. A history of the United States . gin. Eli Whitney was a native of Massachusetts, and had gone South for the purposeof teaching. He had alreadyshown inventive abilities,and, while staying at thehouse of the widow of Gen-eral Greene, had his atten-tion called to the difificultyof separating the fibre ofthe cotton from the devised (1793) the cot-ton-gin, by means of whichone person could clean onethousand pounds of cottonin a day. Formerly it tookone day to clean one pound. This machine gave an enormousimpetus to the raising of cotton, and this brought about agreat demand for slave labo
. A history of the United States . gin. Eli Whitney was a native of Massachusetts, and had gone South for the purposeof teaching. He had alreadyshown inventive abilities,and, while staying at thehouse of the widow of Gen-eral Greene, had his atten-tion called to the difificultyof separating the fibre ofthe cotton from the devised (1793) the cot-ton-gin, by means of whichone person could clean onethousand pounds of cottonin a day. Formerly it tookone day to clean one pound. This machine gave an enormousimpetus to the raising of cotton, and this brought about agreat demand for slave labor, by which it was supposed theplant could alone be successfully cultivated. The cultiva-tion of cotton rapidly became the chief staple of the south-ern states, the exports rising from eight bags in 1784 to21,000,000 pounds in 1801. The feeling against slavery soonalmost disappeared in the South, and with few exceptionsthe system was upheld as a positive good. Eli Whitneyhimself reaped comparatively little advantage from his great. ELI WHITNEY. PARTY FEELING. 151 invention, nearly all the money he received being spent indefending his patents. 160. Party Feeling. (1789-1796.) — Washington, in form-ing his Cabinet, chose men from both parties ; thus, Hamil-ton, the leader of the Federalists, and Jefferson, the leaderof the Anti-Federalists, were both members of it. It wasnot long before party spirit showed itself, and party lineswere clearly drawn, and Washingtons patience and skillwere again put to a test in keeping the peace in the Cabinet,where, Jefferson says, I and Hamilton were pitted againsteach other like fighting-cocks. In Congress, and in thecountry at large, public questions were also hotly discussed,and it is doubtful if party feeling ever ran higher in thiscountry. The Federalists believed in a strong central gov-ernment ; that the power of the individual states should begreatly limited, and that of the central government corre-spondingly increased. The Anti-Federa
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