APUSH
1

People began to move westward in
large numbers

Movement west was very hard
 Diseases
 Loneliness
 Particularly hard for women

Frontier people were fiercely
independent and individualistic
2

Reasons for westward
movement were primarily
economic
 Acres
of tobacco had ruined land
in the east, leaving farmers with no
choice but to move on
 They would take their poor
farming techniques with them
3

Ecological imperialism
 The
west was seen as land to be
taken and used
 Little thought was given to
conservation of land or animals
 Trapping was common; beavers
 Wholesale destruction of the buffalo
4

At the same time the west was being
exploited, some moved to save it

Sense of nationalism moved some to
push for an appreciation of the
American wilderness
 George Catlin pushed for a national park
 Was achieved with the establishment of
Yellowstone in 1872
5

By the mid-1800s, the
population was doubling every
25 years
 By
1860
 There were 33 states
 The U.S. was the 4th most populous
country in the western world
6
National Origin of Immigrants:
1820 - 1860
Why now?
7

In the 1840’s large numbers of Irish
came to America
Potato famine cause massive starvation
on the Emerald Isles
 Were disliked by other groups

 Had few possessions
 Were Roman-Catholic
 Voted as one massive block
 Were prejudiced
8

Between 1830 and 1860, many
Germans migrated to the U.S.
 Were
more educated than the Irish
 Had some material goods
 Were anti-slavery
 Lived primarily in the Midwest
9

Massive influx of RomanCatholics caused riots to break
out in many large cities
 The
Catholics started their own
education system to avoid the
American Protestant educational
system
 Order of the Star Spangled Banner
 Precursor to the Know-Nothing Party
10
KnowNothing
Party:
“The Supreme
Order of the
Star-Spangled
Banner”
11
How did the
Industrial Revolution
effect the United
States?
12

The U.S. was slow to embrace the
Industrial Revolution and the steam
engine
Vast amounts of farmland and lack of a large
labor pool inhibited the growth of Industry
 Lack of capital necessary to build machines
was also scarce
 Great Britain had a monopoly on the textile
industry

13

Samuel Slater 
 Immigrated from
England with plans for
textile machinery
 Were memorized, as
it was illegal to take
the plans from
England to another
country
 The ability to build
machines, would end
England’s monopoly
14
15

Invented by Eli Whitney in 1793
Affect???
 Reduced the need for slaves to separate the
cotton seed from the fiber by hand
 Meant more slaves could be put to use in the
fields to cultivate the cotton
 Developed a “cotton economy” – King Cotton

 South would import more slaves to produce the
cotton
 North would build factories to turn the cotton into
textiles and ship the raw materials overseas
16
 Interchangeable
parts
 Idea
was the brainchild of Eli
Whitney
 Was hard to achieve, but
possible by 1850
 Led to the use of mass-production
in factories.
17
18

Elias Howe 
Sewing machine
1846
 Why did it boost
to Northern
manufacturing
 Became the
foundation of the
ready-made
clothing industry
 Who perfected the
sewing machine?

Isaac Singer
19
20
21
Samuel F. B. Morse
1840 – Telegraph
22
Cyrus Field
& the Transatlantic Cable, 1858
23

Prior to 1848, in order to
incorporate a business an
individual had to apply to the
state legislature for individual
charters
 New
York was the first state to
pass laws of “free incorporation”
making it easier to start a business
24

The new system of work,
changed the relationship
between the owners and the
workers
 Larger
companies made work
more impersonal
 Factory work was less satisfying,
more mundane
25




Wages were low and working conditions
were poor
Children were often employed in
factories at extremely low wages
Labor unions were illegal until 1840, and
even then were not very strong
Workday was limited to 10 hours by Van
Buren
26



Most working women were single
Married women spent their time at
home, tending to family manners
Many single women were urged to
go into teaching by women like
Catharine Beecher
 Was seen as a better career than factory
work

27

New machines made farming
more profitable
 John
Deere invented the steel
plow,(1837) that allowed the
thicker western soil to be broken
 Alex McCormick invented the
mechanical reaper (1848)
28
Construction Completed?
29




Cumberland Road is
completed in 1852
Clipper ships 
Carried fewer goods
Moved at a much faster
rate than traditional ships
 Eventually replaced by?
Steamships - Why?
Just as fast and could carry
more cargo
Clipper ships built in 1840’s and
1850’s
30
Robert Fulton
& the Steamboat
1807: The Clermont
31
How
was the
Canal
built?
Why?
Results
along
the
canal
route?
32
Effects of the
Erie Canal
beyond NY
State?
1.
2.
3.
Profitable
farming in
old NW
Growth of
Great Lake
cities
Disaster
for New
England
farms –
How?
Begun in 1817; completed in 1825
33

Railroads




Introduced in late 1820’s
Were initially opposed because of safety concerns
Would eventually be the most important form of
transportation
Pony Express


Began with great fanfare in 1860 to carry mail from
Missouri to California
Was deemed to be unprofitable and was ended
after 18 months
34
The “Iron Horse” Wins! (1830)
1830  13 miles of track built by Baltimore & Ohio RR
By 1850  9000 mi. of RR track [1860  30,000 mi.]35
The
Railroad
Revolution,
1850s
Immigrant labor
built the No. RRs.
Slave labor
built the So. RRs.
36
Between April, 1860 and Nov, 1861.
Delivered news and mail between
St. Louis, MO and San Francisco,
CA.
Took 10 days.
Replaced by the completion of the
trans-continental telegraph line.
37
Between 1840
and 1860, more
than 250,000
people travelled
westward.
Main routes?
38

The advances in transportation
were critical
 It
helped the development of a true
U.S. economy
 It bound the country together and
created an interdependence that
was not seen in earlier times
39
ECONOMIC?
SOCIAL?
POLITICAL?
FUTURE
PROBLEMS?
40

How did the economy of the United States
change?



Substance Ag  national industry & commerce
Increased mechanization & specialization
Will the gov’t protect rights of small business?
New Chief Justice:
Roger Taney 
New attitudes?
41