Eli Whitney was the inventor of the cotton gin. He made cotton a crop of high value and fueled the farming industry in Antebellum South. He filed for patent but the protection was poor and the interchangeable part of this invention was replaced with other devices which easily infringed his patent.
The United States dropping the atomic bomb on Japan during WWII illustrated "total war" because they not only targeted military forces, but civilians.
They felt that it went against democratic principles.