Two Ways of Life
Enduring Understanding
To understand the present and make plans for their future, you must first understand the past.
Essential Question:
Why did economic development of the North and the South differ?
How did economics affect the individual and family life?
What impact did the growth of industry have on the American way of life?
Guiding Questions
1. What advances in transportation and communications occurred between 1820 and 1860?
2. What inventions changed farming and other kinds of work in the US?
3. What conditions existed in the Northern factories during the mid-1800s?
4. How did workers respond to those conditions?
5. How did the increased immigration affected life in the North?
6. How did the North and South differ before 1860?
7. What effect did the cotton gin have on the lives of Southerners?
8. What classes made up the Southern society?
9. How did African Americans live in the South?
Two Ways of Life
Enduring Understanding
To understand the present and make plans for their future, you must first understand the past.
Essential Question:
Why did economic development of the North and the South differ?
How did economics affect the individual and family life?
What impact did the growth of industry have on the American way of life?
Guiding Questions
1. What advances in transportation and communications occurred between 1820 and 1860?
Oceangoing steamers, clipper ships, railroads, telegraph
2. What inventions changed farming and other kinds of work in the US?
John Deere lightweight plow, McCormick’s reaper, sewing machine
3. What conditions existed in the Northern factories during the mid-1800s?
Women worked for lower wages, 12 to 15 hour days, 1/3rd of workers were children, poorly lit and
not well ventilated, had to work at a fast pace
4. How did workers respond to those conditions?
Formed Labor Unions, went on strikes
5. How did the increased immigration affected life in the North?
Most worked in factories – possibly taking jobs from other workers, Germans taught horticulture,
campaigned to end child labor, jealous against foreigners arose --- discrimination
6. How did the North and South differ before 1860?
North – factory, manufacturing minded, more urban and industrialized, small farms if any
South – agriculturally minded, plantations, rural – few cities, produced cloth/clothing at home
7. What effect did the cotton gin have on the lives of Southerners?
Produced 50 lbs. vs. 1 lb. by hand, became most important crop in South, Became King in South,
more land and slaves were bought, shipped much of cotton to the North
8. What classes made up the Southern society?
Planters – best land, 20+ slaves; 1000s of acres
Yeomanry – 100s of acres, 5 to 20 slaves
Poor whites – small percentage, rented land
Free African Americans – 200,000 around 1850, laws and restrictions
Slaves
9. How did African Americans live in the South?
Free – suffered harsh treatment, laws that restricted their freedoms, had to register, wear special
badges, pay special taxes, and live separately
Slaves – worked in fields, punished with a lash, slave codes