Unit 7: Early Sectionalism of the North, South, and West

Plantation Farming

large-scale agriculture that relied on large amounts of slaves to produce crops to sell for a profit

New Madrid Earthquakes

1811-1812 natural disaster that affected West Tennessee and parts of Missouri and other states. Caused the Mississippi River to flow backwards for a time, creating Reel Foot Lake.

Erie Canal

A famous man-made water route in New York that connected bodies of water to make transporting goods much faster and easier.

2nd Great Awakening

A movement of religious revival that focused mainly on free will and the idea that people can change society for the better through their choices. This movement sparked more reform movements during the 1800's such as women's suffrage, temperance, prison and mental health, and education.

Temperance Movement

A movement to ban alcohol in the United States

Industrial Revolution

A rapid change in the manufacturing of goods that made its way to the United States in the late 1700's. This led to the creation of factories in the North and increased agricultural production in the South because of the inventions that sped up the work and enabled people to produce more goods.

Agrarian

A society whose main focus is farming

Cotton Gin

Eli Whitney's invention in 1793 that drastically increased the number of slaves in the South because the machine cleaned cotton at the rate of 50 people cleaning by hand. By 1860, there would be more than 4 million slaves in the South as a result of the increased cotton production.

The Declaration of Sentiments

Elizabeth Cady Stanton's writing modeled after the Declaration of Independence, explaining why women deserved equal rights.

Ain't I A Woman?

Famous speech given by Sojourner Truth, a former slave, explaining why women deserve equal rights.

Spinning Jenny

One of the first machines during the Industrial Revolution that sped up the work of spinning thread. On a spinning wheel, you could only spin 1 spool of thread at a time, but this machine could do 8 spools at a time and eventually led to the Power Mule and the Power Loom

Henry Clay's American System

Proposed by a Congressman, this was a plan to help improve America's infrastructure through the government building roads, railways, and canals to make traveling easier. The plan was never implemented, but it paved the way for the government to make more decisions about America's infrastructure.

Memphis

The cotton capital of the South because it sits near the Mississippi River

Urbanization

The growth of cities, caused by immigration and the Industrial Revolution

Suffrage

The right to vote

Great Potato Famine

This wiped out Ireland's major crop and caused many Irish immigrants to come to the United States to survive and find a better life.