1. Early Industry and Invention
Chapter 11.1

2. America’s First Industrial Revolution
Define Revolution:
A drastic and far reaching change in ways of thinking and behaving.

3. Industrial Revolution
Life was primarily agrarian
Small family run farms
cottage industries (handmade goods)
In England, in the mid 1700s a shift to machine power begins
Machines begin to replace work done by hand or with hand tools
The British blockade of American harbors during the War of 1812 leads to growth in American manufacturing

4. Textile Industry
Samuel Slater brings English textile technology to America in 1793
First spinning wheel mill in America
His first, water powered, mill inspired others to open mills along rivers in the Northeast
Hired local families to work in the mills - beginning of the “factory system” in America
Francis Cabot Lowell (1814)
Builds the first textile mill in America in 1814-based on secrets he learned in England
Hires local women to work in his mill
Women earning income
Women having opportunities outside their homes
Became abusive as mill owners tried to maximize profits
Low wages
Long hours
Unsafe conditions

5. What does this tell you about the worker’s daily lives?

6. Manufacturing Spreads
Interchangeable Parts (1797)
Eli Whitney
Hired by the U.S. Army to make 10,000 muskets
Muskets were previously made by hand by gunsmiths so the parts of each were unique to each gun
Whitney showed how quickly a musket could be assembled if all the parts were the same
Machines across industries were developed to produce identical parts
Increased the speed of production
Made repairs easy
Allowed for less skilled labor

7. Power Steam Engine (1769) James Watt
Ended the need for water driven machines
Factories could be built anywhere

8. Transportation Steamboat (1807) Robert Fulton
Utilizes a steam engine to power the boat
Boat can maneuver up and down stream - no longer dependent on the current
Shortens delivery time for goods
Shortens travel time between river based cities

9. Transportation
Peter Cooper - developed America’s first steam powered locomotive (1830)
Improved travel time over land
More reliable delivery schedules
More capacity for goods and passengers
Linked cities and improved infrastructure

10. Farming Threshing Machine (1786) Andrew Meikle
Separated the kernels of wheat from the husk
Shortened time it took to prepare wheat for milling
Mechanical Reaper (1834)
Cyrus McCormick
A device used to cut grain
Steel Plow (1837)
John Deere
Cut down planting time by more effectively tilling the soil

11. Communication Telegraph (1837) Samuel Morse
A device that uses short bursts of electricity to send messages over a wire
Drastically shortened the time it took to communicate with people in other cities

12. Interconnected New technology links regions together
Midwestern farms grow the food to feed Northeastern factory workers
Midwesterners buy manufactured goods from Northeastern factories.
Northeastern textile mills increase the demand for Southern cotton.
Increased demand for cotton leads to an expansion of slavery.

13. Reflection Questions (answer in complete sentences)
Explain how new inventions improved American life.
Explain how the use of interchangeable parts improved manufacturing.
Both Samuel Slater and Francis Lowell illegally brought industrial secrets to the United States. Do you think they were wrong to do this? Explain.

14. James Watt
Samuel Slater
Eli Whitney
Andrew Meikle
Robert Fulton
Peter Cooper
Cyrus McCormick
John Deere
Samuel Morse