Why did Eli Whitney do what he did?

He was very mechanical at a young age and would work in his father's workshop on his farm in Westborough, MA. At a young age he became a mechanical handyman in the area or had a successful nail making business. After graduating from Yale he went to GA as a tutor and saw the handpicking of seeds out of the cotton. He decided to create a machine that would do the job. In 1794 he secured a patent for his gin.