HISTORY OF THE COTTON GIN. 311 



patentee. A committee of the legislature, to whom this part 

 of the message was referred, reported strongly in its favor, and 

 urged united action, on the part of the then Southern States, 

 [Georgia, South and North Carolina, and Tennessee,] to resist 

 the grievance of the patent, as likely to depress " the culture 

 and cleaning of the precious and increasing staple," or to pe- 

 tition the General Government to make just compensation to 

 the inventor. Tennessee followed the example of South 

 Carolina, and suspended the payment of the stipulated tax ; 

 while North Carolina adopted a resolution " that the contract 

 ought to be fulfilled with punctuality and good faith." The 

 grounds of this hostile movement on the part of South Carolina, 

 were, first, a technical failure on the part of the patentees to 

 fulfil some stipulation in the contract ;. and, second, a real sus- 

 picion of the originality of the invention, it being contended 

 all over the South that such a machine had been seen in use 

 in Switzerland forty years before, for the purpose of picking 

 rags to make lint and paper. The tide in South Carolina, 

 however, soon turned, and in the year 1804 the legislature 

 confirmed their original contract. About this time Mr. Miller 

 died, leaving Whitney to struggle alone. He at last triumphed 

 in the State of Georgia, and obtained a decision vindicating 

 his patent, in December, 1807, just about a year before the 

 expiration of his right ; and the year following, as the right 

 was expiring, two other suits were gained. In all of them 

 the originality of the invention was triumphantly established, 

 and the rights of the patentee were clearly asserted. These 

 decisions were, however, too late. But the fact that they had 

 been delayed so long, was not the most painful aggravation. 

 This arose from the circumstance that, for nearly thirteen 

 years, his time and physical strength, and his mental energy, 

 were absorbed in this vexatious enterprise of contending for 

 his rights. More than sixty suits had been brought, before a 



