The Industrial Revolution
Explosion of New Technologies!
Northern Economy: +/ Strengths
1. The north had just experienced an Industrial
Revolution, and was producing manufactured goods.
2. New methods of transportation that brought
goods to and from the manufacturing north.
3. A new, national currency that enabled the
north to trade with the south and west.
 Weaknesses
1. Poor soil, low crop production, few livestock.
Southern/Western Economy: +/ Strengths
1. Good and rich soil for plantation farming.
2. Increased slavery, increased productivity.
3. Use of the Mississippi River for transportation
of goods between the north and south economies.
• Weaknesses
1. No factories for manufacturing goods.
2. Heavy, intense labor needed to run the
plantations smoothly in the south.
Impact of New Technologies &
Internal Improvements
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Encourages expansion
Unifies country
Makes travel easier
Allows products to move easily
throughout U.S.
Improves communication
United States Expansion 17831898
Compare the eastern and western states. What observation can you make?
Transportation Innovations and
Industrial Developments
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National Road
Erie Canal
Interchangeable (pre-manufactured) Parts
Steam Engine
Cotton Gin
Traveling west just got easier!
National Road
Turnpikes – National Road

Ran from Cumberland, MD to Vandalia, IL
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Straighter than previous trails
Gravel, with drainage ditches and stone or
wooded bridges
First toll roads
1811- Construction of the National
Road begins between Cumberland,
MD and Vandalia, Il.
1838- National Road opens to the
public, tolls are required to help
offset construction costs.
Erie Canal – connects Atlantic Ocean to the
Great Lakes
1825- Erie Canal opens a 363-mile waterway that connects
the Hudson River to Lake Erie.
ERIE CANAL
Interchangeable Parts -allowed relatively unskilled
workers to produce large numbers of weapons quickly
and at lower cost, and made repair and replacement of
parts infinitely easier.
Colt revolvers were a key tool in promoting westward expansion. Why?
Steam Engine
Newcomen’s Steam Engine
Steamboat
1807- Robert Fulton’s Clermont makes its maiden voyage, 150 miles
from New York City to Albany.
Steam Locomotive
1825- First steam
locomotive was
used to transport
goods across
different regions of
the country.
Cotton Production in the South, 1820–1860
What does the map show regarding cotton production? What do you
attribute to this change?
Eli Whitney’s Cotton Gin
What affect did the cotton gin
have?

Two kinds of cotton

Short staple(fiber)
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Easier to grow
Harder to separate
Long staple (fiber)

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Only grows near the
coast
Easy to separate

Cotton gin made
separating more
efficient for short
staple.
Farmers could move
farther inland and
plant more cotton.
Slave Population 1820 - 1860
Slavery spread southwestward from the upper South and
the eastern seaboard following the spread of cotton
cultivation.
TECHNOLOGICAL
DEVELOPMENTS 1790-1860
YEAR
INVENTOR
CONTRIBUTION
1793
Eli Whitney
Cotton gin
1807
Robert Fulton
Steamboat
1813
Richard Chenaworth
Cast-iron plow
1830
Peter Cooper
Railroad locomotive
1831
Cyrus McCormick
Reaper
1836
Samuel Colt
Revolver
1837
John Deere
Steel plow
1839
Charles Goodyear
Vulcanization of rubber
1842
Crawford W. Long
First administered ether
1844
Samuel Morse
Telegraph
1846
Elias Howe
Sewing machine
Industrial Revolution
You are a travel agent for a
major real estate company in
St. Louis. To stay in business
you need to attract settlers
from the East Coast to settle in
the West. Please use your
imagination and creativity to
come up with a marketing
campaign/ad to place in the
New York Times, a major
metropolitan newspaper from
out East. The editor needs your
ad to contain the following?

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Name & picture (or symbol)
of the invention/innovation
Name of the inventor (if one
is given)
Date of Invention
/Technology
Three separate reasons
how/why this invention
makes living or traveling
west easier/more attractive
than before
COLOR