1. Industrialization and Reform
Essential Questions -
How did industrialization, social reform, and political movements influence the direction of American life?
How did people respond to the new challenges of industrial life?

2. 3 Revolutions (1820s-1850s) Economic – inventions/factories
Social Reform – changes in how people worked/lived
Political – rise of sectionalism (north v. south) and nationalism (pride in US)

3. A Market Society The Factory System
Samuel Slater established America’s first factory in 1790
First large-scale American factory (1814 Waltham, MA)
Lowell followed
“interchangeable parts” that could be rapidly assembled into standardized finished products
South lags behind North
Spinning Jenny

4. Lowell Mills

5. Boott Mill (1835)

7. The Locks at Lowell (32 ft. drop). Merrimack River

8. Lowell Mills What do the girls’ expressions indicate about factory life?

9. Morning Bell at Lowell
1st Ring
4:30
Last Ring
10:00

10. Lowell Boardinghouse

11. Lowell Factory Church (1825)

12. Samuel Morse and his Telegraph

14. A New Economy Transportation
Improvements costs and linked farmers to markets
Improved water transportation did most
Steamboat/ canals
increased the speed
lowered expense of commerce $100 to $6 / ton
Railroads
Telegraph

15. Travel During the Erie Canal Era
Dirt Road (freight)
Canal (freight)
Method
Wagon
8 Horses
Line Boat
2 Mules
Amount of Time
15-45 Days
9 Days
Cost
$100/Ton
$6/Ton

16. Various Canals from 1800s

17. A New Economy (con’t) Inventions Eli Whitney’s cotton gin
McCormick’s reaper
Unfree Westward Movement
~1 million slaves moved from to the Deep South between 1800 and 1860
Slave trading became a well-organized business
Cotton became the empire of liberty’s most important export