The Worlds of North & South

North South Climate – Cold Winters, Hot

Humid Summers Coast

Harbors & Inlets– shipbuilding, fishing, commerce

Jagged New England Coast Inland

Narrow flat plain, rocky soil not ideal for farming

Thick Forests – timber harvested

1850 – 177,000 sq miles cleared

Rivers – rich soil Wide plains, rich soil in New

York, New Jersey and Pennylvania

Climate Mild winters, hot summers Plenty of rain, long

growing seasons

Coast - swampy Ideal for rice and sugar Tobacco and corn farther

inland

Forests - lumber Rivers

Broad & flat Good location for towns

NORTH South

north southIndustry

1810 – streams used to power machines in England

1815 – first US factory with spinning and weaving machinery

1830s – steam engines used

Shift from craftspeople to laborers

Machines 1831 – first reaper invented

(cuts 28 times more than by hand)

1847 – reaper factory in Chicago

Agriculture Eli Whitney-invents Cotton Gin

King Cotton Cotton gin used rotating combs

to separate cotton from seeds 1 cotton gin = 50 working by

hand Plantations use slave labor

Land & Slaves Cotton wears out soil – farmers

push west Cotton growth = slave growth

1790-1850: slavery rose from 500,000 to 3 million

Tredegar Iron Works

NORTH South

The Impact of the Cotton Gin on Slave Population

north southRoads

1806 – National Rd crosses Appalachian Mtns

Ships & Canals 1807 – steamboats 1817 – 36 mile canal built

from Hudson River to Lake Erie

1840s – clipper ships used for ocean travel

Railroad 1840s – biggest business 1860 – 20,000 miles of rail

River Riverboats brought cotton

downstream West of Appalachians –

traveled on Mississippi Mississippi River-

mightiest Southern River

Railroad 1860 – 10,000 miles of rail

NORTH South

north south

Northern Statistics 1860 – 7 of 10 lived on

farms 1800-1850 – cities with

more than 2,500 people increase from 33 to 237

1840-1860 – Population of NY, Philadelphia, and Boston triple

African Americans Free- Not treated equally Could not vote, hold office,

serve on juries, attend white churches and schools

Immigrants Ireland Germany

White Southerners Wealthy plantation owners

dominate economy and politics Sons go to college, daughters

become wives 1 in 4 owned slaves Majority of slaves worked on fields 10% to poor to own land

African Americans Free blacks were small minority-

Forced to wear badges, pay extra taxes, live separately

Majority were slaves- Cooks, carpenters, blacksmiths, house servants, nursemaids, field hands

NORTH South