UNIT 9 – THE NORTHIn the last unit you learned how the United States spread its power across the continent of North America taking over large amount of territory. This unit will focus on the northern states and how

they became the richest and most powerful section of the country. You will learn about how factories began making large amounts of identical products – especially weapons. You will also

learn how new inventions such as steamboats, trains, and the telegraph greatly increased the speed of travel and communication.

LEARNING TARGETS# LEARNING TARGET ACHIEVED

1Students can identify the reasons for the start of the Industrial Revolution and the

impact it had on daily life.

2Students can summarize the roles of Samuel Slater and Eli Whitney in bringing the

industrial revolution to the United States.

3Students can analyze the different methods that factory owners used to find workers

for their factories.

4 Students can describe the difficulties and dangers faced by mill workers.

5Students can describe the impact of steamboats and railways on the economy of the

United States.

6Students can identify the importance of the electric telegraph, steam engine, farm

machinery, and consumer goods on life in the United States.

7Students can summarize the reasons for increased Irish migration to the United

States and the reaction it provoked.

8Students can illustrate the problems increased urbanization created in American

cities.

SECTION 1 – THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION

A) LIFE BEFORE THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION

What are some advantages you can think of for this way of life?

What are some disadvantages you can think of for this way of life?

By the mid-1700s changes in Great Britain led to a greater demand for manufactured goods. Asagriculture and roads improved, cities and populations grew. Overseas trade also expanded.

RECALL – What Columbian Exchange crops became important in Europe?

Traditional manufacturing methods did not produce enough goods to meet everyone's needs. Peoplebegan creating ways to use machines to make things more efficiently. These changes led to theIndustrial Revolution, a period of rapid growth in using machines for manufacturing and productionthat began in the mid-1700s.

EXPLAIN – What is a “revolution”?

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B) TEXTILES

The first important breakthrough of the Industrial Revolution took place in how textiles, or cloth items,were made. Before the Industrial Revolution, spinning thread took much more time than making cloth.Several workers were needed to spin enough thread to supply a single weaver.

In 1769 Englishman Richard Arkwright invented a large spinning machine called a water frame. Thewater frame could produce dozens of cotton threads at the same time. It lowered the cost of cottoncloth and increased the speed of textile production. The water frame used flowing water as its sourceof power. Merchants began to build large textile mills, or factories, near rivers and streams. The millswere filled with spinning machines. Merchants began hiring people to work in the mills.

Additional improvements also speeded up the spinning process. Britain soon had the world’s mostproductive textile manufacturing industry.

ANALYZE – How would the laws of supply and demand have affected the price of cloth and why?

What disadvantages can you think of of using water for power?

Which part of the United States would benefit most from a rise in demand for cotton?

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SECTION 2 – EARLY INDUSTRIALIZATION IN AMERICA

A) SAMUEL SLATER

Apart from providing powers what else would rivers be useful for?

B) ELI WHITNEY

Despite these great changes, most manufacturing was still done by hand. In the late 1790s the U.S.government worried about a possible war with France, so it wanted more muskets for the army. Skilledworkers made the parts for each weapon by hand. No two parts were exactly alike, and carefully fittingall the pieces together took much time and skill. As a result, American gun makers could not producethe muskets quickly enough to satisfy the government’s demand. Factories needed better technology,the tools used to produce items or to do work.

In 1798 inventor Eli Whitney tried to address some of these problems. Whitney gave officials a proposal for mass-producing guns for the U.S. government using water-powered machinery.

Whitney also came up with the idea of using interchangeable parts—parts of a machine that areidentical. Whitney promised to build 10,000 muskets in two years. The federal government gave himmoney to build his factory,

ANALYZE – What would be the advantages of using interchangeable parts in guns?

Whitney had proven that American inventors could improve upon the new British technology. Machinesthat produced matching parts soon became standard in industry. Interchangeable parts sped up massproduction, the efficient production of large numbers of identical goods.

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C) DIVISION OF LABOR

Mass production cannot work without a process called “division of labor” in which each of the partsthat makes up a whole product is made by a different person (or group of people). Please think about

the product below.

What different parts are needed to make a pencil?

If you had a factory that made pencils what order would you make it in?

1 -

2 -

3 -

4 -

5 -

6 -

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D) SLOW START IN MANUFACTURING

Working in a Factory / Living in a town

Working on a Farm / Living the in countryside

Advantages

Disadvantages

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E) THE WAR OF 1812

Since the 1790s, wars between European powers had interfered with U.S. trade. American customers were no longer able to get all the manufactured goods they were used to buying from British and European manufacturers. Then, during the War of 1812, British ships blockaded eastern seaports, preventing foreign ships from delivering goods. Americans began to buy the items they needed from American manufacturers instead of from foreign suppliers. As profits for American factories grew, manufacturers began to spend more money expanding their factories. State banks and private investors began to lend money to manufacturers for their businesses.

Many Americans began to realize that the United States had been relying too heavily on foreign goods. If the nation could not meet its own needs, it might be weak and open to attack. Thomas Jefferson, who had once opposed manufacturing, changed his mind. He realized that manufacturing had to be an important part of America's economy, but he opposed protective tariffs, which he thought gave industry special privileges.

RECALL – During Jefferson's presidency what people had he supported?

In February 1815, New Yorkers celebrated the end of the War of 1812 and the return of free trade. The streets were decorated and filled with merchants whose ships were loaded with goods. “With Peace and Commerce, America Prospers,” declared one display. Eager businesspeople prepared to lead the United States into a period of industrial growth. They urged northern politicians to pass higher tariffs on foreign goods to protect American companies.

RECALL – Which section of the United States opposed tariffs and why?

SECTION 3 – MILL LIFE

A) EARLY WORKERS

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B) THE RHODE ISLAND SYSTEM

Eventually Slater began to hire entire families who moved to Pawtucket to work in his mills. Thispractice allowed Slater to fill his labor needs at a low cost. Children as well as adults worked in themills. On most farms children worked to help their families. Therefore, few people complained aboutthe hiring of children to work in factories. The machines made many tasks in the mill simple enough forchildren to do. In addition children were small enough to work inside or under machines making repairsor cleaning them even while they were still running. Mill owners also profited because they paidchildren low wages. Adults usually earned as much in a day as most children did in a week.

IDENTIFY – Why did most people have no problem with children working at a young age?

To attract families to his mill, Slater built housing for the workers. He also provided them with a company store where they could buy necessities. In addition, he started the practice of payingworkers with credit at the company store instead of with money. Workers could buy items at the company store and then pay them off over time. This practice allowed Slater to reinvest his money into his business.

HYPOTHESIZE – What are some ways that Slater could use his company store to cheat his workers and make more money?

Slater's strategy of hiring families and dividing factory work into simple tasks became known as theRhode Island System. Mill owners throughout New England copied his methods.

What dangers working in the mills can you see in the picture on the left?

Who do you think the figures are in the back of the picture and why?

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C) THE LOWELL SYSTEM

Why do you think people were happy to send their daughters to work in Lowell's mills?

Why do you think mill owners were unwilling to make their factories safer?

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SECTION 4 – THE TRANSPORTATION REVOLUTION

A) STEAMBOATS

In 1803 American Robert Fulton tested his first steamboat design in France. Several years later hetested the first full-sized commercial steamboat, called the Clermont, in the United States. On August9, 1807, the Clermont traveled against the current up the Hudson River without trouble. Demand for steamboat ferry service soon arose.

The steamboat was well suited for river travel. It could move upriver and did not rely on wind power. Steamboats increased trade and profits because goods could be moved quickly and more cheaply.

More than 500 steamboats were in use in the United States by 1840. By the 1850s, steamboats were also being used to carry people and goods across the Atlantic Ocean.

B) RAILWAYS

Railways began to develop in the United States after around 1830. By 1840 railroad companies had laid about 2,800 miles of track – more than anywhere else in the world. In the United States builders had to overcome many obstacles like mountains and rivers. By 1860 about 30,000 miles of railroad linked almost every major city in the north eastern United States.

As a result American industry surged ahead and railroad companies became some of the most powerful businesses in the nation. Railroads also allowed farmers to send their goods to distant markets.

ANALYZE – Before railroads why would farmers find it difficult to send their goods to market?

Railroads also had a huge effect on passengers who had never traveled at such speeds before. Riding on early trains was often an adventure even though travel could be dangerous. In 1847 Senator Daniel Webster spoke for many people in the United States when he declared that the railroad “towers above all other inventions of this or the preceding age!”

Which decade saw the biggest fall in upstream river rates?

Would you expect the downstream river rates to be more or less expensive and why?

What would be the difference in dollars between sending 1000 pounds of cargo in 1800 and 1000 pounds of cargo

in 1820?

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Above is a picture of an early train. What about it might make the ride uncomfortable?

C) EFFECTS OF STEAMBOATS & RAILWAYS

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RAILROAD MAP

In which part of the country were most railroads located?

What difference do you notice between railroads in the north and in the south?

Which states was coal mining concentrated in? Which states had no railroads at all?

RECALL – Apart from railroads what were some other man-made transportation routes?

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SECTION 5 – TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCES

A) THE TELEGRAPH

In 1832 Samuel Morse perfected the telegraph – a device that could send information over wiresacross great distances. To develop the telegraph, Morse studied electricity and magnetism. Morse putthe work of other scientists together into a practical machine.

The telegraph sent pulses, or surges, of electric current through a wire. The telegraph operator tappeda bar, called a telegraph key, that controlled the length of each pulse. At the other end of the wire,these pulses were changed into clicking sounds. A short click was called a dot. A long click was calleda dash.

A system called Morse code was invented that used different combinations of dots and dashes torepresent each letter of the alphabet. For example, dot dot dot, dash dash dash, dot dot dot is thedistress signal called SOS. Skilled telegraph operators could send an receive many words per minute.

The telegraph grew with the railroad. Telegraph wires were strung along railroads across the country.Thousands of miles of telegraph line were added every year in the 1850s. By 1861 the first telegraphline had been strung up across the entire continent.

Why would the following groups or businesses find the telegraph useful?

GROUP / BUSINESS REASON

The Army

Farmers

Merchants

Travelers

Look at the morse code messages below. What do they mean?

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B) STEAM POWER

What fuels would steam engines run on? What might be the effects of having steam-powered factories in cities?

C) FARM EQUIPMENT

During the 1830s, technology began transforming farming as well as the factory. In 1837 blacksmithJohn Deere saw that friends in Illinois had difficulty plowing thick soil with iron plows. He thought asteel blade might work better. His design for a steel plow was a success. By 1846 Deere was selling1,000 plows a year.

In 1831 Cyrus McCormick developed a new harvesting machine, the mechanical reaper, which quicklyand efficiently cut down wheat. He began mass producing the reapers in a Chicago factory. McCormickused new methods to encourage sales. His company advertised, gave demonstrations, and provided arepair and spare parts department. He also let customers buy on credit.

ANALYZE – What would be the effect of automatic reapers on farm workers?

The combination of Deere's plow and McCormick's reaper allowed Midwestern farmers to plant andharvest huge crop fields. By 1860, U.S. farmers were producing more than 170 million bushels ofwheat and more than 800 million bushels of corn per year.

HYPOTHESIZE – What would be the effects of growing so much more food?

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D) HOME INVENTIONS

How would this invention improve someone's life?

What is the modern equivalent of this invention?

Sewing Machine

Ice boxes

Iron Stoves

Pocket Watches

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SECTION 6 – IMMIGRATION & URBANIZATION

A) IRISH IMMIGRATION

Between 1840 and 1860 more than 4 million new immigrants settled in the United States. Most came from Ireland which, in the 1840s, was suffering from a disease called the potato blight which destroyed the potato crop which was that major part of most people's diets. More than a million died of hunger and disease, even more fled to the United States.

Most Irish immigrants settled on the East coast where they worked in unskilled jobs in the cities orbuilding canals and railroads. Irish women often worked as domestic servants, laboring for up to 16 hours per day. However, for many Irish, conditions in the United States were much better than they had experienced back in Ireland.

RECALL – What canal in New York did many Irish immigrants help build?

Large numbers of native-born Americans feared losing their jobs to Irish immigrants who might work for lower wages. Others felt threatened by the new immigrants' cultures and religions. Most Americans were Protestants who distrusted Catholics. Those Americans and others who opposed immigration were called nativists.

In 1849 nativists founded a political organization, the Know-Nothing Party, that supported measures making it difficult for foreigners to become citizens or hold office. Some Know-Nothings even attacked immigrants causing several riots in cities like New York and Philadelphia.

Which two groups are shown as being a threat to the United States in the cartoon above?

In what ways had the group on the right been discriminated against?

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IMMIGRATION - GRAPH

Which ten year period saw the greatest number of Irish enter

the United States?

Which year saw the greatest number of Irish arrive?

Which other years may have seen a return of the Potato

Blight in Ireland?

B) GROWTH OF CITIES

Many cities had corrupt and violent police forces. These forces often fought each other more than they fought crime.

Firefighting forces in the cities were created and run by criminal gangs. These forces often fought with the firefighting companies of other gangs. They also frequently stole from houses which were on fire.

Cities were run by corrupt governments which got people's votes by paying money, promising jobs, or some other favor. Politicians grew wealthy by promising government contracts in return for huge bribes.

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LT 7

LT 1

THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION

LT 2

SAMUEL SLATER & ELI WHITNEY

Before the Industrial Revolution most people lived in...

They survived by...

The Industrial Revolution was a time when many things began being made by...

The first products made this way were...

The Water Frame was a machine that made...

It was invented by a British man named...

For power early machines used...

Factories called mills began being built next to...

Eli Whitney used interchangable parts to make...

Mass production is the making of large numbers of...

The British made it illegal to...

Samuel Slater memorized...

He built many mills in...

The North had many mills because it had...

In the South people invested their money in...

LT 3

FACTORY OWNERS

LT 4

MILL WORKERS

Because the United States had so much cheap land people preferred to...

This made American products more...

Britain could produce goods more cheaply because...

The War of 1812 helped American factories because...

Business owners wanted the government to...

Dangers of working in factories included...

Apprentices left mills work because they found it...

The Rhode Island system involved hiring...

Workers weren't paid in money but in...

Slater built...

The Lowell system involved hiring...

In their spare time workers were encouraged to...

LT 5

STEAMBOATS & RAILWAYS

LT 6

NEW INVENTIONS

The Transportation Revolution was a time of increase in...

Steamboats were better than sailing ships because they could...

By 1830 railroads linked...

Railroads helped farmers to...

Wood for fuel began to be replaced by...

Iron began to be replaced with...

Isaac Singer invented the...

Other important household inventions included...

The telegraph was a machine that...

Telegraphs used a system called...

Lines were built alongside...

Steam power meant that factories could be built...

John Deere created machines to be used on...

LT 7

IMMIGRATION

LT 8

URBAN PROBLEMS

The potato blight was a disease that...

Its biggest impact was in the country of...

The number of Irish immigrants was...

Most Irish settled on the...

Common jobs done by the Irish included...

The Irish were discriminated against because...

Americans who opposed the Irish became known as...

Cities were run by... Tenements were...

Dangers of living in tenements were...

Cities were dangerous places because of...

Police and firefighters would often...