A Nation Grows Day 1 The South and the West

1. A Nation GrowsDay 1The South and the West American History I SRMHS Mr. Hensley

2. After the War of 1812 • War brings Americans together – a sense of a shared identity • Western and Southern states no longer need to worry about the Native threat (why?) • International trade is safe again after Napoleon

3. The West Expands • Natives are forced out, Americans move in • Economy and population grow at rates of 3 to 5% per year • Rule of 72 • Indiana and Illinois become states after the War of 1812

4. Technology: Plows and Reapers • John Deere perfects the steel plow by the 1830’s • Cyrus McCormick perfects the mechanical reaper in the 1830’s • Farmers can grow more with less effort

5. Transportation Revolution • Steamboats move goods along major rivers quickly and cheaply (Mississippi, Missouri and Ohio) • 1811: steamboat service connects Pittsburgh to New Orleans • Days of travel time instead of weeks (or months) • Now farm foods from the west can quickly reach new markets

6. Erie Canal Links West to East • Completed in 1825, the Erie Canal connects Lake Erie to the HudsonRiver in New York state • Connects the Great Lakes region to New York City • Before the Canal, overland travel from NYC to Ohio very difficult (mountains) • Now Western farms can sell their produce in NYC

7. The West Wants… Roads and Canals • Western politicians will support a strong national government that can build interstate roads or canals • They will want a large national army to protect the frontier • Some in the West want a national bank to make paper money more relaible

8. The West Wants… Free Banking • New towns need loans to get started • New farmers need loans to buy equipment • The West will want banks that can issue notes (paper money) without having to back it up with gold (redemption)

9. Technology: Cotton Gin • Cotton seeds had to be separated by hand • Eli Whitney invents the cotton (en)gin(e), which separates the seeds mechanically • Cotton is now cheaper and becomes the preferred source for cloth and fabric

10. Cotton is King • Mississippi (1817) and Alabama (1819) become states - climate ideal for cotton • Cotton primarily sold to England (cash crop) • Cotton production in 1790: 3,000 bales per year • Cotton production in 1820: almost 200,000 bales • Cheap land plus cheap slave labor equals cheap cotton

11. Cotton and Slavery

12. Who Buys the Cotton? • Cotton is grown on large plantations and sold primarily to England • Over 50% of all American exports are cotton • Northern textile factories also demand cotton • Clothing revolution – cheap clothes means people can afford multiple sets

13. Pros and Cons of Specialization • Plantation system can be easily transplanted to new states • As long as demand exceeds supply, prices stay stable • Same crop over time depletes the soil – always need more land • Income inequality

14. South Wants… Slavery • South refuses to negotiate on slavery • All their money is tied up in the plantation system • South wants runaway slaves returned from Northern states • Southern way of life only possible with slavery

15. South Wants… Free Trade • Plantation owners buy luxury goods from Europe (especially England) • Tariffs make those goods more expensive • Tariffs also led to retaliation – fearful of an English tariff on American cotton

16. Review: The West and South BIG QUESTION: What changed in the South and the West after the War of 1812? First, the West was transformed by the end of the Native threat, by advances in river travel and by better roads/canals that linked the farms of the West to hungry markets in the East. The South embraced cotton, after the invention of the cotton gin made the crop profitable. “King Cotton” locked in slavery as a way of life and concentrated wealth in the hands of a few plantation owners and their families.