Eli Whitney’s Cotton Gin | American History Digital Resource for Google Slides

How Did Eli Whitney’s Cotton Gin Change America? is a digital lesson for Google Slides that is designed for middle school American History students and works great both in-person or as a distance learning activity. Students watch a YouTube video on the impact of the cotton gin on slavery and the American economy, read a primary source excerpt on how the cotton gin changed daily life for enslaved people, then answer three slides of comprehension questions that ask students to think critically about what they have learned. Students enjoy this engaging lesson, come up with some great answers and connections, and it really seems to help them absorb and remember the material!

This Eli Whitney’s Cotton Gin digital lesson for Google Slides includes:

✯ A YouTube video, about 4 minutes long, that introduces students to the cotton gin and its impact on the American economy and slave trade. As they watch, students answer 8 questions checking their comprehension of the video. 

Sample Questions: 

• Working by hand, how many pounds of cotton could an enslaved person clean a day?
• How many pounds of cotton could a single worker clean in a day using a cotton gin? 
• What fraction of America’s economic output was cotton?

✯ A primary source reading activity. Students read a paragraph from Solomon Northup’s 12 Years a Slave, in which he details daily life for an enslaved person after the invention of the cotton gin. 

• Key concepts in each sentence are highlighted to help students read the dense writing.
• Explanations of the paragraph’s main idea are included in the margin to help with student comprehension as well. 
• Students consider whether the cotton gin made life easier for enslaved people, or the increase in demand made their lives more difficult–and dangerous. 

✯ Comprehension Questions. Using the video and the primary source diary entry, students write short paragraph responses to the following questions:

• How did the cotton gin improve the cotton manufacturing process? How did this affect the U.S. economy?
• How did the invention of the cotton gin increase the demand for slavery? How did it affect the lives of enslaved people?

✯ Historical Context Short Response. Students read a short paragraph and consider how the invention of the cotton gin was involved in the lead-up to the Civil War.

✯ Present Day Connections Response. The big takeaway from this lesson is that the cotton gin was an invention that, while it benefited the American economy hugely, had drastic consequences for enslaved people across the nation, and ultimately helped pave the way to the Civil War. This final activity asks students to consider present-day inventions with the same potential capacity to both benefit and harm our society. In the answer key, several examples are given for you to use to help get the discussion started. (For instance, social media can connect us and keep us informed, but opens the potential for bullying and misinformation; cars provide mobility but also harm the environment. Alexa smart speakers are handy and useful–but are they listening in? Students have a lot of fun coming up with answers for this one!)

You will need access to Google Drive to download this resource, and you will need Google Classroom to assign it to students. (If you are uncomfortable with TPT accessing your school email account, use your personal email to download the resource to your personal Google Drive, then go to File > Make a Copy, and share that copied document with your school email.) 

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