The United States was slow to become industrialized - why?
Samuel Slater: "Father of the factory system" - First machinery for spinning cotton tread (1791)
Eli Whitney: Cotton gin (1793) - gave slavery a renewed lease of life
Interchangeable parts (1798) - caused factories to flourish in the north
Waltham, Massachusetts: First textile plant (1814)
Elias Howe: Perfected the sewing machine (1846), later improved by the Isaac Singer
1838 - Clerk of the patent office resigned in despair, complaining that all worthwhile inventions and been discovered!
1844 - Samuel F. B. Morse developed the telegraph
Northern "wage slaves":
Long hours/low wages/unsanitary & unsafe buildings
Labor unions illegal
Abuse of woman and children - in 1820, 50% of workers were children under 10!
^ Led to demands for improvements > 10 hr. work day for Federal employees
Commonwealth v. Hunt (1842) Supreme Court legalized unions
1837 - John Deere produced a steel plow
1830's - Cyrus McCormick developed a mechanical mower-reaper
^ Led to large-scale, specialized, cash-crop agriculture in the west and a need for new roads
1792 - 1st turnpike built from Philadelphia to Lancaster, PA
1811 -1852 - Cumberland Road built from Cumberland, MD to Vandalia, IL
1807 - Robert Fulton developed the first powerful steam boat which was capable of going upstream on the Mississippi and other western rivers
1825 - Erie Canal completed which made navigation possible from Buffalo and New York City
1828 - Baltimore & Ohio railroad began service
- By 1860, 30,000 miles of R.R. track - 75% in north!
* Transportation revolution led to a national economy by the eve of the Civil War
* The home grew into a place of refuge from the world of work
* The gulf between the rich and the poor was widened
* Foreign trade expanded (especially with Britain) but U.S. generally imported more than it exported > trade deficit
1858 - Cyrus field laid the Trans-Atlantic cable between New Foundland and Ireland
1840-50's - Clipper ships
1858 - Overland stage coach (Mark Twain's Roughing It)
1860 - Pony Express (St, Joseph, MO > Sacramento, CA)