I. Industrial transport
A. Steamboats
1. Faster than ever
2. Lots of inland rivers
3. Faster than land travel
B. Canals
1. Faster than roads
2. Led to increase of engineers
3. Helped small farmers in the west
C. Railroads
1. Cheap to build
2. Expensive to maintain
3. Railroads connected systems
4. Used to bring settlers west
5. Not fully used till 1850
6. More expensive than water travel
II. The Erie Canal- the great experiment
A. Causes
1. Shipping was very expensive on the rivers
2. Quick connection from Ohio River to Great Lakes
B. Building it
1. No real engineering schools- no engineers
2. Trial-and-error
3. Two judges laid the route
4. Cleared trees, blasted rocks with bad blasting powers until EI Dupont designed dynamite
5. 83 locks originally
C. Effects
1. More engineers
2. Canal boom
3. Made commodities available to Midwest persons, leading to canal cities getting bigger
III. Urbanization- towns growing to cities
A. The North
1. Greatest urbanization
1. New York & Philadelphia had over a million by 1850
2. Baltimore was big too
3. The canal system led to big canal cities: Pittsburgh
4. Textile industry boom led to concentration of workers in cities
B. The South
1. New Orleans
2. Charleston
3. Poor living condition- high mortality- disease
4. Lost many people to disease from mosquitoes, did not grow as fast.
C. The Old West
1. Lots of people moved to obtain cheap land
2. Chicago & Detroit grew from trade in the great lakes area
3. St Louis grew off the river trade
IV. Textiles
A. Few men led to many single women
B. Men went west
C. Large corporations employed thousands, led to expansion of many towns
D. Upset New England society
E. Moral police kept workers in line who lived in company housing
F. For the first time, things were made in the USA, rather than imported
G. Protests emerged, women wanted rights
V. Urban artisans
A. Found mostly in large cities
B. If they had money, they would focus more on selling, rather than producing
C. Types
1. Cigars
2. Leather
3. Shoemakers
4. Carpentry
D. Led to labour unions
1. Descended from guilds
2. To protect artisans from cheap unskilled labourers
E. Deterioration of working conditions
1. 10 hr day
2. Very bad
3. Striking
F. Growing economic disparity
VI. Presentations
A. Disparity between rich and poor
1. Rich could stay home if sick
2. Poor could not afford to
3. Rich considered them unequal
4. Terrible working conditions
B. Freed African Americans
1. Had no political rights
2. Except in Boston
3. Could not migrate
4. Phoenix Society- advancement of free blacks
C. Gender Relations
1. Fewer kids, but still a lot
2. Women in charge of domestic sphere
3. Men ruled family
4. Women couldn’t marry who they chose
D. Family authority
1. Father ruled family
2. Women couldn’t choose their husbands
3. Boys had to work once they reached teens
4. Many young people moved west to escape parents
E. The Western Frontier
1. Hard to start a practice as a doctor
2. Considered savages by easterners
3. Women sew and run houses
4. Men did hard physical work
5. More equality than in east