238 Memoir of the Life of Eli Whitney. 



Treasury, and through his influence obtained a contract for ten thou- 

 sand stand of arms, amounting (as the price of each musket was to 

 be thirteen dollars and forty cents) to one hundred and thirty four 

 thousand dollars, — an undertaking of great responsibility, consider- 

 ing the limited pecuniary resources of the undertaker. This contract 

 was concluded on the 14th of January, 1798, and four thousand were 

 to be delivered on or before the last day of September of the ensu- 

 ing year, and the remaining six thousand within one year from that 

 time; so that the whole countract was to be fulfilled within a little 

 more than the period of two years; and for the due fulfilment of it, 

 Mr. Whitney entered into bonds to the amount of thirty thousand 

 dollars. He must have engaged in this undertaking resolved " to 

 attempt great things," without stopping to weigh all the chances 

 against him ; for as yet, the works were all to be erected, the machi- 

 nery to be made, and much of it to be inventect; the raw materials 

 were to be collected from different quarters, and the workmen them- 

 selves, almost without exception, were yet to learn the trade. Nor 

 was it a business with which Mr. Whitney himself was particularly 

 conversant. Mechanical invention, a sound judgment, and perse- 

 vering industry, were all that he possessed, at first, for the accom- 

 plishment of an enterprise, which was at that time probably greater 

 than any man had ever undertaken, in the State of Connecticut. 



The low state of the Mechanic Arts, moreover, increased his dif- 

 ficulties. There were in operation near him no kindred mechanical 

 establishments, upon which some branches of his own business might 

 lean : even his very tools required to be to a great extent fabricated 

 by himself. If it is recollected also, in what a depressed state the 

 cotton ginning business was at this period, it will appear still more 

 evincive of the bold spirit of enterprise which Mr. Whitney posses- 

 sed, as it will be seen that he could not avail himself of any resources 

 from that quarter, nor could he reasonably hope to derive from the 

 same source any future succor. But Mr. Whitney had strong friends 

 among the most substantial citizens of New Haven, who had been 

 witnesses alike of the fertility of his genius, and the extent of his indus- 

 try. Ten of these came forward as his security to the bank of New 

 Haven, for a loan of ten thousand dollars. Mr. Wolcott, on the part 

 of the United States, advanced five thousand more at the time of 

 contract, with the promise of a similar sum, as soon as the preparato- 

 ry arrangements for the manufacture of arms were completed. No 

 farther advances were to be demanded, until one thousand stand of 



