How the War of 1812 & Technological Progress Change the Country

THE FIRST INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION IN THE U.S.

TECHNOLOGY MEANS PROGRESS

• Developments in technology begin to transform life in the U.S. in the early 1800’s.

• Sets U.S. on a course of industrialization. What is industrialization?

• Hamilton wants the Federal Government to fund public works, which include connecting the country by building roads

• Congress funds National Road from MD to Ohio River in 1803. First Road entirely funded by Federal Govt.

• Many roads are turnpikes, chartered by the states

• Most of these failed to make profit, lower transportation cost, or increase speed of travel

• Western U.S. disconnected from eastern states

A GOOD TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM PROMOTES INDUSTRIALIZATION

STEAMBOAT GOES

COMMERCIAL

• Major means of transporting goods in 1800’s: waterways

• Robert Fulton’s steamboat, the Clermont, voyages up the Hudson River in August 1807. Major advance in transportation

• Now easier to travel upstream

• Speeds transportation up the Mississippi River & the Atlantic Ocean

SECOND TRANSPORTATION BOOM: CANALS • Canals built mostly in

Northeast • Canal Network goes from 100

m. (1816) to 3300 m. (1840) • Most Famous Canal: Erie

Canal (“DeWitt’s Ditch”) from Albany to Buffalo, completed 1825 • NYC becomes greatest

commercial center in U.S. • Western farmers now connected

to eastern markets • Canals lower costs of

transporting goods

THE ERIE CANAL

The building of the canal Required hundreds of workers, who labored under difficult conditions, using only hand tools. Many of these workers were newly- arrived immigrants.

RAILROADS MOST DRAMATIC ADVANCE

• Railroads begin to appear in U.S. in 1829 • Railroads less costly to build than canals, are faster, and can carry more

weight • Railroads put an end to canal building • By 1850, 31,000 m. of RR track, mostly in North & West

• First railroads in USA are drawn by horses

• They are quickly replaced by steam power. First locomotive, the Tom Thumb, built for the B&O RR in 1830

• First railroad track made of wood, connected to sleeper stones. Wooden cross-ties used later to stabilize track

• In 1843, iron T-rails, used today created, making RR travel safe

THE FIRST RAILWAYS

NEW DEVELOPMENTS IN TECHNOLOGY CREATE 1ST INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION

Industrial Revolution changes, not only nation’s economy, but also culture, social life, & politics

SAMUEL SLATER OPENS 1ST TEXTILE MILL • Textiles always first to

industrialize • British tried to prevent

knowledge of textile machinery from leaving country

• Samuel Slater defies law and opens water-powered mill that spins thread in Pawtucket, Rhode Island in 1793

• Uses Family System where entire families employed in mill

• Andrew Jackson called Slater “Father of the American Industrial Revolution"

FRANCIS CABOT LOWELL • Lowell organizes company called the Boston Associates

• Built first mill to complete all steps of textile production at Waltham MA

• Employed young single girls recruited from local farms: “Lowell girls”

• Lived in closely supervised boarding houses under strict rules

FACTORY WORK CHANGES LIVES • Not only changes speed & volume

of production, but pace of work and type of labor

• Reduced amount of skill & training involved

• Unskilled workers paid less • Average wage: $.50 - $1 weekly • Newly arrived immigrants take

jobs • Economic dislocation of skilled

workers from Industrial Revolution creates resentment of immigrant workers

ELI WHITNEY

Invented Cotton Gin in 1794

Introduced the idea of interchangeable parts in 1798

SAMUEL MORSE INVENTS TELEGRAPH (1837)

AGRICULTURE STILL STRONG

• Agriculture still largest industry in U.S.

• Cotton greatest cash crop in U.S. before Civil War

• Midwestern farmers selling about two-thirds of their crops due to technology like the steel plow and the mechanical reaper

• Most of the roads, canals, and railroads are built in the Northeast and Midwest

• Most of U.S. industrial development takes place in the Northeast and Midwest

• The South continues to rely primarily on water power.

• The plantation system and capital investment in slaves discourages industrial development in the South

THE INDUSTRIAL AND TRANSPORTATION REVOLUTIONS CREATE UNEVEN PROGRESS