226 Memoir of the Life of Eli Whitney. 



to make compensation to Miller & Whitney for their discovery, take up 

 the patent right, and release the Southern States from so burthensome 

 a grievance. 



" Resolved, that his Excellency the Governor, be requested to trans- 

 mit copies of the foregoing report and resolutions, to the Executives 

 of the States of South Carolina, North Carolina, and Tennessee, to 

 be laid before their respective Legislatures, with a request of coop- 

 eration, through their Senators and Representatives in Congress." 



Popular feeling, stimulated by the most sordid motives, was now 

 awakened throughout all the cotton-growing States. Tennessee fol- 

 lowed the example of South Carolina, in suspending the payment of 

 the tax laid upon cotton gins, and a similar attempt was made at a sub- 

 sequent session of the Legislature of North Carolina, but it wholly 

 failed, and the report of a committee, offering a resolution, that "the 

 contract ought to be fulfilled with punctuality and good faith," was 

 adopted by both branches of the Legislature. 



There were also high minded men in South Carolina, who were 

 indignant at the dishonorable measures adopted by their Legislature 

 of 1803, and their sentiments had impressed the community so fa- 

 vorably with regard to Mr. Whitney, that at the session of 1804, the 

 Legislature not only rescinded what the previous Legislature had done, 

 but signified their respect for Mr. Whitney, by marked commendations. 



Nor ought it to be forgotten, that there were in Georgia too, those 

 who viewed with scorn and indignation, the base attempts of men led 

 by unprincipled demagogues, to defraud Mr. Whitney. The Augus- 

 ta Herald of January 10, 1805, mentions the transactions in South 

 Carolina in the following manner. 



" Our readers will no doubt recollect that the Legislature of South 

 Carolina a year or two past, purchased of Messrs. Miller &i Whitney, 

 the patent right of using the Saw Gin in that state, for the sum of 

 fifty thousand dollars. In this contract, Mr. Whitney was obliga- 

 ted within a stipulated time, to furnish the state with two models for 

 the Saw Gin, of the best size and make according to his opinion, for 

 separating cotton from its seed. From some unexpected circum- 

 stances, the models were not furnished in due time ; and some gross 

 misrepresentations having been made to a subsequent Legislature of 

 that state, and considerable improper exertion having been made to 

 persuade thern that Mr. Whitney was not the original inventor of the 

 Saw Gin, they rather precipitately passed an act for a resolution, sus- 

 pending the execution of their contract, and directing a suit to be 



