1834Cyrus McCormickpatents reaper

1844Samuel Morse sendsfirst telegraph message

1846Elias Howe patentsa sewing machine

1860About 3,000steamboats are operating

Main IdeaDuring the 1800s, advances in tech-nology and transportation shaped theNorth’s economy.

Key Termsclipper ship, telegraph, Morse code

Reading StrategyOrganizing Information As you readthe section, re-create the diagrambelow and list examples of advancesin transportation and technology.

Read to Learn• how advances in technology

shaped the economy of the North.• how new kinds of transportation

and communication spurred economic growth.

Section ThemeEconomic Factors Advances in tech-nology and transportation shaped theNorth’s economy.

The North’sEconomy

In the 1840s, telegraph wires and railroads began to cross the nation. But travelingby rail had its discomforts, as writer Charles Dickens describes: “[T]here is a great dealof jolting, a great deal of noise, a great deal of wall, not much window, a locomotiveengine, a shriek, and a bell. . . . In the center of the carriage there is usually a stove . . .which is for the most part red-hot. It is insufferably close; and you see the hot air flut-tering between yourself and any other object you may happen to look at, like the ghostof smoke. . . .”

Technology and IndustryIn 1800 most Americans worked on farms. Items that could not be made at

home were manufactured—by hand, one at a time—by local blacksmiths, shoe-makers, and tailors. By the early 1800s, changes took place in the Northernstates. Power-driven machinery performed many tasks that were once done byhand. Industrialization and technology were changing the way Americansworked, traveled, and communicated.

Samuel Morse’s telegraph key

386 CHAPTER 13 North and South

Advances

Preview of Events

Guide to Reading

✦ 1830 ✦ 1840 ✦ 1850 ✦ 1860

CHAPTER 13 North and South

IndustrializationThe industrialization of the North developed

in three phases. In the first, manufacturers madeproducts by dividing the tasks involved amongthe workers. One worker would spin thread allday and another would weave cloth—instead ofhaving one person spin and then weave. Duringthe second phase, manufacturers built factories tobring specialized workers together. This allowedproducts to be made more quickly than before.

In the third phase, factory workers usedmachinery to perform some of their work. Manyof the new machines ran on waterpower orsteam power. For example, power-driven loomstook over the task of weaving. The worker’s jobchanged from weaving to tending the machine,which produced more fabric in less time.

Mass production of cotton textiles began inNew England in the early 1800s. After EliasHowe invented the sewing machine in 1846,machine operators could produce clothing on alarge scale from fabrics made by machine. Othertypes of industries developed during the sameperiod. By 1860 the Northeast’s factories pro-duced at least two-thirds of the country’s manu-factured goods.

Improved TransportationImprovements in transportation contributed

to the success of many of America’s new indus-tries. Between 1800 and 1850, construction crewsbuilt thousands of miles of roads and canals. Thecanals opened new shipping routes by connect-ing many lakes and rivers. The growth of therailroads in the 1840s and 1850s also helped tospeed the flow of goods. Inventor Robert Fultondemonstrated a reliable steamboat in 1807.Steamboats carried goods and passengers morecheaply and quickly along inland waterwaysthan could flatboats or sail-powered vessels.

In the 1840s canal builders began to widenand deepen canals to accommodate steamboats.By 1860 about 3,000 steamboats traveled themajor rivers and canals of the country as well asthe Great Lakes. Steamboats spurred the growthof cities such as Cincinnati, Buffalo, and Chicago.

In the 1840s sailing ships were improved. Theclipper ships—with sleek hulls and tall sails—were the pride of the open seas. They could sail300 miles per day, as fast as most steamships ofthe day. The ships got their name because they“clipped” time from long journeys. Before theclippers, the voyage from New York to GreatBritain took about 21 to 28 days. A clipper shipcould usually make that trip in half the time.

A clipper ship, the Flying Cloud,set a new record by sailing fromNew York to California in lessthan 90 days. How did clipperships get their name?

History

Boston

New York City

Philadelphia

BaltimoreWashington, D.C.

Richmond

Wilmington

Charleston

SavannahMontgomery

Jackson

Atlanta

Memphis

Vicksburg

New Orleans

Jackson

Chattanooga

Cincinnati

La Crosse

LouisvilleSt. Louis

QuincySt. Joseph

CairoLynchburg

Pittsburgh

Buffalo

ClevelandToledo

Indianapolis

Chicago

Detroit

Albany

Hamburg

Ohio R

.

Mis

siss

ippi

R.

Missouri

R.

PENN

SYLVA

NIA

B A LTIMORE AND

OHIO

N EW

YORK

CENTRAL

Lake E

rie

Lak

eM

ichi

gan

LakeOnta

rioLake

Huron

G u l f o f M e x i c o

A t l a n t i c

O c e a n

40°N

30°N

70°W80°W90°W

300 kilometers0

300 miles0

Albers Conic Equal-Area projection

N

S

EW

In 1833 the 136-mile Charlestonand Hamburg line was the longestrailroad in the world.

Trains clipped along at 20 to 30miles per hour by 1860.

Americans loved their railroads in spite of irregular schedules, frequent breakdowns, and being showered with sparks from the locomotives.

A Railway NetworkIn 1840 the United States had almost 3,000

miles of railroad track. By 1860 it had almost31,000 miles, mostly in the North and the Midwest. One railway linked New York Cityand Buffalo. Another connected Philadelphiaand Pittsburgh. Yet another linked Baltimorewith Wheeling, Virginia (now West Virginia).

388 CHAPTER 13 North and South

Shippers could send large quantities of goods faster over railroads than they could over earlier canal, river, and wagonroutes.1. Location To what westernmost city did the railroads

extend by 1860?2. Location What cities might a train traveler pass through

on a trip from Chicago to New Orleans?

LocomotivesThe development of railroads in the United

States began with short stretches of tracks thatconnected mines with nearby rivers. Early trainswere pulled by horses rather than by locomotives.The first steam-powered passenger locomotive,the Rocket, began operating in Britain in 1829.

Peter Cooper designed and built the firstAmerican steam locomotive in 1830. Called theTom Thumb, it got off to a bad start. In a raceagainst a horse-drawn train in Baltimore, the TomThumb’s engine failed. Engineers soon improvedthe engine, and within 10 years steam locomo-tives were pulling trains in the United States.

Major Railroads, 1860

CHAPTER 13 North and South 389

Railway builders connected these easternlines to lines being built farther west in Ohio,Indiana, and Illinois. By 1860 a network of rail-road track united the Midwest and the East.

Moving Goods and PeopleAlong with canals, the railways transformed

trade in the nation’s interior. The changes beganwith the opening of the Erie Canal in 1825 andthe first railroads of the 1830s. Before this timeagricultural goods were carried down the Mis-sissippi River to New Orleans and then shippedto other countries or to the East Coast of theUnited States.

The development of the east-west canal andthe rail network allowed grain, livestock, anddairy products to move directly from the Mid-west to the East. Because goods now traveledfaster and more cheaply, manufacturers in theEast could offer them at lower prices.

The railroads also played an important rolein the settlement and industrialization of theMidwest. Fast, affordable train travel broughtpeople into Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. As thepopulations of these states grew, new townsand industries developed.

Faster CommunicationThe growth of industry and the new pace of

travel created a need for faster methods of com-munication. The telegraph—an apparatus thatused electric signals to transmit messages—filled that need.

Samuel Morse, an American inventor, hadbeen seeking support for a system of telegraphlines. On May 24, 1844, Morse got the chance todemonstrate that he could send messagesinstantly along wires. As a crowd in the U.S. cap-ital watched, Morse tapped in the words, “Whathath God wrought!” A few moments later, thetelegraph operator in Baltimore sent the samemessage back in reply. The telegraph worked!Soon telegraph messages were flashing back andforth between Washington and Baltimore.

Morse transmitted his message in Morsecode, a series of dots and dashes representingthe letters of the alphabet. A skilled Morse codeoperator could rapidly tap out words in the dot-and-dash alphabet. Americans adopted the tele-graph eagerly. A British visitor marveled at thespeed with which Americans formed telegraphcompanies and erected telegraph lines. Ameri-cans, he wrote, were driven to “annihilate [wipeout] distance” in their vast country. By 1852 theUnited States was operating about 23,000 milesof telegraph lines.

Explaining How did canals and rail-ways change transportation?

Samuel Morse

The defeat of the train Tom Thumb in 1830 did not meanthe end of the steam engine. The first successful use of asteam locomotive in the United States took place in SouthCarolina in 1831. In 1860 which regions of the UnitedStates had the most miles of railroad track?

History

Checking for Understanding1. Key Terms Use each of these terms

in a sentence that will help explain itsmeaning: clipper ship, telegraph,Morse code.

2. Reviewing Facts Identify anddescribe the three phases of industri-alization in the North.

Reviewing Themes3. Economic Factors How did improve-

ments in transportation affect theprice of goods?

Critical Thinking4. Determining Cause and Effect How

did the steel-tipped plow aid settlerson the Great Plains?

5. Analyzing Consequences Howmight failure to improve transporta-tion have affected the economic andsocial development of the nation? Re-create the diagram below and listthe possible effects.

Analyzing Visuals6. Geography Skills Study the map on

page 388, then answer this question:Through what two cities in Missis-sippi did major rail lines pass?

AgricultureThe railroads gave farmers access to new

markets to sell their products. Advances in tech-nology allowed farmers to greatly increase thesize of the harvest they produced.

In the early 1800s, few farmers had venturedinto the treeless Great Plains west of Missouri,Iowa, and Minnesota. Even areas of mixed forestand prairie west of Ohio and Kentucky seemedtoo difficult for farming. Settlers worried thattheir wooden plows could not break the prairie’smatted sod and that the soil was not fertile.

Revolution in AgricultureThree revolutionary inventions of the 1830s

changed farming methods and encouraged set-tlers to cultivate larger areas of the West. Onewas the steel-tipped plow that John Deereinvented in 1837. Far sturdier than the woodenplow, Deere’s plow easily cut through the hard-packed sod of the prairies. Equally importantwas the mechanical reaper, which sped up theharvesting of wheat, and the thresher, whichquickly separated the grain from the stalk.

McCormick’s ReaperBorn on a Virginia farm, Cyrus McCormick

became interested in machines that wouldease the burden of farmwork. After years of

tinkering, McCormick designed and con-structed the mechanical reaper and made a fortune manufacturing and selling it.

For hundreds of years, farmers had harvestedgrain with handheld sickles. McCormick’sreaper could harvest grain much faster than ahand-operated sickle. Because farmers couldharvest wheat so quickly, they began plantingmore of it. Growing wheat became profitable.

McCormick’s reaper ensured that raisingwheat would remain the main economic activityin the Midwestern prairies. New machines andrailroads helped farmers plant more acres in“cash” crops—crops planted strictly for sale.Midwestern farmers began growing more wheatand shipping it east by train and canal barge.Farmers in the Northeast and Middle Atlanticstates increased their production of fruits andvegetables that grew well in Eastern soils.

Despite improvements in agriculture, how-ever, the North turned away from farming andincreasingly toward industry. It was difficultmaking a living farming the rocky soil of NewEngland, but industry flourished in the area.The number of people who worked in factoriescontinued to rise—and so did problems con-nected with factory labor.

Identifying What innovation spedthe harvesting of wheat?

390 CHAPTER 13 North and South

Math Research the number ofacres of wheat harvested in theUnited States before and afterMcCormick introduced his reaper.Then create a chart or graph toillustrate your findings.

Effects

Social Economic