Industry and Transportation 7.1

Objectives Summarize the key developments in the transportation revolution of the early 1800s. Analyze the rise of industry in the United States in the early 1800s. Describe some of the leading inventions and industrial developments in the early 1800s.

Key Parts Transportation Revolution Technology Sparks Industrial Growth Inventions Transform Industry and Agriculture

Introduction Read section 7.1 Fill in the table on pg. 228 with the causes and effects of the transportation revolution and industrialization.

The Transportation Revolution When the United States began to expand they learned quickly that travelling by land was going to be very difficult and costly. Some states began chartering companies to operate turnpikes, these were roads for which users had to pay a toll. Most of these turnpikes failed except the National Road that was made of crushed rock. Funded by the government the road extended west from Maryland to the Ohio River in 1818.

Cont. The first major advance in transportation was the development of the steamboat. Robert Fulton designed the first commercially successful steamboat- the Clermont. The steamboat made it much easier to move upstream. It used to take four months to go from New Orleans to Louisville Kentucky, once the steamboat arrived it went down to six days.

Cont.. A second transportation advance was the construction of canals. The most famous during this era was the Erie Canal. Completed in 1825 it ran 363 miles across New York State from Lake Erie to the Hudson River. This helped make New York City the nation’s greatest commercial center.

Cont… Railroads were the most dramatic advance in transportation in the 1800s. In the United States horses pulled the first American trains. Quickly inventors figured out how to make steam powered engines. The American rail network expanded from 13 miles of track in 1830 to 31,000 miles in 1860.

Technology Sparks Industrial Growth The transformation of technology and manufacturing became known as the Industrial Revolution. This changed the nation’s economy, culture, social life, and politics. A man named Samuel Slater defied English law and came to the United States and built the first water- powered textile mill in 1793.

Cont. Francis Cabot Lowell in 1811 toured England’s factory towns to gather secret information about their manufacturing. He returned and created a company called the Boston Associates, in 1813 they built their first mill and continued on building them along the Merrimac River. This is the first time you begin to see commercial factories.

Cont.. The company would hire young single women from local farms to work in the factories under strict rules. They were called “Lowell girls” This factory work changed the lives of thousands of people. The machines increased the pace of the work and did most of the difficult work so the companies could high less skilled workers at a lower cost and increase production. Average wage was $1 per week.

Inventions Transform Industry and Agriculture The invention of interchangeable parts by inventor Eli Whitney changed the world of manufacturing. This allowed people to get replacement parts for an object rather than disposing of it or having to forge something to replace the part with.

Cont. In 1837 Samuel F.B. Morse invented the electric telegraph. This allowed electrical pulses to travel long distance along metal wires as coded signals. By 1860 the nation had 50,000 miles of telegraph lines. Despite the growing size and power of the nation’s factories, agriculture still remained the largest industry.