Westward Expansion in the Industrial Revolution

1. Moving West& The Industrial Revolution Chapter 11

2. NEW TECHNOLOGIES • Cotton gin (Eli Whitney) – increased production of cotton & increased the need for slaves to grow & pick it • Reaper (Cyrus McCormick) – increased production of the farmer • Steamboat (Robert Fulton) – faster transportation from Southern plantations to factories of the North • Steam locomotives – faster land transportation

3. Machines • Before the Industrial Revolution, people worked on farms or in workshops. • Now many people worked in factories

4. Transportation • In the 1800’s dirt roads could not be used in bad weather. The government built a National Road from Maryland to Ohio • Steamboat could travel without wind or currents and canals opened up making it faster and cheap to ship goods • Steam locomotive trains were even faster than steamboats and could run on hills or in bad weather. By 1850, the United States had 9,000 miles of railroad track. As more cities were connected by railroads, people could send their goods all over the country

5. Railroad • 1840s, shipping by railroad much costlier than by canal • Railroads faster, operate in winter, go inland • Early train travel uncomfortable for passengers • By 1850s, railroads expand, cost drops, safety increased

7. Irish and German Immigrants • Since the 1700s, the poor people of Ireland had relied on the potato as their staple, or major, food crop. • From 1845 to 1849, a disease, or blight, struck the crop, severely restricting the potato harvest. • Deprived of their primary food source and receiving little relief from the ruling British government, Ireland’s poor faced starvation. • By 1850 about 1 million had died during the Great Irish Famine. • Desperate to save themselves and their families, about 1.5 million of them settled in the United States.

8. Irish and German Immigrants • Like the Irish, many Germans were fleeing conditions in their homeland. • Some fled economic depression and overpopulation, which made jobs scarce. • Others left to escape religious persecution, harsh tax laws, or military service. • Still others fled their country after a revolution in 1848 failed. • Many Germans came to the United States in search of free land and business opportunities.

9. Texas & Mexican War

10. USI.8A TEXAS • Stephen Austin • Sam Houston • Alamo • Davy Crockett • Jim Bowie • Texas Republic • Mexican War • Santa Anna “Yellow Rose of Texas” – TX State Song (2)

11. The Annexation of Texas • Texas breaks from Mexico and declares it’s independence in 1836. • The U.S. annexed Texas in 1845. • Led to the Mexican/American War. Slide borrowed from the Internet!

12. Moving West • Santa Fe Trail—busy trade route; Independence, MO to Santa Fe, NM • •First 150 miles wagons go alone, then band together for protection • The Oregon Trail • • 1836, settlers go to Oregon, prove wagons can go into Northwest • • Oregon Trail—trail from Independence, MO to Portland, OR • • Pioneers use Conestoga wagons, push handcarts; trip takes months

13. WHY MOVE WEST? • Population growth in the eastern states • Cheap, fertile land • Economic opportunity (gold rush, logging, farming, freedom (for runaway slaves) • Cheaper, faster transportation (rivers and canals {Erie Canal}, steamboats, etc.) • Knowledge of overland trails (Oregon & Santa Fe) • Belief in Manifest Destiny (idea that expansion was good and right for the country)

14. The Rush Begins • • 1848, gold discovered at Sutter’s Mill in California Sierra Nevadas • • San Francisco residents abandon city to pan for gold • • Gold rush, or migration of prospectors to California in 1849 • • Forty-niners, gold prospectors, come from Asia, South America, Europe

15. Impact of Gold Fever • San Francisco becomes supply center for miners, major port • Gold Rush Brings Diversity • By 1849, California’s population exceeds 100,000 • Chinese, free blacks, Mexicans migrate in large numbers • Slavery permitted until outlawed by 1849 constitutional convention • California joins Union in 1850