Unit 3a: Early American Industry

Erie Canal

A canal between the New York cities of Albany and Buffalo, completed in 1825. The canal, considered a marvel of the modern world at the time, allowed western farmers to ship surplus crops to sell in the North and allowed northern manufacturers to ship finished goods to sell in the West.

Industrial Revolution

A series of improvements in industrial technology that transformed the process of manufacturing goods.

interchangeable parts

Identical components that can be used in place of one another in manufacturing; introduced by Eli Whitney

National Road

The first highway built by the federal government. Constructed during 1825-1850, it stretched from Pennsylvania to Illinois. It was a major overland shipping route and an important connection between the North and the West.

Eli Whitney

United States inventor of the mechanical cotton gin (1765-1825)

Robert Fulton

American inventor who designed the first commercially successful steamboat and the first steam warship (1765-1815)

The "Iron Horse"

steam locomotive

King Cotton

Expression used by Southern authors and orators before Civil War to indicate economic dominance of Southern cotton industry, and that North needed South's cotton. Coined by James Hammond

Cotton Gin

A machine for cleaning the seeds from cotton fibers, invented by Eli Whitney in 1793; increased the need for human labor

Samuel F.B. Morse

inventor of the telegraph and a code for communication across these lines; started the information revolution

Francis Lowell

Established the first factory town in Massachusetts and one of the first to hire women to work the factories; idea of specialized work force (Lowell girls)

Clermont

Fulton's steamboat in 1807 which powered on/by a newly designed engine. It took the Clermont 32 hours to go 150 miles from New York to Albany.

Tom Thumb

a small but powerful locomotive built by Peter Cooper in 1830; it was the first American-built steam locomotive and is credited with bringing "railroad fever" to the U.S.

free enterprise system

An economic system in which people are free to operate their businesses as they see fit, with little government interference.

labor union

An organization of workers that tries to improve working conditions, wages, and benefits for its members

Samuel Slater

"Father of the Factory System" in America; escaped Britain with the memorized plans for the textile machinery; put into operation the first spinning cotton thread in 1791.

Cyrus McCormick

Irish-American inventor that developed the mechanical reaper. The reaper replaced scythes as the preferred method of cutting crops for harvest, and it was much more efficient and much quicker. The invention helped the agricultural growth of America.

John Deere

American blacksmith that was responsible for inventing the steel plow. This new plow was much stronger than the old iron version; therefore, it made plowing farmland in the west easier, making expansion faster.