US History - Chapter 7 Section 1

Eli Whitney

Internet: Eli Whitney (December 8, 1765 - January 8, 1825) was an American inventor best known for inventing the cotton gin. This was one of the key inventions of the Industrial Revolution and shaped the economy of the Antebellum South. Book: Was an inventor in 1801 who demonstrated the first musket made of interchangeable parts, parts that are exactly alike. He assembled a musket from pieces chosen at random from crates full of parts. Whitney had made his musket parts the old-fashioned way, by hand. His efforts were the first steps toward developing tools which unskilled workers could make uniform parts.

Cotton Gin

Internet: In 1793, Eli Whitney invented a simple machine that influenced the history of the United States. He invented a cotton gin that was popular in the South. The South became the cotton producing part of the country because Whitney's cotton gin was able to successfully pull out the seeds from the cotton bolls. Book: In 1794, Eli Whitney was granted a patent for a "new and useful improvement in the mode of Ginning (cleaning) Cotton." Workers who previously could clean one pound of cotton per day could, now using the gin, clean as much as fifty pounds per day. Cotton production then increased but increased cotton production meant an increase in the number of slaves needed on plantation.

Economics in the North

Internet: Many immigrants from Europe began working in factories and producing goods used by people in the North. Many factories began producing textiles (cloth) with the cotton grown in the South. The economy of the South was based on agriculture. More slaves were now needed to pick the cotton. Book: Crops didn't grow well in the North because of the soil and the climate in result, the North had eliminated agriculture. However, the type of the land and the growth of the cities in the North encouraged farmers to cultivate smaller crops that did not require much labor. Farmers started growing only what their family needed. As cities grew, the farmers discovered that they could raise one or two types of crops or livestock that can be sold in the supermarket (such as corn and cattle). The economics then grew better because they were able to buy in stores and whatever they wanted. In result, they had low demand of slavery and eventually abolished it by 1804.

Tariff of 1816

Internet: Tariff is a tax or duty to be paid on a particular class of imports or exports. The Tariff of 1816 (also known as the Dallas tariff) is notable as the first tariff passed by Congress with an explicit function of protecting U.S. manufactured items from overseas competition. Prior to the War of 1812, tariffs had primarily served to raise revenues to operate the national government. Book: Tariff is a tax or duty to be paid on a particular class of imports or exports. Ever since the war of 1812, British goods were sold far below the cost of American-made merchandise. Consequently, few bought the more expensive American products. Placing a tariff on imports would increase the cost of foreign goods and thereby eliminate the price price advantage. In addition, tariff revenues would help pay for improvements such as roads, canals, and lighthouses. In result, President James Madison proposed the Tariff of 1816.

Erie Canal

Internet: The Erie Canal opens, connecting the Great Lakes with the Atlantic Ocean via the Hudson River. Governor DeWitt Clinton of New York, the driving force behind the project, led the opening ceremonies and rode the canal boat Seneca Chief from Buffalo to New York City. Built between 1817 and 1825, the original Erie Canal traversed 363 miles from Albany to Buffalo. It was the longest artificial waterway and the greatest public works project in North America. The canal put New York on the map as the Empire State—the leader in population, industry, and economic strength. Book: "Big Ditch" one of the most impressive projects, stretched 363 miles. It took eight years to dig and by 1825 had linked the Hudson river to Lake Erie - or, in effect the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes. Twelve years after it had opened, canal tolls had completely paid for it's construction.

Economics in the South

Internet: There was great wealth in the South, but it was primarily tied up in the slave economy. In 1860, the economic value of slaves in the United States exceeded the invested value of all of the nation's railroads, factories, and banks combined. On the eve of the Civil War, cotton prices were at an all-time high. Book: Southerners had huge profits from cotton so they were encouraged to industrialize. The cotton gin or "cotton engine" of Whitney helped the South to develop. Short-staple (or short-fiber) was easier to grow but harder to clean than the long-staple cotton. Whitney's gin made it possible for Southern farmers to grow short-staple cotton for a profit. Since there was a high demand of it in Britain and North, this made a major breakthrough. However, the cotton gin accelerated the expansion of slavery because wealthier farmers bough up huge areas of land.

Industrial Revolution

Internet: This process began in Britain in the 18th century and from there spread to other parts of the world. Although used earlier by French writers, the term Industrial Revolution was first popularized by the English economic historian Arnold Toynbee (1852-83) to describe Britain's economic development from 1760 to 1840. Book: Because of the changes in manufacturing Whitney's interchanging parts brought, an industrial revolution was formed. Factories also became the new centers of industry. Industrial revolution is the social and economic reorganization that took place as machines replaced hand tools and large-scale factory production developed.

Cotton's effect on slavery

Internet: While it was true that the cotton gin reduced the labor of removing seeds, it did not reduce the need for slaves to grow and pick the cotton. In fact, the opposite occurred. Cotton growing became so profitable for the planters that it greatly increased their demand for both land and slave labor. Book: Increases in cotton production and increases in the number of slaves owned paralleled each other. From 1980 to 1810, cotton production surged from 3,000 bales a year to 178,000 bales. The number of slaves in the South leapt from 7000,000 to 1,200,000. By 1808, slave traders had brought 250,000 Africans to the United States - as many as had been bought to the mainland American colonies between 1619 and 1776.