The rift between the sections became a chasm.
Then came the War of Secession.
Though Miller was dead, Whitney carried on the fight for his
rights in Georgia. His difficulties were increased by a patent
which the Government at Philadelphia issued in May, 1796, to
Hogden Holmes, a mechanic of Augusta, for an improvement in the
cotton gin. The Holmes machines were soon in common use, and it
was against the users of these that many of the suits for
infringement were brought. Suit after suit ran its course in the
Georgia courts, without a single decision in the inventor's
favor. At length, however, in December, 1806, the validity of
Whitney's patent was finally determined by decision of the United
States Circuit Court in Georgia. Whitney asked for a perpetual
injunction against the Holmes machine, and the court, finding
that his invention was basic, granted him all that he asked.
By this time, however, the life of the patent had nearly run its
course. Whitney applied to Congress for a renewal, but, in spite
of all his arguments and a favorable committee report, the
opposition from the cotton States proved too strong, and his
application was denied. Whitney now had other interests. He was a
great manufacturer of firearms, at New Haven, and as such we
shall meet him again in a later chapter.
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