Social Studies Roads, Rivers, and Rails Chapter 15 Lesson 2

Travel  Stagecoach-large horse-drawn carriage that carried passengers, baggage, and mail.  Steam engine-used energy from steam to power its engine  Canoes, flat-bottom boats, and log rafts

stagecoach steam engine flat-bottom boat

Inventors  Robert Fulton created a steamboat. His boat used a steam engine and two large paddle wheels. It was called the Clermont.  The steamboat took a 150-mile trip from N.Y. City to Albany in 32 hours, whereas a flat-bottom boat took days for the same trip.

Inventors  DeWitt Clinton dreamed of a canal (human-built waterway) to link the Hudson River in New York City to the Great Lakes.  It took 8 years to build the Erie Canal and it was finished in Before this, shipping over land from Lake Erie to N.Y. City took 20 days and cost $100 a ton. Now it took 8 days at $10 a ton.

Inventors  Peter Cooper replaced horses with an “iron horse”-a steam locomotive.  The 1 st railroad cars had to be put on with horses. Cooper named his engine “Tom Thumb.” When up against a horse-drawn coach-it lost. However, it still proved steam engines could haul large loads long distances.

Social Studies Moving to Texas Chapter 15 Lesson 3

Texas Fever  The 1 st Europeans to set foot in Texas were Spanish explorers.  Texas was a part of the Spanish territory of Mexico.  During the 1820’s and 30’s U.S. farmers found that land cost less in Texas. (some of the land was free!)  As the number of American immigrants increased, leaders of Mexico’s government worried they would lose Texas.

“Gone to Texas”  Texas had cheap fertile land.  In exchange for the right to settle in Texas, the Mexican government had certain requirements for the Americans: –1. become Mexican citizens –2. join the Roman Catholic Church –3. speak Spanish  Mexico’s leaders hoped these rules would make Americans loyal to Mexico rather than the U.S.  In 1835 about 1400 Mexican troops rode to Texas-they were sent by Mexico’s president Antonio Santa Anna.

 Texas and Mexico both formed armies. In December 1835, the Texas Army had defeated the Mexican Army and had taken control of the Alamo (an old Spanish mission that had been changed into a fort).  About were at the Alamo and Mexican soldiers broke through and attacked the fort on Mar. 6, 1836.

 Sam Houston was the general of the Texas army.  He trained 750 soldiers and they surprised Santa Anna near the San Jacinto River.  They shouted “Remember the Alamo!” and defeated the Mexican force.  The battle lasted 18 min., but it ended the war.

 Sam Houston was elected the 1 st president of the Republic of Texas.  Andrew Jackson was a friend of Houston’s and Houston asked if Texas could join the U.S., but Jackson declined.  In 1845 Texas became our country’s 28 th state-”the Lonestar State”.