Idea Transcript
Important Inventions Cotton Gin In your own words, explain what the problem was with cotton. Needed to be handpicked, seeds had to be removed, took very long, plantation owners were using other crops for money
Mechanical Reaper In your own words, explain what the problem harvesting wheat. Harvesting wheat was done by hand, using a sickle or scythe. This was a very timeconsuming and exhausting process (similar to mowing your lawn with a pair of scissors.)
Who did most of the cotton picking in the South? Slaves
Who invented the mechanical Reaper? Who helped him? Cyrus McCormick, Jo Anderson
Who invented the cotton gin? Eli Whitney
How did the mechanical reaper make harvesting wheat easier? only required two farmers – one to ride the horse and another to rake the wheat into piles after it was cut. Before the arrival of the mechanical reaper, a single farmer might be able to harvest one acre of wheat in a day How many people were required to work this machine? 2 Why did the mechanical reaper cause some people to move to cities? Fewer people became farmers because fewer people were required to do the work. Because they no longer had to worry about producing their own food, many people began moving to big cities, particularly in the North, looking for work in factories and other businesses.
What did the cotton gin do? Cotton could be put into the machine and forced through a wire mesh. The cotton fibers would fit through but the seeds would not How did the cotton gin impact the lives of African Americans? Created more cotton fields and more work How did the cotton gin affect the spread of slavery? Lead to the spread of slavery in the South
Steamboat Why did farmers use the rivers? to ship their goods In your own words, explain what the problem with traveling upriver. Going up the river against the current was very difficult. Boat crews would have to either paddle against the current, push against the river bed with wooden poles, or pull the boat upstream with ropes. Needless to say, this was a very slow process. Who invented the steamboat? Robert Fulton How did steam make the steamboat run? Used burning coal to boil water. When the water turned into steam, the steam started the engine which turned the paddles and propelled the boat forward. Because of the steamboat, what was now possible? It was now possible to travel up and down river, as well as north and south along the Atlantic Coast. What did the steamboat help connect? East to West
Steam Locomotive
Telegraph
In your own words, describe transportation before the steam locomotive. Americans had to stay local because transportation was very poor. There were no motorized means to move people or cargo. Transportation technology was limited to harnessing animals for land transport and using wind for water transport. Waterways were often the only routes for getting goods to and from market. Horses traveled faster (between 5 and 10 miles per hour) than people on foot, but they were not as common as you might think. Horses were expensive to feed and required special care. People used carts and wagons pulled by horses and oxen to get things from one place to another. Oxen were much slower than horses, but they were stronger and could haul heavier loads. What is the steam locomotive? A steam locomotive is a railway locomotive that produces its power through a steam engine Who invented the steam locomotive? What country was he from? James Watt developed the first commercially successful steam engine in Great Britain How was travel time affected by the steam locomotive? Railroads cut travel time by 90%, transforming a dangerous journey of months into an easy trip of a few days How did the railroad impact farmers? farmers switched from raising subsistence crops (food to feed their families) to cash crops better suited for their local soils, thus increasing crop yields dramatically. They could then sell the crops, buy the food needed to feed themselves, and still have money for buying consumer goods.
In your own words, explain what the problem with communication in the 1800’s? Letters and packages had to be physically carried over dangerous terrain and were often lost or destroyed. Exchanging letters with someone across the country could take up to a year.
The railroad proved to be a much ______safer_______ form of __________transportation__________________.
What was the early communication network? The Pony Express Who invented the telegraph? Samuel Morse What was the name of the code that carried messages? Morse Code
How did the telegraph impact the lives of Americans? The telegraph allowed Americans to communicate with family and friends in all parts of the nation. People could now get information in a matter of minutes, rather than a matter of days.
How did the telegraph help the Union Army during the Civil War? During the Civil War, Lincoln was able to communicate with his generals almost instantly. This communication was a major advantage for the Union Army.