The Legend of Eli Whitney and Interchangeable Parts

IN SOME LEGENDS the story is such that from its very nature we can never establish its truth or falsity; in others patient historical work-usually external to the legend-can ascertain whether the events actually happened or not. The legend of Eli Whitney's part in interchangeable manufacture is, however, unique in that the clues and even much of the evidence for its refutation are part of the legend as customarily recited. It is also unique in that the legend is not merely a popular one nor even a story given "authority " by inclusion in conventional textbooks. This legend has been retold at least twice with all the paraphernalia of historical scholarship-footnotes, elaborate bibliography, discussion of the sources, and even use of archival material.' But in both cases we find the same failure to evaluate the evidence critically, to follow leads to other sources, and to question basic presuppositions. These same faults extend back to the origins of the legend. Poking back into the beginnings of this legend, one finds evidence to show that it was at least partially created consciously by its hero and uncritically accepted by most of his contemporaries.2 The editio princeps of the legend is equally uncritical; in fact it is frankly an apologia pro vita sua. In his Memoir of Eli Whitney, Denison Olmstead" gives us most of the elements of the legend