VOCABULARY Discrimination – Eli Whitney – Cotton Kingdom – Cotton Gin – Cash crop –

And the story continues. . . Mid-1800s more young men and women ventured westward to seek their fortune. Many died of cholera along the long five-month journey. Still, by 1860 more than 50,000 pioneers live in Oregon Country. James K. Polk is elected President and Texas is annexed into the Union. Mexico is furious and when American troops are sent into what Mexico believes is their territory near the Rio Grande, fighting breaks out. The Mexican-American War begins and after two years of fighting Mexico loses one-third of its territory. America officially owns Texas, California and New Mexico as the quest for Manifest Destiny is fulfilled. The US population increases during this time, more people are working in factories and leaving their farms. More people are moving West. Better roads are created, steamboats, covered bridges, turnpikes, to accommodate the many people traveling West. Tariffs are passed to keep American factories from going bankrupt, but his angers the South – contributing to a growing sense of sectionalism in the country.

The industry in the North continued to grow steadily in the mid-1800s The industry in the North continued to grow steadily in the mid-1800s. Although most northerners still lived on farms, the basis for the northern economy was manufacturing and trade. With the invention of new machines, everything from making clothing to harvesting grain took less time. In 1844, Samuel F.B. Morse invented the telegraph where electric dots and dashes (called Morse Code) passed along a wire. This “talking wire” increased communication across long distances and provided merchants and farmers with valuable pricing and supply information.

An increase in manufactured goods led to quicker ways to deliver and transport goods. Specifically, roads, canals and railroads helped boost the economy. By the 1830s factories began to use steam power instead of water power. This allowed factories to be built anywhere, not just near a fast-running river to power its machines. This allowed northern American industry to expand quickly. Machines and large factories made it possible to produce more goods at a cheaper cost. Thus, more Americans could afford factory-made products instead of making goods in their homes.

Improvements made to the railroad (sturdier bridges, iron rails, steam powered) made trains a reliable source of transportation. The railroad eventually stretched across the nation linking towns and big cities. Railroads allowed factories to transport large amounts of raw materials and finished goods cheaply and quickly. The growth of railroads affected northern farmers who couldn’t compete with the cheap grain transported from the West. Many northern farmers left their farms to take jobs as workers in factories and as sales clerks.

In the early years of the United States, slavery was legal in the North. By the early 1800s all the northern states had outlawed slavery. Many thousands of free African American citizens lived in the North. Free African Americans still faced discrimination, a policy or an attitude that denies equal rights to a certain group of people. It was difficult for even a skilled African American worker to find a job in the North. There were instances when a black worker was hired only to have the other white workers in the shop walk out because they would not work beside an African American.

William Whipper grew wealthy as the owner of a lumber yard in Pennsylvania. He used his wealth to help slaves find freedom. Henry Blair invented a corn planter and a cotton seed planter. Macon Allen became the first African American licensed to practice law in the United States. John Russwurm became one of the editors of Freedom’s Journal, the first African American newspaper.

Unlike the North which became more industrial with machines and factories, the South became more agricultural. With textile mills in the North (and in Britain) making cloth at record pace, cotton was in high demand! At first southern planters could not meet the demand. The weather in the South was ideal for growing plenty of cotton, but removing the small cotton seeds by hand was a slow process. Southern farmers could not get their cotton cleaned quick enough to meet the demand.

A young Connecticut schoolteacher named Eli Whitney saw the struggled southern farmers faced as he traveled through Georgia. In ten days he came up with a cotton engine “gin” that used two rollers and thin wire teeth to separate the seeds from the cotton fibers. Eli Whitney’s invention had a huge effect on the South! A worker using a gin could do the work of 50 people cleaning cotton by hand. Southern farmers could now supply their cotton to the North quickly, thus increasing their profit.

The cotton gin allowed farmers to grow more cotton The cotton gin allowed farmers to grow more cotton. In 1792, planters grew 6,000 bales of cotton a year. By 1850, farmers grew over 2 million bales! Southern planters began looking for more fertile land to grow cotton and began pushing west. In the 1850s, cotton plantations stretched from South Carolina through Alabama and Mississippi to Texas. This area became known as the Cotton Kingdom.

Profits are used to buy more land. Slaves work hard As more cotton was grown a need for black slaves increased. Because of Eli Whitney’s invention the cotton could be cleaned quickly, but it still had to be planted and picked by slave hands. A vicious cycle was created, where southern farmers relied on their free slave-labor to keep their profits high. Planters make more money. Profits are used to buy more land. More slaves are needed!

Grown along the coast, cotton was the South’s most profitable cash crop - a crop grown to sell for a profit instead of being use by the grower. But farther inland other crops were grown such as rice, sugar cane, and tobacco. The South also raised most of the nation’s cattle.

Although the South was mainly agriculture, there were some successful industries. Railroad equipment, machinery and tools were made in Richmond, Virginia. Flour mills were also common factories in the South. The South still trailed behind the North in manufacturing. Profits made in the South were not used to open new factories like in the North. Instead money was invested in fertile land and slaves.

Slaves were not paid for their labor. This meant . . . millions of slaves living in the south had no money to buy any goods or services. This meant . . . the demand for goods decreased because only PART of the southern population could spend money, thus shrinking the southern economy.

This meant . . . millions of factory workers living in the north could buy food, manufactured goods, and resources. This meant . . . the demand for goods in the north increased because ALL of the working population could spend money, thus boosting the northern economy. Factory workers earned an hourly wage. They were paid for their labor (work).

Since the South had few factories to manufacture goods, they became more and more dependent on the North and Europe. Most manufactured goods (furniture, farm tools and machinery) were purchased by southerners from northern factories. Southern farmers even borrowed money from northern banks.

It is important to understand the economies of the North and the South because it is one of the reasons the nation went to war. Although southerners did NOT like relying on Northern industry for their manufactured goods, most felt proud of their agriculture and booming cotton industry. But when the Southern agricultural way of life (slavery) is threatened, both the North and the South will rise up and fight for their cause, leading to a nation torn apart.