Chapter 11 – Changes in Technology and American

Culture

1840-1860

Technology That Changed America

• The Cotton Gin (Eli Whitney)

(1793)

– Result: eightfold increase in cotton production

and

dependency of the South on cotton

and slavery

• John Deere (1837) – the Steel tipped plow– Allowed for profitable wheat

production in the middle west

• Cyrus McCormick (1834) – the mechanical reaper– Harvested grain 7 times faster; and led

to the dominance of wheat as the agricultural product of the middle west.

• The American system of Manufacturing– The production of machined tools– Allowed for replacement parts– Encouraged new inventions

• Eg. Samuel Colt – the revolver

(1832)

• Eg. Samuel F.B. Morse – telegraph (1835)

The Railroad

• Turned inland southern and northern cities into commercial hubs

• Settlement, agricultural development and industrial growth were stimulated in the Midwest

• Railroads intentionally developed towns along their routes• Changed the nature of American business

– Eg. Massive private investment through the stock market

Changes in Everyday life

• Cheaper goods and higher wages– But a greater difference between the middle

class and the poor

• Urban areas filled with row houses

• Large urban areas and increased transportation led to large epidemics

• Medical fads became popular– Hydropathy, Grahamites, Phrenology

Democratization of American Pastimes• The penny newspapers

– Large circulation; reported the news and human interest stories

• The Theatre– Cheap; attended by all

classes

The Minstrel ShowMinstrel Shows

Popular with working-class whitesPopularized stereotypes

The American MuseumP.T. Barnum

The American Museum

Literature and Art

• Growth of American literature-- fiction– Because of improved transportation– Influence of romanticism– Some writers drew upon the American experience

(Cooper, Emerson, Thoreau)– Other writers found little in America for great fiction

(Hawthorne, Melville, Poe)

• Hudson River school of Art– Tried to preserve the American that was quickly

passing away– Pictured Native Americans as “noble savages”