Manifest Destiny and the Industrial Revolution Cicero © 2008

Manifest Destiny Manifest Destiny was a term used in the 1840s to justify the United States' westward expansion into such areas as Texas, Oregon and California. There was a widely held underlying belief that Americans, the chosen people, had a divinely inspired mission to spread democracy to the less fortunate (usually meaning Native Americans and other non-Europeans). Cicero © 2008

How does this painting explain the attitude of Americans in the mid 1800’s? I save the bottom to help answer. I try and point out that in front of her is darkness which is the unknown of the west. You have the Indian vilage in the background under the book and a wagon train above that. I also point out the horse and native with the dog as almost running away in fear. The telegraph line, and railroad tracks stop where she is at. There are examples of miners for the gold rush, steamboats in the river, and settlers moving west. It is a really good picture for the students to analyze. Spirit of the Frontier/American Progress 1872 by John Gast (a.k.a. Westward Angel)

Some Examples of American Expansion….. Revolutionary War (1776) Proc. Of 1763 Louisiana Purchase (1803) From France -15 million War of 1812 Designs on Canada & Florida (1819) $5 million Monroe Doctrine (1823) Hands off the western hemisphere Indian Removal Act (1830) Trail of Tears 1838 Texas Revolution (1836) Annexation of Texas 1847 Mexican War (1846) Polk used a border dispute to justify expansion Mexican Session (1848) CA, NV, NM, WY, CO, UT, AZ Gadsden Purchase (1853) From Mexico -10 million Purchase of Alaska (1867) From Russia -7.2 million Cicero © 2008

Cicero © 2008

“Go West Young Man!” Horace Greeley-1845 Why did early settlers flood across the country during the mid 1800’s? The California Gold Rush began in 1848 with the discovery of gold at Sutter’s Mill on the California River. Settlers flocked to the Oregon Country in search of fertile land which they could farm. Ranchers moved into areas that were previously inhabited with buffalo and began raising cattle. Cicero © 2008

The Industrial Revolution 1790-1860

Textiles: The First American Industry

James Hargreaves 1720-1778 (English) He invented the spinning jenny, a hand-powered multiple spinning machine in 1764. The spinning jenny was much more efficient than the spinning wheel. With a spinning wheel, a person could produce only one thread at a time. With Hargreaves' spinning jenny, a person could produce up to eight threads at once. Hargreaves got the idea for his new invention when his daughter Jenny accidentally knocked over her father’s spinning wheel.

Eli Whitney 1765-1825 Created the first successful cotton gin in 1793. The cotton gin was a mechanical device which removed the seeds from cotton, a process which until that time had been extremely labor intensive. Whitney was against slavery and believed his invention may replace slaves. Ironically, the cotton gin led to a boom in cotton production and the slave trade.

Samuel Slater 1768-1835 Known as the father of the American Industrial Revolution. In 1789, at the age of twenty-one, Slater snuck out of England with the knowledge to build a textile mill in America. Slater had to use a false name when traveling to America because it was illegal for anyone with knowledge of the factory system to leave England. Diagram of a New England Textile Mill

Mechanical Power

James Watt 1736-1819 (English) In 1765, Watt revolutionized the steam engine, redesigning it so that it was much more efficient and four times more powerful Watt’s improved steam engine would lead to many other inventions such as; the locomotive, steamboat, and improved other inventions like the cotton gin and spinning jenny Boiler Steam Flywheel Piston Heat Source

Robert Fulton 1765-1815 Built the first successful steamboat in 1807 known as the Clermont The ship made its maiden voyage up the Hudson River on August 17, 1807. It left from an estate called Clermont. This might explain the mistaken name.

Technological Advances in Farming

John Deere 1804-1886 Deere designed the first cast steel plow in 1837 which made farming easier for the farmers of the Great Plains. The large plows, made for cutting the tough prairie ground, were called grasshopper plows. Deere went on to sell 10,000 of his new plows.

Cyrus McCormick 1809-1884 Who developed the mechanical reaper in 1834. It greatly increased crop yields, decreased the number of field hands needed for the harvest, lowered costs, and revolutionized farming.

Other Major Inventions

Benjamin Franklin 1706-1790 Franklin experimented extensively with electricity, determining that there are two types of electricity, positive and negative. In 1752, his experiments with a kite in a thunderstorm led to the development of the lightning rod. Franklin invented bifocal glasses. He also invented a new, more efficient cast iron stove that bears his name.

David Bushnell 1742-1824 He invented the first successful submarine, called American Turtle, that was used against the British (although unsuccessfully) in 1776.

Diagram of Bushnell’s AmericanTurtle-1776

Samuel F. B. Morse 1791-1872 Morse built the first American telegraph around 1835 . A telegraph sends electrical signals through wires over a long distance in the form of dots and dashes which can be interpreted with the use of a code invented by Morse. With this new device, Americans could now communicate in real time over great distances.

Morse Code