The cotton gin is a machine that would separate the seed from the short-staple cotton fiber that was fifty times more effective than the handpicking process. It was constructed by Eli Whitney. It was developed in 1793 in Georgia. It was used all over the South. The cotton gin brought a miraculous change to the U.S. and the world. Practically overnight the production of the cotton was very profitable. Not only the South prospered, but the North as well. Many acres were cleared westward to make more room for cotton.