American Transportation Revolution: Connecting People and Goods

1. Chapter 12 Changing American Life

2. Improving Transportation • Great Wagon Road-route used by thousands of settlers to move south from Pennsylvania to Georgia • After 20 millions acres had been purchased from the Cherokees, Daniel Boone was asked to build a road. They used the Cumberland Gap, a natural passage through the mountains. • The Wilderness Road stretched for 200 miles across Kentucky • The National Road was also built at a cost of $1.7 million • Private companies built turnpikes in an attempt to make money

3. Water Transportation • Early water transportation went only downstream because of the difficulty of fighting the current • Steamboats, which could easily go upstream, helped solve this problem. Cities soon grew along their routes. • Robert Fulton had the most influence in making steamboat travel popular with his boat, the Clermont

4. Erie Canal • Canals, shallow manmade waterways connecting two bodies of water, were built to aid trade • They used locks (water compartments that can be opened and shut) and dams to keep the water at the same depth • The Erie Canal was the most famous. It allowed water transportation from New York to Michigan • Use of the canals went down after Peter Cooper invented the steam locomotive

5. Expanding Communication • The postal service began to grow as people moved to different areas of the country and mail was sent all over. • The pony express was created in which young riders rode with the mail to areas around the country. • The pony express only lasted for a year and a half due to the invention of the telegraph by Samuel F.B. Morse, which allowed messages to be sent through wires

6. Developing Industry • Industrial Revolution-period of time in which many new inventions were created that helped farming, manufacturing and trade • This led to the factory system where hundreds of employees worked on building items • Samuel Slater came to America from England, where factories started, and helped create a textile factory from memory • Francis Cabot Lowell-New England cloth maker who organized a mill town for girls to work in

7. Sewing Machine • Elias Howe-patented the sewing machine but made little money during his life • Isaac Singer-invented another sewing machine that improved on Howe’s design but violated his patent also. Singer paid a fine and eventually joined forces with Howe

8. Improvements in the Factory System • Eli Whitney created interchangeable parts which allowed items to be made faster and cheaper • Interchangeable parts allowed for the mass production of products • Factory workers soon began to organize for a labor union. They wanted higher pay, free public education, a 10 hour work day and the end of child labor

9. Agricultural Advances • John Deere-young blacksmith who saw the problems with the common iron plow and created a plow with a steel blade instead • Cyrus McCormick-son of a Virginia blacksmith who invented a reaper, a machine for cutting or harvesting grain • Eli Whitney-inventor of the cotton gin which allowed the cotton to be cleaned quickly and made growing cotton a lucrative practice

10. New Asian Markets • Robert Gray-first American to circumnavigate the earth. He also opened up trade on the west coast to America • Commodore Matthew Perry-took warships to Japan and threatened them with war if they didn’t trade with America

11. The Yankee Clipper • The clipper was invented by John Griffiths but improved by Donald McKay with the addition of a sharp bow

12. Unitarianism and Transcendentalism • Unitarianism-religious movement that denied the Trinity and gained popularity in New England • William Ellery Channing-most famous Unitarian during this time who taught that the Bible wasn’t inspired by God and that Jesus was a great man but wasn’t God • Transcendentalism-movement that focused on finding truth and spirituality in nature • Transcendentalists used romanticism, which placed an emphasis on emotion

13. Second Great Awakening • Second Great Awakening-response to Unitarianism in which thousands became Christians • Timothy Dwight-president of Yale who debated Christianity with students and saw many become Christians • Charles Finney-revival preacher who moved away from commonly held doctrine to gain converts • Camp Meetings-popular form of revivals where preachers traveled and held services for thousands of people

14. Reform Movements • Horace Mann-led the education reform by creating the first public school in Massachusetts where students were divided into grades for the first time • Abolitionists-people who fought for the end of slavery • Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton-stood up for women’s rights by organizing the Seneca Falls Convention which focused on equality for women