wonder, in a Parellel Universe where EW started his own company, buying cotton cheaper as it was with seeds in it, how things would have panned out...

[@DuranmanX]

Making bad people rich is never a good idea

[@laurenwright5540]

This

[@timavoievodin3255]

They are just answering for demand with supply, nothing bad

[@laurenwright5540]

@@timavoievodin3255 Damn dude how can you be that blind

[@sabotabby3372]

@@timavoievodin3255 Capitalism inevitably puts profits above human lives

[@timavoievodin3255]

@@laurenwright5540 i am not blind. Actually idea that by working for yourself you help enrich whole society is very simple

[@ryanstebbins3102]

Thanks guys for making such a great video. The history books almost never talk that deep about Eli Whitney that much or go I to his work in firearms. He and his factory complex 'Whitneyville' pioneered the interchangeable parts that would go on to support the later industrial revolution of the later half of the 19th century and our very own modern day. He also made more than that initiall 10000 muskets. He would go on to make more for the US government, picking up the slack of the arsenal systems while developing other designs for the civilian market. His company wouldn't go out of business until I believe the 1880s.

[@Wolfiyeethegranddukecerberus17]

I really want an episode 2 now, I wanna hear the rest of the story, especially with the sick art

[@jokehu7115]

Part 2 would just be the civil war

[@maysugar800]

@@jokehu7115 hell yeah let's have a civil war series to make all the weirdo confederates leave

[@mohammedharoon8453]

Look up oversimplified history.

[@colonagray2454]

Thats basically anything in a school book so i guess were set!

[@GhostKitten69]

it's oddly refreshing to hear someone be up front about what slavery was really like....

[@BREAKCORE-DISSOCIATE]

Yeah in a small part of America. That's was ended.

[@BREAKCORE-DISSOCIATE]

Nigeria sold it's self

[@stevenuniverse1422]

Barely contained spite as well.

[@johnallenbailey1103]

​@@BREAKCORE-DISSOCIATEyeah ok. Then you'll say, slavery was everywhere, but no matter where it was, American chattel slavery is unique. Race based slavsry didn't exost and neither did racism, until. ..

[@roringusanda2837]

​@@johnallenbailey1103😂 LMAO!! Reeecism didn't exist until the American sl ve trade?!! 😅😂🤣🤪

[@gnaskar]

The thing to note is that innovation does make the world a better place on average. But because we live in a system where wealth and power naturally concentrates in fewer and fewer people instead of benefiting everyone, that average gain doesn't translate to a gain for the average person. It's not the fault of innovation, but of the system. So, you know, don't direct your anger at the wrong thing.

[@felixjohnsens3201]

That is not really true, as you can see, that the average wealth in the world has risen, but the richest people on earth are not really richer than the richest people in the past. They might have more money, but the money they own is less worth than the money in the past. If you then wonder why the wealth of the middle class and lower class is sinking in America and some other western countries, then you have just look at the third world countries and China, because the manufacturing industries are moving their production into countries, where they have to pay lower wages, less bürocratic hurdles, and taxes, which in turn increases the average wealth of those countries.

[@timavoievodin3255]

@@felixjohnsens3201 thanks for simple explanation why capitalism is good

[@sabotabby3372]

@@timavoievodin3255 capitalism was the very system which made slavery so profitable and still does. the so called "progress" of capitalism is never seen by the masses who work and die in squalor for the profits of the elite. The wealth of the US and Europe does not come from any innovation or industriousness but from the outright robbery of resources from Latin America, Asia, and Africa, to this day Africa only actually controls a fraction of its natural resources

[@magnadramon0068]

Why blame capitalism when we can scapegoat science and engineering

[@vmarsfire]

Tell that to the slaves.

[@oifaye]

The materials for clean energy tech comes from countries that oppress workers who harvest the raw materials.

[@Sorcerers_Apprentice]

That's sadly the case for a lot of supply lines for goods throughout history and into the modern era. Bananas have a very bloody history in South America.

[@fireironthesecond2909]

This video is a perfect example of “the road to hell is paved in good intentions”

[@CarnytheM-mv5uo]

Back on elementary school I did a class report on Eli Whitney and his invention. In the wood shop part of school teachers even helped me make a prop Cotten gin. This was back in 1998, or 1999.

[@shaneleskinen2111]

I actually own a cotton gin I had gotten the functioning system (though I had to replace a lot of the wooden structure) it was from a farm auction. After some rust removal and grease it works like a charm. Though I wish I had some cotton to test it. Hard to believe that such a device can be named the start of such massive and monumental events.

[@MrBenhyou]

How painfully ironic

[@MrHydesAlterEgo]

You explained this better in ten minutes than four years of high school ever did.

[@Montork]

thats on purpouse.

[@Tareltonlives]

Plantation owners: I'm going to do what is called a pro gamer move

[@TheRealE.B.]

The cotton gin sounds a lot like computers, or cars, or any other invention that supposedly makes things easier but can never keep up with infinite demand.

[@MLJ___]

I would love some sort of American Civil War series-something like the Great Northern War series made a while back

[@BasicLib]

Seconded

[@M.E.ANDHistory]

Yes! Although they should make an effort to include the Lincoln Assassination in the series (including information about JWB, his band of conspirators, the kidnapping plot, the assassination plot, the manhunt for JWB and his band of conspirators, and the military trial that came after). We need to know more details of the event other than scratching the surface with the narrative of "JWB did the dirty deed because he was a Confederate sympathizer." True, that's what JWB was. But there's much more to the Lincoln Assassination than just that. I say this because a few years ago, I was in DC and got to visit Ford's Theater (and the Peterson boarding house across the street, which was where Lincoln died; standing in that very room was a somber experience) and learned quite a lot about JWB, his co-conspirators, etc.

[@MLJ___]

@@M.E.ANDHistory That would be amazing

[@Alverant]

Feeding poor people the delusion they might be rich has been a tool for the rich to keep the poor in their place for centuries.

[@Thoroughly_Wet]

Another thing most people don't realize: sure Eli Whitney's cotton gin was hand powered, but most cotton guns that were used were gigantic and powered by horses or small motors when they came about.

[@Googledeservestodie]

Whitney 🤝 Gatling Making their problems even worse

[@KingofAwesomness14]

neat work, always good to learn this.

[@m.majaaz8464]

You are a gem 💎! One of my Grade 9 students introduced me to your channel years ago. I ended up flavouring my all my history classes, from Grade 7 to 11, with Extra History. They were all absolutely delighted!!!

[@frizzykid100]

Alright, this very quickly has become my favorite Extra history video. Thank you for all the excellent work you guys do!

[@makinapacal]

I should also point out that rising cotton demand also pushed Southern plantation owners into using systems of coercion, with some incentives, to get more and more work out of their slaves the result was that the productivity of slaves increased significantly prior to the Civil War. Although incentives played a part the major push came from coercion, involving whippings, beatings etc., along with threats of family separation to produce workers who among other things picked cotton very fast and of course also pushing most adult slaves into primary production activities. All of which resulted in significant profits for slave owners. The result was that the 1850s were a golden age of massive prosperity for slave owners and slave prices increased dramatically. The election of Lincoln in 1860 posed the problem that he just might do something that would reduce the income and wealth of the slave owners. Certainly in the 1850s and earlier slave owners had been fighting very hard to erase, remove any threat to their slave wealth. Thus confining slavery, restricting its expansion, the very existence of Abolitionism, in fact anti-slavery in general, i.e., any sort of verbal condemnation threatened that wealth. The existence of fugitive slaves, anything less than fanatical enforcement of the Fugitive Slave Act along with anything less than support for slavery threatened that wealth in that view. In 1860 the conventional attitude in the South among most people was slavery was just fine and dandy and it should be perpetuated well into the future if not forever, because it was the source of wealth and status. (Note in 1860 at least 35% of the total wealth of the South was in the "value" of the slave population and in the Confederacy it was almost certainly over 45%.) There was very little willingness to part with all that wealth.

[@benbrown8258]

I've a white friend whose mother lived in Mississippi and left him a oil painting she did of "happy" slaves dancing in front of their shacks after dark. She was under the belief they had a better life being slaves picking cotton and working the plantation than they otherwise would have had in Africa. It was beneficial for all involved. My friend asked me as a Black person what I thought. I thought the cultural divide was so stunningly vast his mother couldn't understand it unless she lived as a member of the slave community. Even Jesus lived among us to identify with our challenges... He left the Big House to live in the shacks.

[@elimartin9414]

Every time I learn about this in a history class, everybody looks at me like "So Eli, would you also like to revive the institution of slavery?"

[@user-vs9ze6gz6p]

Those who fail to learn from history are doomed too..

[@mathewritchie]

He should have invented a mechanical harvester.

[@Googledeservestodie]

I was going post the lyrics to Cotton Eye Joe, and then I found out the origin is actually slave songs and contains the N word according to Huck Finn and now I'm not gonna do that. My whole life is a lie.

[@thatguynoonelikes4865]

Beautifully insightful thank you very much for the informative video I learned a lot from this

[@EJD339]

Every time people say AI and robots will benefit humans and give us a better society, I think back to the cotton gin. Companies are only going to want more

[@PyroSparton117]

Amazing video!! I also wanted to add that whoever drew the thumbnail did a fantastic job!! Great detail! 🤘

[@JohnnyLodge2]

3x the size of manhattan is impressive until we remember what bill gates has as a private holding

[@sd-ch2cq]

His acrage is only a few percent of the size of modern megafarms in China and Australia (the biggest are larger than the entire country of Israel).

[@Lack_Of_Interest]

@@sd-ch2cq And?

[@timavoievodin3255]

Its just ok

[@NotOurRemedy]

But the industrial revolution was the end of slavery as a profitable institution.

[@Blaqjaqshellaq]

Compare Eli Whitney to Charles Goodyear, who invented the process for vulcanizing rubber but couldn't enforce his patents...

[@ghazghkullthraka9714]

You gotta love just how tall the Lincoln design is

[@M.E.ANDHistory]

Yes! Quite accurate, that design!

[@iang257]

This looks like a case of good intentions gone horribly wrong.

[@jovandimitrijevic8017]

Great video, especially the conclusion

[@fantalandia4273]

I love your animations :) 8:08 Ey! Scott! 8:56 Can't be always in part with that Pole XD

[@TheCreepypro]

genius simple genius comparing the gin to any of the modern technology we have now really is the most apt comparison you could make

[@kielmeakin4901]

"Progress for some often translates into a step back for others" Is this a widely held belief?

[@8is]

I don't think most people think that happens often, so no.

[@smallpox9254]

Unfortunately, no. Which is why videos like this are important.

[@MrKYT-gb8gs]

Really good video thumbnail with the bloody cracked up hands.

[@mencken8]

Of course the fable in the first minute introduces the obligatory 2024 portrayal “Woman smart, man stupid,” and so it goes. I didn’t stick around for the last 8:30, thanks. “Because that’s history- not what happened, but what people make themselves believe must have happened.” - Alistair Cooke

[@killerbee1974]

The cotton gin, great leap in tech and a great leap back for the end of slavery

[@yishaqdavid2029]

"half the millionaires lived in Mississippi" Now it's one of the poorest crime-ridden states. Plus one of the most racist if not the most.

[@jonnunn4196]

Poorest; yes. But several cities (Chicago, Detroit, St Louis, etc.) have higher murder rates.

[@yishaqdavid2029]

@@jonnunn4196 Im never mentioned murder rates. I dhnnno where got that from?

[@Xalerdane]

@@yishaqdavid2029 probably a Mississippian.

[@gunterxvoices4101]

@@jonnunn4196 The deaths per person ate still highers in rural areas. The only reason why cities have higher numbers of deaths is due to having a large population, opposed to the small population of a countryside.

[@cjoin83]

Have you ever been to Mississippi?

[@metakaiser3069]

This video just had me dripping a tear from my eye this entire video these transgressions against my people 💧

[@ziose0]

The hauntingly beautiful way this video has aged....whew.

[@brassbucket1998]

I'm so glad that art style is back

[@Keirebu1]

Love your work brother, but Natchez is pronounced "NAAT-CHEZ" not "NOT-CHEZ." (Long "A" sound there that you're missing there.) - Longtime Mississippi resident.

[@MogulMogul]

All we need now is a series on the Us Civilwar

[@M.E.ANDHistory]

Agreed. But should they cover the Lincoln Assassination, they need to not scratch the surface by using the brief and repetitive narrative of "JWB did the dirty deed because he was a Confederate sympathizer." True, JWB was that. But they should also mention that JWB did not just intend to kill Lincoln. He also wanted to kill VP Andrew Johnson, SOS (Secretary of State) William Seward, and General Ulysses S. Grant.

[@roxylius7550]

Just go to oversimplified lol

[@M.E.ANDHistory]

They're interesting, but I like EC more. Better art (not to mention great humor and little-known facts).

[@MogulMogul]

@@roxylius7550 Id prefer extra historys story telling

[@roxylius7550]

@@MogulMogul they are both good in a different way

[@sammysweetroll]

Hearing Matt Krol say "Westborough, Massachusetts" gave me such a strange happy feeling because I'm from that area

[@skvader4187]

The thing about Eli inventing interchangeable musket parts. That is factually wrong. Eli never managed to achieve the technology. He merely promised it while on a contract for 15,000 muskets i believe. He kept delaying the contract saying that he needed to "perfect the technology". In the end he never achieved it, it was done way later by 3 Factory owners (for the life of me i can't find their names).

[@blentoasdad]

Do a video on "Sultanate of women" its highly interesting

[@0pMarK]

Nice video. Thanks

[@Cvpher]

"Progress for some often translates to a step back for others, especially in a free market scenario where profits, not justice are the priority" DAMN!

[@frankbaiamonte3158]

I think I big thing missed in this video is who was buying the cotton. International trade costs a lot of money and with each country imposing tariffs the south was selling most of their goods to England for higher profits than to the north. A huge factor to the war was the industrial north pushing legislation that imposed more tariffs on cotton to England trying to force the south to exclusively sell the cotton to the north at less of a profit.

[@jhutt8002]

Being finnish I completely missed that gin = jenny. Those words sound nothing alike! So I thought this to be a story of an alcoholic drink distilled from cotton seed and got super excited...

[@suddenllybah]

gin in this context is short for engine ... sans en and e.

[@jhutt8002]

@@suddenllybah Ah. Makes sense! I've only heard it called Jenny so that connection was lost.

[@user-ft3jq5vi2l]

Well that's a depressing one

[@comusrules1244]

Nice work. You guys are awesome.

[@danieltrevino8855]

Wow, really early for this episode. Love this!

[@bread3039]

Hey Guys, It's Bread. Hope you're having a good day, Extra Credits team.

[@justcallmeSheriff]

Honestly, southern planters REALLY did live up to the legacy of the Founding Fathers that were also running companies fueled by enslaved labor and torture. That uncomfortable truth has been denied/ swept under the rug for too long.

[@oteliogarcia1562]

there was this other hand-cranked machine that its inventor supposedly thought would reduce casualties of war because only fewer soldiers would be needed to fight battles. the Gatling Gun. guess what happened next.

[@JasonXLV1]

Fun fact: the school Eli Whitney went to before yale was Liecester Academy, which became Becker College. Which just closed down this past spring after over 200 years

[@FumbleSquid]

I love, like absolutely love, that you put the libertarian snake flag in the hands of a southerner. Top tier trolling

[@safe-keeper1042]

Fantastic.

[@Bolognamonster]

everything comes down to the bottom dollar

[@midnightflare9879]

This story remings me of Alfred Nobel, who was so afraid that his invention will be used for war and destruction that he created the Nobel-prize

[@89technical]

Yeah except Alfred Nobel wasn't a Fraud. Honoré Blanc and Thomas Blanchard invented the actual processes, Whitney faked them to trick the government into giving him the contract and them proceeded to hand make the guns, which is why they were 10 years late and none of them worked.