Geographic and Economic Motivators… By: Kristin Witt New Inventions Change America…. US 1.8 b,c

Motivations for moving west… Overcrowding in the original 13 colonies Cheap/fertile land Freedom Economic opportunity

Overcrowding… Population in the eastern United States was booming and cities were becoming very overcrowded.

Cheap/Fertile Land… The availability of cheap land helped farmers to buy large plots for little money.

Freedom…. Runaway slaves and free blacks moved out west for more opportunities and a chance to start over.

Transportation Out West… Rivers Steamboats Trails Canals

Rivers… Settlers used rivers like the Mississippi and Ohio to help them travel from east to west.

Steamboats…. Steamboats allowed cargo and people to be transported faster than ever before.

Trails… Settlers used the Santa Fe Trail (1821) to get to land in the southwest. The Oregon Trail (1843) helped settlers migrate to the northwest.

Canals…. River bottoms were dug out very deep in order for steamboats and other water transportation to pass. The Erie Canal, a famous canal connecting Albany, NY to Lake Erie, was completed in 1825.

Occupations Out West…. Gold Rush Miners (forty-niners) Logging Farming

The Gold Rush… Settlers wanted to “strike it rich” after gold was found in California in 1849. Although few found gold the idea of becoming rich motivated thousands (80,000) to migrate west.

Logging…. The west had tall trees and dense forests. Settlers cut lumber for train tracks, homes, ships and more.

Farming… Families settled inexpensive pieces of land in the Great Plains area, growing grain, corn and raising livestock.

New Inventions….

Cotton Gin… The cotton gin was invented by Eli Whitney and mechanically picked seeds out of the cotton plant. Before workers had to do it by hand. Now that cotton could be deseeded quickly, slaves had more time to grow more cotton. Therefore, the cotton gin increased the need for slave labor.

The Steam Locomotive.. The steam locomotive was powered by steam. Famous for it’s “chug-a-chug” and “toot-toot” sounds, it provided faster transportation of settlers. The locomotive was also a better way to transport large farm and industrial products and crops out west and back to the east. It was now easier for all areas of the country to transport and trade supplies and goods all over the United States. Inventor: Richard Trevithick

Steamboat…. The steamboat engine was not invented, but improved by Robert Fulton. It provided faster transportation on rivers and connected Southern plantations and farms with Northern industries and territories out west. People located near waterways shipped their goods to other places.

The Reaper Jo Anderson (a slave) and Cyrus McCormick worked to invent the reaper. Before the reaper was invented, slaves or farm workers had to cut down and gather crops by hand. The reaper increased productivity by gathering them mechanically, rather than by hand. Larger fields of crops were planted in order to keep up with the reaper. Therefore, more slaves were needed to plant the larger fields.

To be continued… In the south, inventions like the cotton gin and the reaper increased productivity. This caused the need for an increase in slave labor to keep up with the demand from customers and foreign buyers. We will soon study the controversy that the need for slaves caused…..