THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION

American Growth: Economically, Socially, Geographically and

Technologically.

• For years England had been using machines in factories. America has some catching up to do.

• American Samuel Slater comes back from England with a copy of a Spinning Jenny.

• Samuel Slater and Moses Brown build the first Spinning Mill in America in Pawtucket, Rhode Island alongside the Blackstone River.

• With an increase in mills, there became a demand for an increase in cotton for the mills.

• Cotton was not a really profitable crop because it took too much manpower to grow it.

THE COTTON GIN• In 1793 Eli Whitney invented a machine that

could make cotton growing profitable.

• His enGINe could do the work of 50 slaves.

COTTON MILLS• Now that we have machines turning cotton

into thread, next comes machines to turn thread into cloth.

• In 1810 Francis Cabot Lowell built the first cotton mill in Waltham, Massachusetts.

• A cotton mill spins cotton into thread and weaves thread into cloth all under one roof.

• Women from the surrounding communities were hired to work in the mills. They became known as “Mill Girls”.

• All this technology created an era of Mass Production in the US.

• Assembly lines started, making products faster and cheaper than they could be made by hand.

• Workers on assembly lines have only one or two small tasks to complete. This is unskilled labor and is therefore much cheaper.

GOVERNMENT HELP• The government tried to step in to help

manufacturers, businesses and farmers succeed. The plan was called the AMERICAN SYSTEM.

• To help finance industry a new national bank (2nd US Bank) would loan money to increase production.

• A Protective Tariff would encourage people to buy American products.

• An Internal Improvements bill passed by Congress that would help the country’s INFRASTRUCTURE.

• The Congress passed the bill, but President Monroe vetoed it. He felt for the country to do this a Constitutional amendment needed to be passed.

NEW FORMS OF TRANSPORTATION• To end the problem

of muddy and rutted roads, a national road was built made of crushed rock and gravel.

• It went from Baltimore to Wheeling on the Ohio river.

RIVER TRAVEL• Rivers always made for easier travel, whether

it was people or goods.• Moving downstream was easy, upstream was

a bit more difficult.

• In 1807 Robert Fulton placed a steam engine on a raft and made a practical way to move goods upstream. He called his invention the Claremont and tested it on the Hudson River.

• Other arrangements had to be made for those areas where boats could not transport goods or people.

THE ERIE CANAL• In 1817 New York Governor

DeWitt Clinton convinced the state legislature to finance the building of a canal from Lake Erie to the Hudson River.

• It was dug completely by hand (no bulldozers, dump trucks or steam shovels).

• It took eight years to dig and cost $7,000,000.• It is 360 miles long, approximately 40 feet

wide and overcomes a height difference of 571 feet.

• Boats move up and downstream through a series of locks.

• Canals have two advantages over roads:

• 1.) They can be built where rivers do not

run.• 2.) They can carry

more freight than horses can, over land.

RAILROADS• Railroads are the next major transportation

innovation to come along.

• In 1830 Peter Cooper placed a steam engine on a wagon and produced the first powered rail car.

• To prove that his engine, named Tom Thumb, worked he challenged a horse drawn carriage to a race.

• He lost the race, but a lot of investors thought that his invention could work and gave him money to make it work.

• Rails have several advantages over canals.• Rails can go where rivers can’t.

• Placing rails is cheaper and easier than digging canals.

• Rails did not freeze in winter.

US FOREIGN POLICY• In 1817 James Monroe becomes the 5th

President.• John Quincy Adams is his Vice President.

• Quincy Adams wants to form a lasting peace with England.

• At the Convention of 1818 both countries agree to establish the boundary between the US and British Canada at the 49th Parallel.

SPANISH FLORIDA• Next Adams wants to get control of Spanish

Florida.• For years Spanish and Seminole Indians have

been raiding farms and towns in Georgia.

• Andrew Jackson is charged with the task of chasing the Indians and Spanish back into Florida.

• In chasing the Indians and Spanish back into Florida, Jackson captures two Spanish forts.

• Spain demands the forts be returned and Jackson be punished.

• Adams tells Spain – get control of Florida or get out.

• In the Adams-Onis Treaty, Spain agrees to cede Florida to the US and also gives up it’s claims to the Oregon Country.

SOUTH AMERICAN REVOLUTIONS• A Spanish priest, Miguel Hidalgo, inspired a

revolution in Mexico.• Mexico gains its independence in 1820.

• By 1819 Simon Bolivar had liberated Venezuela, Panama, Colombia, Ecuador & part of Peru.

• General Jose de San Martin led Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay and Chile to Independence.

• After they became independent the US and England recognized them right away. These were new trading partners.

• Other European leaders wanted their colonial possessions back.

THE MONROE DOCTRINE• To make sure the European leaders did not

attempt to recover their lost colonies Monroe asked Adams to draft a document so that would not happen.

• Issued in 1823 the Doctrine said that European powers should not attempt to colonize in the western hemisphere.

• In return the US will stay out of European affairs

• This is the cornerstone of American foreign policy to this day.

STRAINS ON NATIONAL UNITY• Financial Problems:

The country during Monroe’s first term was doing so well it was called the “Era of Good Feelings”.

• During the War of 1812 farmers made lots of money and increased the sizes of their farms.

• After the war crop prices fell here & in Europe and the farmers began losing money.

• Businesses also lost money and couldn’t pay their bills and had to lay off workers.

• With farmers losing their homes, workers laid off and businesses suffering the country went into a financial panic in 1819.

SLAVERY• In the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 slavery

was prohibited in the Northwest Territory. The new states of Ohio, Indiana and Illinois are all FREE STATES.

• States south of the Ohio River; Kentucky, Tennessee, Louisiana, Mississippi &

Alabama were SLAVE STATES.

• The ban on Slavery only applied to the Northwest Territory. What about the new states that are forming west of the Mississippi River?

SLAVE STATES v. FREE STATES• The North had a majority in the House of

Representatives and could keep slavery from spreading.

• In the Senate there were an

equal number of

Slave States and Free

States.• Adding another

slave or free state would

upset this balance of power.

• In 1819 Missouri wants to be admitted to the union as a Slave State and will upset the balance of power in the Senate.

• Also, the majority of Missouri is in the north and northerners don’t want slave states there.

THE MISSOURI COMPROMISE• A compromise has to be reached.• Congressman Henry Clay of Tennessee gets each

side to agree to the following:1.) Missouri will enter the union

as a SLAVE STATE2.) Maine will enter the union

as a FREE STATE.

• Unfortunately they didn’t stop there.• They drew a line across the Louisiana

Purchase at 36° 30’ North.• Above that line NO SLAVERY except in

Missouri• Below that line SLAVERY WAS ALLOWED.

• This didn’t solve the problem it made it worse.