e Sea Island cotton could not be cleaned by it, on account of the
length and delicacy of its fiber; and this species, for the want of some
cheap and expeditious method of preparing it, has seldom been grown to a
greater quantity than fifty thousand bags of three hundred pounds each.
Consequently, it has always commanded a high price.]

The spectators were delighted with Whitney's machine, and urged him to
lose no time in putting it in the market. They predicted an unlimited
success for it, and assured the inventor that it would not only make his
own fortune, but also render cotton culture the source of wealth to the
South. They did not exaggerate. As soon as it was made known to the
public, Whitney's machine came into general use. Planters had no longer
any thing to fear from the labor and expense of preparing their great
staple for market. Whitney's genius had swept away all their
difficulties, and they reaped a golden harvest from it. They were
enabled to send their cotton promptly and cheaply to market, where it
brought good prices. With the money thus obtained they paid their debts,
and increased their capacity for cultivation. Every year the area
devoted to cotton-growing became more extended, and the prosperity of
the South became greater and more durable. In 1793, the total export of
cotton from the United States was ten thousand bales; in 1860, it was
over four millions of bales. Hundreds of millions of dollars were
brought into the South by this invention--so that it is no exaggeration
to say that the remarkable prosperity enjoyed by the South at the
commencement of our late civil war was due entirely to the genius of Eli
Whitney. This opinion is fortified by the following remarks of Judge
Johnson, uttered in a charge to the jury in a suit brought by Whitney,
in Savannah, in 1807, to sustain the validity of his patent:

"With regard to the utility of this discovery ... the whole interior of
the Southern States was languishing, and its inhabitants emigrating for
want of some object to engage their attention and employ their industry,
when the invention of this machine at once opened views to them which
set the whole country in active motion. From childhood to age it has
presented to us a lucrative employment. Individuals who were depressed
with poverty, and sunk in idleness, have suddenly risen to wealth and
respectability. Our debts have been paid off, our capitals have
increased, and our lands have trebled the