Worlds of the North & South April 4-5, 2011

Objective: Students will identify and describe key elements of Northern geography, economy, transportation, and society through visual discovery and creating category notes.

North & South LanguagePatriotismDemocracyReligion

Geography All Northern states experience four distinct seasons. Jagged New England coast with rocky soil – good for shipbuilding, fishing & commerce Thick forests - New Englanders could make money by harvesting timber. Wide plains with rich soil in New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey – useful for farming

Economy Economy based on manufacturing Steam-powered machinery New inventions made goods cheaper Steam-powered machinery New inventions made goods cheaper Unskilled laborers worked in factories Changes in northern agriculture - new reaper cut grain more efficiently than a scythe

Transportation Congress funded the construction of a National Road to connect the East to the West Steamboats helped move people & goods up and down major rivers Erie Canal: first all-water link between farms on the Central Plains & East Coast cities By the 1840s, railroads had become the North’s biggest business

More & more northerners were leaving farms and moving to towns and cities Society African Americans in the North were free, but they were not treated as equals Between 1845 & 1860, four million immigrants, mostly from Ireland and Germany, came to the North.

TRUE (thumbs up) or FALSE? (thumbs down) Free blacks in the North had the same exact rights as white men. The National Road was a national failure. Industry in the North was based on manufacturing. Only a few northern states experience all 4 seasons. By the 1840s, railroads were the North’s biggest business.

Objective: Students will identify and describe key elements of Southern geography, economy, transportation, and society through visual discovery and creating category notes.

Geography Mild winters & long, hot summers. Plentiful rainfall & long growing season Coast has many swamps & marshes - damp lowlands ideal for growing rice & sugarcane Important feature – broad, flat rivers.

Economy Economy based on agriculture Plantation owners used slaves to grow cash crops like tobacco, rice, sugarcane & indigo “Cotton is King” – by 1860, sales of cotton overseas earned more than all US exports combined Eli Whitney hoped his invention would lighten the work of slaves but it made slavery more important than ever

Transportation People & goods moved on rivers Most important southern product shipped by water was cotton Mississippi River is the mightiest of all southern waterways South had ½ the amount of railroads as the North

Society Wealth measured in terms of land & slaves Rigid social structure: 1) rich plantation owners, 2) white farmers & workers, 3) African Americans Plantation owners dominated economy & politics Majority of white families owned their own land; only one in four owned even one slave Most African Americans in the South were slaves, a small minority were free blacks