CH. 7 SECTION 1

INDUSTRY AND TRANSPORTATION

• IN 1812, IT TOOK 75 DAYS FOR A

FULLY LOADED WAGON PULLED BY 4

HORSES TO TRAVEL FROM

WORCESTER, MA TO CHARLESTON,

SC…

• A ROAD THAT YOU HAD TO PAY A TOLL TO USE

• THE FIRST TURNPIKE IS BUILT FROM LANCASTER, PA TO PHILADELPHIA, PA

DURING WASHINGTON’S SECOND TERM AS PRESIDENT. IT IS 62 MILES

LONG.

• MOSTLY BUILT BY PRIVATE COMPANIES WITH LITTLE TO NO HELP FROM

STATE OR LOCAL GOVERNMENT

• HIGH TOLL DISCOURAGES FARMERS FROM USING TO MOVE CROPS

TURNPIKES

• IN 1802 AND 1803, CONGRESS VOTES TO USE MONEY

FROM THE SALE OF PUBLIC LAND TO BUILD A ROAD

THROUGH MOUNTAINS AND OHIO.

• CUMBERLAND, MD SELECTED AS STARTING POINT IN 1806.

• WORK STARTS IN 1811 AND TAKES 50 YEARS.

THE NATIONAL ROAD

• WORK BEGINS IN 1811 AND REACHES WHEELING, WV WHICH IS ON THE OHIO

RIVER IN 1818.

• IN 1852, THE ROAD REACHES VANDALIA, IL.

• ROAD BECOMES VITAL WAGON TRAIL WESTWARD.

• MAJORITY OF TURNPIKES WERE JUST BUMPY TRAILS, SOME WITH FOOT TALL

STUMPS. AMERICANS LIVE ON FARMS AND NEED A GOOD CROSS COUNTRY ROAD

TO NO LONGER BE ISOLATED.

THE NATIONAL ROAD

MUCH OF THE NATIONAL ROAD IS US 40 TODAY.

• ROADS LEAD TO VILLAGES WHERE GOOD COULD BE FLOATED TO THEIR DESTINATION.

IN THE WEST, ALL WATER LED TO THE MISSISSIPPI AND THEREFORE NEW ORLEANS

AND THE REST OF THE WORLD.

• IN THE EAST, MAJOR CITIES WANT A PIECE OF THE ACTION. ONE GOVERNOR TAKES A

GIANT STEP TOWARDS CHANGING THIS.

CANAL BUILDING EXPLODES

DEWITT CLINTON

Governor of New York in

1816

Elected mayor of

New York City 5 times.

Lost to James Madison in the

1812 President Election

• CLINTON WAS A BATTLER FOR REFORMS.

• ABOLITIONIST, DEFEND POOR DEBTORS.

• TO PROMOTE COMMERCE, HE WANTED TO BUILD THE LONGEST CANAL IN AMERICA.

• AT THE TIME THERE WAS ONLY 100 MILES OF CANALS WITH NONE LONGER THAN 2

MILES.

CANAL BUILDING: CLINTON CON’T

• CLINTON’S CANAL WOULD RUN THROUGH THE MOHAWK VALLEY OF NEW

YORK. IT WOULD START IN BUFFALO AND END IN ALBANY ON THE HUDSON

RIVER. IT WOULD BE 363 MILES LONG. IT IS KNOWN AS THE ERIE CANAL.

CANAL BUILDING: CLINTON CON’T

• GETTING FUNDING AND APPROVAL IN NEW YORK STATE PROVED TO BE TRICKY.

• HUDSON RIVER AND LONG ISLAND FARMERS FEAR COMPETITION.

• SOME THOUGHT IT WOULD BE TOO EXPENSIVE.

• APPROVAL GIVEN IN 1817 ALONG WITH $7 MILLION

• HTTP://WWW.HISTORY.COM/SHOWS/AMERICA-THE-STORY-OF-US/VIDEOS/BUILDING-

THE-ERIE-CANAL

CANAL BUILDING

• OF COURSE, THEY ASSUMED THAT CLEVER MEN WOULD FIGURE OUT A

WAY TO BUILD A LONG DITCH. THEY WERE CORRECT.

• THE CANAL OPENS IN 1825 TO A STATE CELEBRATION.

• CLINTON LEAD NATIONAL LEADERS ON FIRST TRIP DOWN CANAL AND

DUMPS LAKE ERIE WATER INTO ATLANTIC OCEAN.

CANAL BUILDING: ERIE CANAL

• IT TAKES JUST 9 YEARS TO REPAY THE COST.

• SHIPPING COST PER TON FROM BUFFALO TO NYC DROP FROM 20 CENTS A MILE TO

LESS THAN A PENNY.

• FARM PRODUCTS FROM OHIO AND WESTERN NY DOUBLE IN VALUE DUE TO EASE

OF REACHING EASTERN MARKETS.

• GREAT LAKES CITIES SUCH AS BUFFALO, CLEVELAND, DETROIT AND CHICAGO RIVAL

OLD-RIVER CITIES PITTSBURGH, CINCINNATI, AND ST. LOUIS.

THE ERIE CANAL IS A SUCCESS

• AS A RESULT, NYC BECOMES NATION’S COMMERCIAL METROPOLIS.

• BY 1840, $125 MILLION IS SPENT IN THE NORTH AND WEST ON 3326 MILES OF

CANAL.

• PANIC OF 1837 HALTS BUILDING AND STATES SUCH AS PENNSYLVANIA AND

INDIANA, WHICH HAD BUILT WITHOUT FIGURING OUT HOW TO PAY FOR THE

CANALS WERE NEAR BANKRUPT.

CANAL BUILDING BOOM

• AS A RESULT, MANY STATES PASS LAWS FORBIDDING THE USE OF STATE

CREDIT TO PAY FOR INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS.

• WHEN RAILROAD BUILDING BEGINS IN THE 1840S AND 1850S, THOUGH

AIDED BY STATE FUNDS, MOST ARE BUILT BY PRIVATE COMPANIES.

ROBERT FULTON

• BOATS HAD ALWAYS MOVED BY MANPOWER OR BY WIND…

• FULTON CHANGES THIS BY GETTING AN ENGLISH STEAM ENGINE AND

PUTTING IT ON HIS BOAT, THE CLERMONT

• IT TAKES 32 HOURS TO GET FROM NEW YORK CITY TO ALBANY

• WITHIN 4 YEARS, THE FIRST STEAMBOAT WEST OF THE MOUNTAINS IS

LAUNCHED ON THE OHIO RIVER

• THIS DEVELOP ALLOWS WESTERNERS WHO FLOATED THEIR GOODS

DOWN TO NEW ORLEANS TO RIDE BACK HOME IN LUXURY AND COMFORT

RAILROADS

• MOST DRAMATIC IMPROVEMENT – DEVELOPED IN GB – APPEARED IN U.S.

1820’S

• FIRST PULLED BY HORSES; LATER USED STEAM

• COULD CARRY MUCH HEAVIER FREIGHT

• COST LESS TO BUILD THAN CANALS AND COULD TRAVEL FASTER

George Stephenson’s “ROCKET”

THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION

• NAME FOR THE GREAT CHANGES BROUGHT BY THE MODERN

FACTORY SYSTEM

• STARTED IN BRITAIN

• MADE IT A CRIME TO TAKE DESIGNS OF NEW FACTORY SYSTEM

MACHINERY ELSEWHERE IN ORDER TO STAY ON TOP

• MADE IT A CRIME TO LEAVE COUNTRY TO WORK IN ANOTHER

THE BRITISH WERE QUITE PROUD!!!

SAMUEL SLATER

• MEMORIZES THE MACHINERY

DESIGN FOR TEXTILE MILLS

• COMES TO AMERICA

• IN 1792, 2 BUSINESSMEN HELP

HIM OPEN FIRST AMERICAN

TEXTILE MILL IN PAWTUCKET, RI

• CONSISTS OF 72 SPINDLES AND

WORK FORCE OF 9 CHILDREN

THE SLATER MILL

Pawtucket Falls on the Merrimack River,

Lowell, MA

WALTHAM AND THE FACTORY SYSTEM

• THE YEAR IS 1810 AND FRANCIS CABOT LOWELL IS VISITING ENGLISH

FACTORIES WHILE ON A 2 YEAR TOUR OF ENGLAND…

• UPON RETURNING HOME, LOWELL’S IMPORT/EXPORT BUSINESS STOPS DUE

TO THE WAR OF 1812

LOWELL

• IN 1813, LOWELL AND HIS ASSOCIATES IN THE

BOSTON MANUFACTURING COMPANY BRING

TOGETHER ALL THE PROCESSES FOR MAKING CLOTH

UNDER ONE ROOF FOR THE FIRST TIME

• EXPANDS BUSINESS TO MODERN DAY LOWELL, MA

• TOWN NAMED AFTER FRANCIS CABOT LOWELL

WALTHAM OR LOWELL LABOR SYSTEMS

• WORKFORCE IS MOSTLY YOUNG WOMEN

• LOWELL DOESN’T WANT AMERICAN WORKERS TO BECOME

LIKE THOSE HE SAW IN ENGLAND

• “LOWEST CHARACTER, FOR INTELLIGENCE AND MORALS”

• INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION FREEING WOMEN FROM FARM

CHORES

• MAKE MONEY, MARRY, RAISE A FAMILY WITH HOPE THAT

DAUGHTERS WILL WORK AT MILL

WALTHAM OR LOWELL LABOR SYSTEMS

• LOWELL WANTS NO PERMANENT WORKING CLASS

• HIS SYSTEM SOLVES THE SCARCITY OF WORKERS

PROBLEM

• ANOTHER REASON TO BRING CHILDREN INTO THE

WORKFORCE

• RESULT IS COMMUNITIES WITH LARGE WOMEN AND

CHILDREN POPULATIONS SPRING UP

TEXTILE MILL LOOMS

FACTORY TOWNS

• LOWELL/WALTHAM

• SOME WOMEN BUILT THEIR OWN HOMES WITH THEIR EARNINGS

• COMPANY PROVIDED CHURCH, LIBRARY AND LECTURE HALL

• CT, RI, SOUTHERN MA

• FACTORY COMMUNITY WERE SIMILAR TO THOSE IN ENGLAND

• ENTIRE FAMILIES INCLUDING CHILDREN WHO WERE 7

LOWELL, MA (1910)

SLAVERY V. FACTORY SYSTEM

• The south defends their “peculiar institution” by saying that northern

“wage slavery” was worse than their own plantation slavery

• Southern claims include they cared for their old and sick instead of

discarding

• Fail to mention that northern workers had job mobility

ELI WHITNEY• Has idea that one person can be trained and focused on one part…50

parts, 50 people…you can make more parts this way instead of just

one gun like a gunsmith can

• Built machines to produce identical parts

• 1802-brings idea to Washington DC and has leaders put 10 muskets

together in just a few minutes

ELI WHITNEY• Interchangeable parts make it easy to fix muskets while in battle

• Mass production- US immigrants lack skills to be gunsmith for

example

• Watches and locks are cheaper than in europe

• Improved wages because of more sales which required no specialized

skill

• Constitution calls for the post office as early as 1787

• Post road- road with fresh horses

• One main road on east coast

• No home delivery: go to post office

• If you don’t want mail, you don’t pay for the postage

• 1825-home delivery begins but with no pay for carriers

POST OFFICE

• IN 1845, UNDER PRESIDENT POLK, CONGRESS PASSES FIRST LAW

FOR CHEAP POSTAGE.

• 1847 THE RESULT IS BELOW

• 1896: RURAL FREE

DELIVERY

POST OFFICE

• 11 years of development after

which Congress funds Morse for a

telegraph line from Baltimore to

Washington DC

• May 24th, 1844: first telegraph

• “What hath God wrought?”

• Large network from Maine to

South Carolina and west to

St. Louis

SAMUEL MORSE: TELEGRAPH

• Break news bulletins

• Cyrus fields develops telegraph line to

europe…the line is finished in 1858 but the

line breaks just weeks later.

• Before it can be fixed, the civil war starts

TELEGRAPH