North and South

Vocabulary

• Trade unions – an association of workers who work together to get better pay and working conditions.

• Strike – Refusal to work until their demands are met.

• Famine – severe food shortage

Industry in the North

• There were lots of new inventions during the mid 1800s that revolutionized people’s lives. A few included the cast iron stove, the sewing machine, Steele Plow (invented by John Deere) and the mechanical reaper (invented by Cyrus McCormick)

Cast Iron Stove

Steele Plow

Sewing Machine

Mechanical Reaper

The Telegraph

• Samuel F.B. Morse invented the telegraph in 1844. This revolutionized communication in the US. You could now send messages across the US in a matter of minutes instead of a matter of weeks.

The railroads

• Once the steam engine was adapted for trains, railroads began to criss-cross the nation. They were used to transport people and goods all over the place, making travel west much easier.

• Most of the railroad tracks were in the north and west. The south had very little railroad track.

Yankee Clippers• While railroads

improved trade across the US, the clipper ship improved trade with other countries.

• Clipper ships had tall masts with many sails and were narrow so they were much faster than earlier ships.

Steam Power Rules!!

• Newer steam engines could now run factories. Now factories didn’t have to be built near rivers, they could be built anywhere.

• Also, the new railroads could transport the factory made products more cheaply. Almost everything became cheaper because it was factory made.

Review

• What two inventions made life easier for farmers and the people who invented them?

• How were the early trains often considered dangerous?

• How did steam power and railroads change the northern economy?

Factory life is hard!

• Factories continued to be places that offered poorly paying, dangerous jobs. As time went on, workers began to unionize. They stuck together and demanded changes. Sometimes unions worked, and other times they didn’t?

Immigrants• Immigrants came from all over the

world came to the United States. Some came because of a demand for skilled artisans, and some came because parts of Europe (like Ireland and Germany) was having a severe food shortage

• Immigrants supplied much of the labor that helped the nation’s economy grow.

• Not everyone liked the immigrants. Some Americans saw immigrants as stealing jobs and many blamed them for the rise in crime.

African Americans in the North• In the early days, slavery was

legal in the north. By the 1800s, though, slavery had been outlawed.

• Don’t think that meant that northerners were not racist. African Americans in the north were discriminated against in the north just like in the south.

• Some African Americans achieved success in the north, but most could not find jobs.

• Basically, the only difference between the north and south was slavery.

Review Questions

1. Describe factory conditions in the 1840s?2. How do these factory conditions compare

to working conditions in factories in the early 1800s?

3. Why did German and Irish immigrants come to the United States?

4. How were free African American’s affected by discrimination?