1. Chapter 11 – Changes in Technology and American Culture 1840-1860

2. Technology That Changed America The Cotton Gin (Eli Whitney) (1793) –Result: eightfold increase in cotton production and dependency of the South on cotton and slavery

3. John Deere (1837) – the Steel tipped plow –Allowed for profitable wheat production in the middle west Cyrus McCormick (1834) – the mechanical reaper –Harvested grain 7 times faster; and led to the dominance of wheat as the agricultural product of the middle west.

4. The American system of Manufacturing –The production of machined tools –Allowed for replacement parts –Encouraged new inventions Eg. Samuel Colt – the revolver (1832) Eg. Samuel F.B. Morse – telegraph (1835)

5. The Railroad Turned inland southern and northern cities into commercial hubs Settlement, agricultural development and industrial growth were stimulated in the Midwest Railroads intentionally developed towns along their routes Changed the nature of American business –Eg. Massive private investment through the stock mar ket

7. Changes in Everyday life Cheaper goods and higher wages –But a greater difference between the middle class and the poor Urban areas filled with row houses Large urban areas and increased transportation led to large epidemics Medical fads became popular –Hydropathy, Grahamites, Phrenology

9. Democratization of American Pastimes The penny newspapers –Large circulation; reported the news and human interest stories The Theatre –Cheap; attended by all classes

10. The Minstrel Show Minstrel Shows Popular with working-class whites Popularized stereotypes

11. The American Museum P.T. Barnum The American Museum

13. Literature and Art Growth of American literature-- fiction –Because of improved transportation –Influence of romanticism –Some writers drew upon the American experience (Cooper, Emerson, Thoreau) –Other writers found little in America for great fiction (Hawthorne, Melville, Poe) Hudson River school of Art –Tried to preserve the American that was quickly passing away –Pictured Native Americans as “noble savages”