Trusted Writing on History, Travel, and American Culture Since 1949
Eli Whitney
Having given slavery a new lease on life, he then made Northern triumph inevitable
How a debt-ridden banana republic became the greatest economic engine the world has ever known
1. 1606: The Virginia Company is formed to seek profit from a new business: American settlement.
2. 1612: John Rolfe plants West Indian tobacco in Virginia, the cash crop that assures the colony’s success. Read more >>
How the mistress of the plantation became a slave
“WE’RE USED to living around ‘em. You Northerners aren’t. You don’t know anything about ‘em.” This is or was the allpurpose utterance of white Southerners about blacks. Read more >>